IIT Madras study finds high levels of pharmaceutical contaminants in Cauvery river

The team monitored the water quality of Cauvery river for two years to assess the seasonal variation of emerging contaminants, especially pharmaceutically active compounds. 

Researchers of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have found that the waters of Cauvery river are polluted by a range of 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.  

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. 

The study was carried out with joint funding from Water Technology Initiatives of the Department of Science and Technology and the UK Natural Environment Research Council. Dr Ligy Philip, Nita and KG Ganapathi Institute Chair Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, said, “We monitored the water quality of Cauvery river for two years to assess the seasonal variation of emerging contaminants, especially pharmaceutically active compounds.”  

Dr Ligy said, “The IIT Madras team collected water from 22 locations along entire stretch of the river. We also set up 11 sampling stations near discharge points of partially treated or untreated wastewater and 11 locations near intake points of water supply systems. The quality of water the catchment sites was also monitored.” 

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