Glyphosate contamination in European rivers not from herbicide application?

Abstract The most widely used herbicide glyphosate contaminates surface waters around the globe. Being toxic to aquatic organisms and a possible carcinogenic, mitigation strategies attempt to reduce river contamination, but their impact is not evaluated. Investigating long-term time series, we discovered that – in contrast to the USA – glyphosate river water concentration patterns in Europe contradict a dominant input from herbicide application. Our large meta-analysis clearly shows that for decades, the main source of glyphosate has been municipal wastewater, visible in the close correlation to concentration patterns of, e.g., pharmaceuticals, rather high and constant loads all over the year and failure of mitigation strategies. We suspect that glyphosate enters European rivers as a transformation product of aminopolyphosphonates, which are used in European but not U.S. detergents.