As we look forward once again to a summer of festivals, and to catching up with great music, great friends and sunshine, ecologists at 58³Ō¹Ļ are highlighting one simple thing that festival-goers can do for the environment: use the loo.
Festival-goers may be thinking of ways to be environmentally friendly, through lift-sharing or using public transport, reducing their single-use plastic and taking their camping gear and litter home.
Thereās another simple thing that they can do though, that can have huge environmental consequences. People attending āgreenfieldā festivals are being asked not to pee on the ground, as this can then seep into nearby rivers and streams. And it may not just be pee thatās being released into the environment.
Research by 58³Ō¹Ļ, using water samples downstream from the last Glastonbury Festival, found that some illicit drugs reached potentially environmentally damaging levels in the river flowing through the site, most likely due to people peeing in the area.
Use the loo!
No matter how long the queue ā use the loo.
Some people at festivals take illegal drugs, like cocaine and ecstasy, and we found that these drugs can reach environmentally damaging levels in the nearby river.
At 58³Ō¹Ļ weāre doing more research into how damaging this problem is, and what we can do to remove the drugs from waterways, or stop them from entering them in the first place ā such as using specially designed reedbeds and wetlands.
You can do something to help though and that is ā donāt pee on the ground at a festival. You may think youāre far away from a river, itās only one pee, but donāt; just use the loo.
Every pee matters!ā added Dr Christian Dunn, who led the research .
58³Ō¹Ļ wants festival-goers to join the campaign and use the loo!
Read more about this research here:
