As much as 87% of the Mediterranean Sea is polluted, primarily due to toxic metals, industrial chemicals, and plastic waste, according to a WWF report published on International Mediterranean Day. The document discovered that the watercourse has the highest concentration of microplastics ever recorded in marine depths, with 1.9 million fragments per square meter – resulting in approximately 1.4 million premature deaths globally each year due to water contamination.
According to environmentalists, plastic pollution and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as “forever chemicals,” are the main concerns. The WWF report is the first in a series focusing on major global pollutants and strategies for mitigation, part of their “Our Future” campaign. It emphasizes that freshwater bodies, air, and soil also suffer from pollution akin to that affecting the Mediterranean. Over the past two decades, deaths from modern pollution sources, such as air pollution and toxic chemicals, have surged by 66%, reaching 9 million annually, making pollution the leading environmental risk factor for diseases and premature deaths worldwide.
Water bodies, including seas, rivers, lakes, wetlands, and aquifers, are severely impacted by pollution from pesticides, agricultural nutrients, heavy metals, pathogens, and chemical residues from untreated industrial and urban wastewater. PFAS and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), used in various everyday plastic products, are particularly alarming due to their toxicity and persistence. Known as “eternal contaminants,” they do not degrade and accumulate in the environment, posing significant health risks.
In Europe, less than half of surface water bodies are in good ecological and chemical condition. In Italy, 13% of rivers and 11% of lakes fail to achieve good status, with 9% and 20% respectively yet to be classified. For European seas, contamination issues are present in 75-96% of evaluated areas. Italy’s marine waters, though not comprehensively monitored, show pervasive poor conditions where data are available.
