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I am an International Baccalaureate student who wants to help the seas through investigating ways of ensuring proper wastewater treatment and the damage we may already have done.
Tell us what the water concern in your country is!An area of concern is the rising levels of pharmaceutical substances in our water and the effects this may have on the marine biomes. We need to be proactive and act before it is too late.
This is what I think is one of the solutions for a sustainable future:Increased screening and investigation into what the effects of the pharmaceuticals may be, as well as improved handling of wastewater. By investing in clean waters for our marine life we invest in a more biodiverse future!
Dosing the Baltic Sea: what happens when algae encounters Ibuprofen?
Emerging pollutants (EPs) are defined as compounds that only in recent years have been classified as potentially dangerous when in the environment (GPA-UNEP, 2020), and they have been put in the limelight as concern has grown. One such EP is the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory classed drug (NSAID) Ibuprofen (IBU). In a status report from 2017 by the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) in cooperation with Policy Area Hazards of the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) Ibuprofen was detected in 38 out of 280 samples with concentrations reaching 159μg L-1. However, looking beyond the Baltic Sea Region concentrations upwards of 1400μg L-1 have been detected in surface waters along Korean and Chinese coasts (Jan-Roblero & Cruz-Maya, 2023)….