China's water reveals high level of antibiotics

(ECNS) -- Antibiotics have been detected in water near sewage plants and the Guangzhou segment of Pearl River, xinmin.cn reported, quoting experts from the Guangzhou Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The total concentration of nine common antibiotics, including erythromycin, roxithromycin and norfloxacin, exceeds 2000 nanograms per liter in sections along the river.

​Antibiotic concentration in the Guangzhou area of the Pearl River is 3-4 times that of rivers in Europe and America.

​Higher concentrations of antibiotics have been found in water surrounding sewage plants in Guangzhou than are normally found near their foreign counterparts.

​A CCTV reporter discovered that Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical Group was secretly discharging massive amounts of sewage containing antibiotics, while amoxicillin has been detected in the tap water of Nanjing, in eastern China's Jiangsu province.

Antibiotics come from three main sources: human urine, animal feed and aquaculture, as well as waste water from pharmaceutical factories and hospitals.