Glastonbury Festival: levels of illegal drugs high enough to harm wildlife in the river that runs through the site | UK news

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High levels of illegal drugs were found to harm wildlife in the river that runs through the Glastonbury Festival site.

Researchers discovered that levels of ecstasy and cocaine in the water were so high during the festival that they could affect rare populations of snakes downstream.

They urged revelers to use the official toilets provided by the organizers as it was believed that medicines could enter nearby rivers as a result of public urination.

Photo: Aerial view of the tents at the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in June 2019

Dan Aberg, a master’s student in Bangor University’s School of Natural Sciences, and Dr Daniel Chaplin of the Center for Environmental Biotechnology (CEB) measured levels of illegal drugs before, during and after the Glastonbury Festival in 2019, when it was last held.

The White Lake River was sampled upstream and downstream at the festival site.

The researchers found that MDMA concentrations quadrupled in the week following the festival, indicating a long-term release of the drugs from the site.

They also discovered that cocaine concentrations rose to levels known to affect the life cycle of European eels, a protected species.

“Illicit drug contamination from public urination occurs at every music festival,” Aberg said.

“The level of release is unknown, but festivals are undoubtedly an annual source of the release of illegal drugs.”

“Unfortunately, the Glastonbury Festival’s proximity to the river means that any drugs released by festival attendees have little time to degrade in the soil before entering the fragile freshwater ecosystem,” he added.

The researchers suggested that studies should be conducted on potential remediation through environmentally friendly methods such as wetland treatment.

Dr Christian Dunn, from Bangor University, said: “Our main concern is the environmental impact. This study determines that drugs are being released at levels high enough to disrupt the life cycle of the European eel, which could hamper conservation efforts to protect this endangered species.”

“Education is essential to environmental issues, just as people have been made aware of the problems of plastic pollution and Glastonbury has gone to great lengths to become plastic-free, we also need to raise awareness about drug and drug waste – it’s hidden, alarmingly unstudied but potentially devastating.”

A Glastonbury Festival spokesperson said: “Protecting our local waterways and wildlife is critical to us at Glastonbury Festival and we have a comprehensive and successful waterway sampling system during each festival, as agreed with the Environment Agency. There have been no concerns raised by the Environment Agency yet. Glastonbury Conference 2019.

“We know that the biggest threat to our waterways – and the wildlife that provide a home for them – comes from festival-goers urinating on land.

“This is something we have worked hard to reduce in recent years through a number of campaigns, with tangible success. Peeing on the floor is something we will continue to strongly discourage at future festivals. We also do not condone the use of illegal drugs in Glastonbury.”

“We are eager to see the full details of this new research, and would be very happy to work with the researchers to understand their findings and recommendations.”

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