Three Scanian municipalities and municipal water and sewerage companies have received money from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency to get rid of the drug residues that currently flow into nature.
- It has been shown that many of the drugs pass the treatment plants and go into rivers, lakes and streams, says Mattias Jäger, operations technician at Klippan municipality.
The pilot project is made up of five different filters, all of which will capture the substances that currently pass through the system.
- We filter out the drug with different types of filters.
Carbon filter, sand filter, membrane filter, ozone and UV light, says Mattias Jäger.
Environmental risk
Today, animals and nature risk being negatively affected by the residual products from the medicines and therefore efforts are now being made to prevent this.
- All our preparations that we prep in us such as birth control pills, blood pressure lowering and anti-anxiety have a clear impact on wildlife just as they have on us, says Mattias Jäger.
Available in feces and urine
The pilot project is estimated to cost three million kronor, of which three hundred thousand is paid for by Klippan municipality and the remaining 2.7 million comes from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.
- We are one of about 20 municipalities that have received a share of SEK 175 million, says Mikael Gulin, VA unit manager at Klippan municipality.
It's about working with feces and urine, that's where the drug residues are.
- But this is not a shitty job that we are doing, but it is an environmental work, he says.