Illicit drugs as a potential risk to the aquatic environment of a large freshwater lake after a major music festival

Maász, Gábor and Molnár, Éva and Mayer, Mátyás and Kuzma, Mónika and Takács, Péter and Zrínyi, Zita and Pirger, Zsolt and Kiss, Tibor (2021) Illicit drugs as a potential risk to the aquatic environment of a large freshwater lake after a major music festival. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY, 40 (5). pp. 1491-1498. ISSN 0730-7268 (print); 1552-8618 (online)

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Abstract

This study strengthens the view that residues of drugs of abuse may become widespread surface water contaminants following a local music festival. Overall, ten illicit drugs were detected from the aquatic environment after the festival; cocaine and MDMA were present in the highest concentrations. The presence of illicit drugs and their metabolites over three monitored festival years suggested that consumption of these drugs was temporally linked with events. Weather conditions seriously influenced detection of contaminants deriving from events at the lakeshore. Most of the illicit drugs retained their pharmacological activities having a potentially adverse impact on wildlife.

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