The Associated Press has recently conducted a five month survey of our nation's water systems, with some very unnerving results. Normally, people don't think about the water that comes out of their faucets unless it's off-color or smells or tastes funny. But then along comes an enterprising group of journalists and they make us all stop and think about what it is we're taking into our bodies, and worse, giving to our children. In this case, it's prescription medications. Everything from Tylenol to sex hormones.
A vast array of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics,
anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones -- have been found
in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an
Associated Press investigation shows.
I'm usually not the kind of person who gets overly worked up when I hear about minor contamination. I don't like it, but I don't let it scare me like, say, a bomb under my house would. But this... this scares me.
(crossposted at Earth Community Project)
We've known the dangers of heavy metal contamination in our water supplies for years, and we've developed filtration systems to deal with that threat. Municipal water systems generally test for and filter heavy metals, and if we're still not comfortable with the level of mercury or lead in our water we can purchase our own filtration systems and install them in our homes.
That's not the case with prescription medications. The chemical makeup of the medications found in our water makes it much more difficult to screen for and filter out the contaminants. We don't really have a defense against ingesting this stuff, especially when you consider how much of our water supply may be contaminated.
The AP's investigation also indicates that watersheds, the natural
sources of most of the nation's water supply, also are contaminated.
Tests were conducted in the watersheds of 35 of the 62 major providers
surveyed by the AP, and pharmaceuticals were detected in 28.
Yet officials in six of those 28 metropolitan areas said they did not
go on to test their drinking water -- Fairfax, Va.; Montgomery County
in Maryland; Omaha, Neb.; Oklahoma City; Santa Clara, Calif., and New
York City.
[...]
In the United States, the problem isn't confined to surface waters.
Pharmaceuticals also permeate aquifers deep underground, source of 40
percent of the nation's water supply. Federal scientists who drew water
in 24 states from aquifers near contaminant sources such as landfills
and animal feed lots found minuscule levels of hormones, antibiotics
and other drugs.
My biggest concern is that we don't know what lasting effects contamination by prescription medications will pose. We already know that hormones and antibiotics in our food supply is causing problems in children, and now we have to worry about our water, too.
Recent laboratory research has found that small amounts of
medication have affected human embryonic kidney cells, human blood
cells and human breast cancer cells. The cancer cells proliferated too
quickly; the kidney cells grew too slowly; and the blood cells showed
biological activity associated with inflammation.
Also,
pharmaceuticals in waterways are damaging wildlife across the nation
and around the globe, research shows. Notably, male fish are being
feminized, creating egg yolk proteins, a process usually restricted to
females. Pharmaceuticals also are affecting sentinel species at the
foundation of the pyramid of life -- such as earth worms in the wild
and zooplankton in the laboratory, studies show.
But here's the best part. Even if officials in your neck of the woods are testing for medications in the water supply, they're not likely to tell you about it. In some cases, they'll even claim national security as an excuse not to tell you.
In several cases, officials at municipal or regional water providers told the AP that pharmaceuticals had not been detected, but the AP obtained the results of tests conducted by independent researchers that showed otherwise. For example, water department officials in New Orleans said their water had not been tested for pharmaceuticals, but a Tulane University researcher and his students have published a study that found the pain reliever naproxen, the sex hormone estrone and the anti-cholesterol drug byproduct clofibric acid in treated drinking water.
Of the 28 major metropolitan areas where tests were performed on drinking water supplies, only Albuquerque; Austin, Texas; and Virginia Beach, Va.; said tests were negative. The drinking water in Dallas has been tested, but officials are awaiting results. Arlington, Texas, acknowledged that traces of a pharmaceutical were detected in its drinking water but cited post-9/11 security concerns in refusing to identify the drug.
The AP also contacted 52 small water providers -- one in each state, and two each in Missouri and Texas -- that serve communities with populations around 25,000. All but one said their drinking water had not been screened for pharmaceuticals; officials in Emporia, Kan., refused to answer AP's questions, also citing post-9/11 issues.
So there you have it. We can't tell you what's in your water because of the terrorists. Fine, whatever, but the EPA can check can't they?
Apparently not, since the EPA doesn't have any set regulations for pharmaceutical contamination in the water. None whatsoever. You'd think something like this would have come to their attention at some point and there'd at least be some kind of safeguards in place, but the truth is, there aren't any. In fact, the EPA is just beginning to look at what needs to be done to detect drugs in the water, and hasn't even begun considering any kind of regulation.
Of course, this had to come out on a day when I'm babysitting my 18 month old niece, who's sleeping upstairs in her crib. I can't help but wonder about the water in my town, and how it's going to effect her as she grows up. Maybe she'll get lucky and we'll be in one of the places that's fortunate enough to have to worry about this kind of contamination. Then again, we may not ever know.