Without you knowing it, drugs may be entering your system everyday with the water you drink. The Associated Press recently released the results of a five-month investigation which showed that drinking water supplied to more than 41 million Americans contains a cocktail of pharmaceuticals ranging from antibiotics, birth control drugs and sex hormones, cholesterol fighters, anti-epilepsy drugs, mood stabilizers and other drugs.

The survey covered the 50 largest cities in the country, major water providers in 12 areas, and small community water providers in all 50 states. Some key findings were:

• Treated drinking water in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania yielded positive results for 56 drugs or their byproducts, while 63 drugs were detected in the city’s watersheds. These included drugs for pain, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems.

• Treated drinking water provided to 18.5 million people in Southern California contained medications for epilepsy and anxiety.

• Water in a drinking water treatment plant in Northern New Jersey contained metabolized medicines for heart conditions and mood stabilization.

• Water of San Francisco, California tested positive for a sex hormone.

• Water for Washington, D.C. and surrounding areas contained 6 drugs.

Even users of bottled water and home filtration systems are still exposed. Home filtration systems do not include treatment for pharmaceuticals. According to a nonprofit group, Food and Water Watch, more than 40 percent of bottled water is simply repackaged tap water. In addition, bottlers also do not test or treat their water for pharmaceuticals, according to the bottling industry’s main trade association.

How Drugs Get into Water

When people take their medicines, their bodies do not absorb all of the medication. The excess is eliminated from the body and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is of course treated before being discharged into water reservoirs or other bodies of water, but not for drugs. Drinking water treatment plants get their water from reservoirs, lakes, or rivers, treat it, and distribute it to consumers.

All water treatment plants insist that they pass all federal and state regulations on drinking water quality. But these regulations include trace drugs. Thus, neither the sewage treatment plants (before discharge into reservoirs, etc.) nor the drinking water treatment plants (after drawing from reservoirs, etc.) test or treat for drugs.

There is still plenty of skepticism whether trace concentrations, as found in drinking water, will be harmful to humans. But scientific circles are increasingly concerned that certain drugs, or combinations of drugs, may ultimately be harmful over several decades because people consume water in significant amounts each day.

What is known from existing research is that pharmaceuticals in waterways, at concentrations lower than reported in the Associated Press study, are damaging aquatic species.

Safety Tips:

• Dispose of unused drugs by diluting them in coffee grounds or plain water, placing them in a watertight container and throwing them in the garbage. Do not flush them down the toilet.

• Use reverse osmosis home kits to filter drugs out of tap water. Common home water filter are not meant to filter out drugs.

Add to: del.icio.us | Digg