Reported high drug use at music festivals coupled with factors such as public urination can lead to the direct release of illicit drugs into the environment. Glastonbury Festival 2019 had 203,000 attendees, its site is intercepted by the Whitelake River providing a direct route for illicit drug pollution into the local environment. We tested for popular illicit drugs such as cocaine and MDMA in the river upstream and downstream of the festival site as well as in the neighbouring Redlake River. Both rivers were sampled the weeks before, during and after the festival. Cocaine, benzoylecgonine and MDMA were found at all sample sites; concentrations, and mass loads (mass carried by the river per unit of time) were significantly higher in the Whitelake site, downstream of the festival. MDMA mass loads were 104 times greater downstream in comparison to upstream sites (1.1–61.0 mg/h vs 114.7 mg/h; p < .01). Cocaine and benzoylecgonine mass loads were also 40 times higher downstream of the festival (1.3–4.2 mg/h vs 50.4 mg/h; p < .01) (22.7–81.4 mg/h vs 854.6 mg/h; p < .01). MDMA reached its highest level during the weekend after the festival with a concentration of 322 ng/L. This concentration is deemed harmful to aquatic life using Risk Quotient assessment (RQ) and provides evidence of continuous release after the festival due to leaching of MDMA from the site. Cocaine and benzoylecgonine concentrations were not at levels deemed harmful to aquatic life according to RQ assessment yet were three times higher than MDMA concentrations. Redlake River experienced no significant changes (p > .05) in any illicit drug levels, further confirming that drug release was likely dependent on the festival site. The release of environmentally damaging levels of illicit drugs into Whitelake River during the period of Glastonbury Festival suggests an underreported potential source of environmental contamination from greenfield festival sites.

据报道，音乐节上的大量吸毒以及公共排尿等因素可能导致非法药物直接释放到环境中。2019 年格拉斯顿伯里音乐节有 203,000 名参加者，其场地被怀特莱克河拦截，为非法药物污染进入当地环境提供了直接途径。我们在节日场地的上游和下游以及邻近的红湖河中测试了流行的非法药物，如可卡因和 MDMA。在节日之前、期间和之后的几周内对两条河流进行了采样。在所有样本点都发现了可卡因、苯甲酰芽子碱和 MDMA；在音乐节下游的 Whitelake 场地，浓度和质量负荷（单位时间内河流携带的质量）明显更高。与上游站点相比，下游的 MDMA 质量负载是上游站点的 104 倍（1.1–61.0 mg/h 对 114.7 mg/h；p < .01）。节日下游的可卡因和苯甲酰芽子碱质量负荷也高出 40 倍（1.3-4.2 毫克/小时对 50.4 毫克/小时；p < .01）（22.7-81.4 毫克/小时对 854.6 毫克/小时；p < .01） . MDMA 在节日结束后的周末达到最高水平，浓度为 322 ng/L。使用风险商数评估 (RQ)，这种浓度被认为对水生生物有害，并提供了节日后由于 MDMA 从现场浸出而持续释放的证据。根据 RQ 评估，可卡因和苯甲酰芽子碱的浓度并未达到认为对水生生物有害的水平，但比 MDMA 浓度高出三倍。Redlake River 的任何非法药物含量均未发生显着变化 (p > .05)，进一步证实药物释放可能取决于节日现场。在 Glastonbury 音乐节期间向 Whitelake River 释放了对环境有害的非法药物，这表明绿地音乐节场地的环境污染潜在来源被低估了。