RESEARCHERS from Glasgow Caledonian University will travel to Brussels this week on a conference aimed at cutting water pollution.

They have been working on a £7million study to raise awareness of the presence of pharmaceutical residues in waste water and new methods of reducing levels before they are released into the water cycle.

The Glasgow team has been researching whether, and how, pharmaceutical product input may be reduced by raising awareness, encouraging different consumption or practices and promoting better disposal.

Professor Ole Pahl of Glasgow Caledonian said: "As a society, we have to decide whether we want to keep the substances out of our rivers and whether we want to take measures to stop them getting into the wastewater - once they are in the wastewater, it is almost impossible to remove them completely."