IIT Madras Researchers Find Pharmaceutical Contaminants In River Cauvery

The researchers of the IIT Madras have found that the waters of river Cauvery are polluted by a range emerging contaminants that include pharmaceutically-active compounds, personal care products, plastics, flame retardants, heavy metals, and pesticides, among many others.

The researchers of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have found that the waters of river Cauvery are polluted by a range emerging contaminants that include pharmaceutically-active compounds, personal care products, plastics, flame retardants, heavy metals, and pesticides, among many others.

Of these, pharmaceutical contamination is particularly serious in India, which is the second-largest pharmaceutical manufacturing country in the world. These drug compounds, when released even in minuscule amounts into water bodies, can harm human beings and the ecosystem in the long run.

A team of researchers from IIT Madras led by Dr Ligy Philip, Nita and KG Ganapathi Institute Chair Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, quantified the seasonal distribution of emerging contaminants and pollutants in the river Cauvery.

The IIT Madras study showed that it was essential to regularly monitor rivers and their tributaries for contamination by pharmaceutical products. There was also a need to upgrade wastewater treatment systems to reduce the levels of emerging contaminants in receiving water bodies such as rivers. The findings of this work also point to the need for more research into assessing the long-term impacts of emerging contaminants on human health and the environment.