The festival can lead to ammonium levels in the nearby river increasing 210-fold
Here’s a quirky fact. It turns out that a major river polluter in Sweden is the Uppsala Reggae Festival!
Over three days each August, 10,000 reggae-lovers converge on the shores of the River Fyris in Uppsala. Sounds like fun for the festival-goers, but not so much for the fish. You see, at the first sign of rain the contents of the urine soaked festival field get washed into the river (toilet facilities can’t be all that good). If that wasn’t bad enough, any drugs taken by festival-goers (lots of painkillers) are excreted in their urine and end up in the river too. And these biologically active compounds have been known to have an adverse effect on aquatic organisms.
Tests showed that the festival can temporarily result in a higher pharmaceutical input (about 3.4 times greater) into the river than the wastewater treatment plant downstream! But only if it rains.
The recommendation for next year’s festival? Better toilet facilities! I would definitely recommend packing wellies if you’re thinking of going though.
Elinor Richards
Original article posted on the Chemistry World blog
