Pharmaceuticals in the water
It is Not Ordinary Water Anymore
Everyday, people drink water from the tap in America, but what many do not know is what the water may contain. Many know that now their water is safe from compounds such as lead and copper, and disinfected from bacteria and microbials ("Drinking Water Standards."). What many do not know is that there are pharmaceuticals in the water, they have been there for many years, but just recently have scientists been able to detect and account for how much there is. So what kind of pharmaceuticals are in the water? How did they get in there? Why is it that society does not know about it? What is being done? Is there any side effects? These have been the main questions that have been seen in online and magazine articles.
Americans are lucky enough to have municipal drinking water cleaned of germs, but yet it is not cleaned of drugs. There are have been traces of fifty-six human and veterinary pharmaceuticals or their byproducts in Philadelphia's drinking water. Including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems (1. Donn, Jeff) In Chicago there was a cholesterol medication and nicotine derivative found in the water ("Drugs in water affect 46 million in US." ). In Northern New Jersey a metabolized angina medicine and carbamazepine (a mood-stabilizer) was found in drinking water. A sex hormone was found in San Francisco's drinking water (2. Donn, Jeff). It has been said that “Tens of millions of Americans here and elsewhere drink water that has tested positive for minute concentrations of pharmaceuticals, and they don't even realize it.” (1. Donn, Jeff). Now if American's do not realize it, once they do know what is going on they are going to want to know how it got there and what is being done.
With the list of pharmaceuticals that have been found one might think, how does a drug like this come up in our water system? There are quite a few ways that drugs end up into the water system. One way is the most natural way, a drug does not completely disappear once it has been ingested. People as well as animals excrete the pharmaceuticals, which do find their way to the sewers, waterways and the environment (Halford, Bethany). There are some drugs, however, that should be flushed down the toilet to keep out of reach of others from finding or even abusing them. There are some that can be mixed with something unsavory like coffee grounds and then disposed of into the trash. Which can lead to being put into a landfill and possibly leaking into the groundwater (1. Donn, Jeff) but it is still better then having a teenager finding them. Since there are so many people who take drugs on a daily basis there should not be any surprise to find at least some trace of pharmaceuticals in the water, but yet so many American's do not even know that this was possible.
It seems that even if the government knows about it they do not see the reason to “alarm” the society because the results come back to parts per million or parts per trillion (ppm, ppt, respectively) which is such a little amount it would just seem to cause a stir that can get blown out of proportion. Steve Berry Colorado Springs spokesman said, “This is obviously an emerging issue and after the AP stories came out we felt it was the responsible thing for us to do, as a utility, to find out where we stand. We believe that at these levels, based on current science, that the water is completely safe for our customers.” ("Drugs in water affect 46 million in US."). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been getting hit on hard by not setting up any regulations on this subject. They have said that “Our position is there needs to be more searching, more analysis.”(1. Donn, Jeff). Since the EPA does not have enough data to actively make regulations. It just seems that this topic is not at the top of the list, it is not a priority. Since it is not that important to the government, that is why it seems that not much of the media knows about it.
Another reason that not much is going on is because to clean the water of drugs is a very costly operation. Christain G. Daughton of the EPA has said “You have to keep in mind that sewage treatment plants were originally designed a long time ago to improve the aesthetic quality of treated sewage and to reduce the incidence of disease-to reduce odor and make the water look better and get rid of bacteria and viruses, they were never engineered to remove synthetic substances.” (Halford, Bethany). So to even make the water clean completely of drugs the sewage plants would all have to be engineered. Whether or not this is going to be fully needed we cannot be fully sure until more research is done.
Some research that has been done has been tested on fish of rivers and ponds. How the fish caught the eyes of scientists was that in the U.K. They noted that male fish living downstream from wastewater treatment plants were becoming feminized. Meaning, they were making proteins associated with egg production in female fish and developing early-stage eggs in their testes. Linked to the feminizing phenomenon was the presence of estrogen compounds, found such in birth control. Bacteria in the wastewater treatment process cleaved 17α-ethinylestradiol (birth control compound)and 17β-estradiol (natural hormone) to regenerate the original estrogen compound. Which made the male fish into a female fish (Halford, Bethany). Another research project spiked a like in Canada's Experimental Lakes Area with 17α-ethinylestradiol at a concentration of 5 parts per trillion which was a concentration that was measured in wastewater and river waters near by. In the autumn researches observed delayed sperm cell development in the male fathead minnows. A year later, the males were producing eggs and more have stopped reproducing. There was a steady decline for three years until all have disappeared. Remarkably three years later in 2006, after her team stopped adding 17α-ethinylestradiol to the lake the fathead minnow population rebounded (Halford, Bethany). Although fish are not humans these two reports have proof that the drugs that is being leaked into the water do actually have an affect on the environment. Just like the ozone, what happens to the hurt the environment will hurt us as well.
Since there is not a lot known about the effects of the drug contaminated water, there seems to be not a lot of reason to alarm the public about it. If the results come back more strong as the years go on, then we will have to do something to stop it from affecting mankind. As for the fish in the rivers and ponds that are being affected by this situation there should be a regulation that comes up to help preserve the area. There should,also, come into play a way of slowing the dumping of drugs into water by returning the left over drugs into the pharmacies. I believe that if little by little if certain things are done by companies, agencies, and government that there will be no real reason to alarm the public too much. By alarming the public too much might cause more stress then what is really needed. If the problem is taken care of before it gets too big then it will save a lot of time and extra effort that will be needed later.
Works Cited
1. Donn, Jeff, Martha Medoza, and Justin Pritchard. "Few Rules for Drugs in Tap Water." MSNBC.com. 11 Mar. 2008. MSN. 15 Sept. 2008 .
2. Donn, Jeff, Martha Mendoza, and Justin Pritchard. "Pharmaceuticals lurking in U.S. drinking water." MSNBC.com. 10 Mar. 2008. MSNBC. 15 Sept. 2008 .
3. "Drinking Water Standards." EPA Ground Water and Drinking Water. 26 Sept. 2006. EPA. 21 Sept. 2008 .
4. "Drugs in water affect 46 million in US." MSNBC.com. 11 Sept. 2008. MSNBC. 15 Sept. 2008 .
5. Halford, Bethany. "Side Effects." Chemical & Engineering News 25 Feb. 2008: 13-17.
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