The high levels of ammonia accompanied by high values of Escherichia coli and the presence of pesticides, including glyphosate, in the waters indicate that the Tiber is not, it is not in good health
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himIn the waters of the Tiber there are organic substances, including ammonia and Escherichia coli, and, in some circumstances, also glyphosate and AMPA, its metabolite, classified - it is now known - as a probable carcinogen. This is the alarm raised by environmental associations and Roman citizens in a study, the result of a whole year of monitoring and analyzing the water.
These are the investigations conducted by the A Sud Association together with citizens of the city of Rome and the Romano Acqua Pubblica Coordination, under the scientific coordination of the river ecologist Bruna Gumiero, the values of ammonia and Escherichia coli (the well-known fecal bacterium) they are very high.
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In particular, in the 79,8% of the samples the E. coli concentration it is above the limit for the suitability of fresh water courses for bathing.
A systematic review
This is demonstrated by the report entitled "Down to the Tiber", a study resulting from a whole year of work, in which the A Sud association, with numerous citizens, monitored the river in 8 points within the Municipality of Rome: from the purification plant of northern Rome to the purification plant of southern Rome, looking for organic and inorganic substances.
According to the published results, the greatest criticality concerns the presence of organic substances (ammonia and E. coli), however in some circumstances the presence of glyphosate was also detected, once found in very significant quantities, the study reads.
© ASUD
The reasons for this pollution are unclear and the data published by Arpa Lazio are not sufficient, they say in the study.
A shortage, that of public data on environmental matrices, which is not surprising given that according to the 2019 data published on the National System for Environmental Protection in Lazio, only 36 million are destined for the ARPA and environmental protection systems. Translated, it means that the annual cost per inhabitant is just 6,2 euros, the equivalent of a coffee every two months. Lazio is the second region, after Sicily, which spends the least on environmental protection per capita.
Yet although the causes are not clear, the Tiber is not "the cleanest river in the world", as recently argued by Erasmo D'Angelis, general secretary of the district basin authority of the central Apennines. According to the study conducted by an international team led by the University of York and published in February 2022, it emerged that the River Tiber is rich in antibiotics of different types. To these results are added the data that emerged from the “Giù al Tevere” dossier which highlights a problem linked to organic pollution, an element detected by ARPA itself with the analyzes carried out after the fish deaths in 2020.
© ASUD
The deaths of fish: three in the last year and a half
There have been three fish deaths in the last year and a half, the causes of which are not yet known. Among the hypotheses put forward by Arpa and our study, the presence of a possible "anoxic bubble", that is a lack of oxygen that would have determined the death of the fish, emerged as the cause. But the hypothesis is not certain.
The causes are probably multiple, but to really clarify how the Tiber river is, it is necessary to continue to carry out new and continuous monitoring along the watercourse. In fact, the deaths of fish are critical episodes that show a very powerful signal about the criticality of the river.
It is necessary to continue to monitor the river not only to identify the causes of the deaths of fish, which we remember are very serious episodes and which should never happen in a river like the Tiber, but also in order to identify the location of the deaths. According to our analyzes, two were the most critical points with regard to organic pollution: one is the point on the Aniene river, the other immediately after the South Rome purifier, explains Bruna Gumiero, professor at the University of Bologna and ecologist fluvial.
In fact, in the two points, in some moments, the Escherichia coli values exceed respectively more than 4 and 8 times the maximum recommended concentration threshold.
The Report was produced as part of the Citizen Science project “RomaUp - Organized Networks for Participatory Urban Environmental Monitoring”, funded by the Charlemagne Foundation through the suburban capital program.
HERE the complete report.
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Fonte: ASud
Read also:
- New death of fish in the Tiber, a huge environmental disaster that could be caused by banned pesticides
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Read also:
- New death of fish in the Tiber, a huge environmental disaster that could be caused by banned pesticides
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- Foam and fish death in Lake Como, investigates the ARPA
