Pharmaceuticals in the river Elbe and its tributaries

Medicinal drugs were found to be ubiquitous in the river Elbe, its tributary the river Saale and in other tributaries at their points of entry into the Elbe. The distribution of concentration peaks along the investigated river stretches provides an indication that they are mainly due to the emission of treated waste water from municipal sewage treatment works. This leads to the conclusion that medicinal substances can be regarded as faecal indicators for water pollution caused by human activity. The main substances found in the Elbe in 1998 were diclofenac, ibuprofen and carbamazepine as well as various antibiotics and lipid regulators in the concentration range of