Water Water Everywhere.
By Karina | March 12, 2008
Have you seen the very scary news story about pharmaceuticals that are floating around in our tap water? here’s the beginning of it, in case you’ve been living in happy oblivion.
AP probe finds drugs in drinking water
By JEFF DONN, MARTHA MENDOZA and JUSTIN PRITCHARD, Associated Press Writers Sun Mar 9, 1:00 PM ET
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.
To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe
But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.
Eek! But, really, now — I don’t want to freak you all out. There’s not much we can do, immediately, anyway. Unless you want to set up a distillation and filtering system in your home to purify your water, and that is 1. expensive, 2. makes the neighbors think you’re making moonshine and 3. definately NOT a tiny choice.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I would post about this topic. It’s such a large issue, and it seems so impossible for one person to address. How do you make a tiny choice that will stop or reverse this contamination? I sure don’t know. But because this issue is something that is hot and new and scary, I wanted to hit on some major points.
- This is NOT new. I’ve known about this issue for a long time, though probably because I’ve studied civil and environmental engineer. This is why I bring all of my old prescriptions back to the drug store when I don’t need them any more - I don’t want to put all these weird drugs and chemicals into the water supply, or into a landfill where they may leach into the water supply. EDITED TO ADD: I just got a newsletter from National Geographic with some good Tiny Choices to minimize the impact YOUR meds are making on the water system.
- But because it’s not new, this news gets a “toxin of the week” flavor, you know? That is Scary! but also, blown up to a very large proportion.
- Which is NOT to say that this isn’t a big deal!
- Just that people have been studying this for quite some time, and they’re working on it, and we should all agitate for a long-term solution to keep politicians and their (our) money on track once the fervor dies down.
No Impact Man wrote a really wonderful post on this issue, and he says just about everything I wanted to say. The first thing I thought when I saw that this was, suddenly, a Big Story, was “oh, no! now everyone will go buy bottled water and that’s not the solution!” So here are some of No Impact Man’s points about why bottled water isn’t the answer:
- 40% of the bottled water sold in the United States is tap water anyway.
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires hundreds of tests each month on municipal water supplies, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates bottled water, requires only one test a week on bottled water.
- Only 40% of bottled water-that which is sold across state lines-is regulated by the FDA in the first place.
- Plastic bottles in the United States require some 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture each year-enough to power 100,000 cars.
- 86% of plastic bottles in the United States never get recycled.
- Tap water costs about a penny a gallon and bottled waters costs up to $10 a gallon.
- Chemicals that leach from plastic water bottles may affect our health.
- If people abandon the use of municipal drinking water, then there will be no political will to ensure that we invest the necessary resources in the water infrastructure.
So now we know what not to do: don’t drink bottled water! I just hope this message is clearly stated in all the reports on the tap water “situation.”
But what can we do? This is why I almost didn’t write this post. It’s really really scary, right? We need many of these pharmaceuticals to maintain our health. There’s no good way to filter these chemicals out of the water system. What the heck can we do about this problem?
Again, No Impact Man comes through with a solution - how about a little personal activism? Contact Congress! Food and Water Watch has set up a page that makes it easy to do so.
While American tap water is still among the safest in the world, our water infrastructure, including pipes, is aging and deteriorating in the face of less money for renewal and repair, and of more people needing household water service. The consequences include sewage spills that render our water unsafe for drinking, swimming, fishing, and wildlife.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that hundreds of billions of dollars are needed to address these problems. But President Bush has cut most federal funding every year. He has proposed selling control of our water systems to corporations and private investors. Once in control of our water systems, the new private owners would make decisions based on short-term profits, not on community needs.
Instead of irresponsible private investment schemes, we need to plan ahead for future generations and create a dedicated source of public funding so that communities across America can keep their water clean, safe and affordable. Water is a vital resource, critical for all of us. It deserves no less than the trust funds that help finance our highways, National Botanic Gardens and the South Dakota Terrestrial Wildlife Habitat Restoration. Tell Congress it’s time for a trust fund for clean and safe water.
So, what do you think? Did this news story freak you out? How do you plan to combat the situation?
Topics: Activism, Home | 11 Comments »
11 Comments
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This news story *totally* freaked me out. I retaliated by signing the petition. Other than that I’m not sure what to do, besides to keep on drinking tap water…
I just hope that this is a wake up call to action for everyone, and not a scary reason for people to reach for the bottles!
This story totally freaked me out. I just recently switched from having bottled (in *glass*) water delivered. Even though I knew for most people tap was better, I live in a city where the local water’s rife with estrogens and hermaphrodite fish. Luckily, after doing soul searching and exhaustive research on this, the pharma info is just more of the same. We will continue to use our Brita filter, even if it’s not necessarily going to be effective. And I’ve been emailing with my awesome local DC city councilmember (who introduced a bill to ban detergents with phosphates!) to see what she advises. If you get good info on simple (ie tiny!) ways to clean up the tap water, I am all ears. Brita level, that is. Whole house filter, no can do.
other than distilling water on the stove for personal use, there’s not much we can do. and when you heat organic chemicals they volatilize, so you’re still risking an exposure.
I think we really have to pressure the bigwigs to take this issue more seriously!
What freaks me out about this is that it isn’t news. I read several years ago about birth control hormones being found in fish in rivers across the country and altering the reproductive structures of the fish - it’s one of many reasons I wouldn’t consider taking bc pills.
What do people think happens to all these chemicals we ingest and utilize? Of course they wind up in the water! I think water conservation is a serious issue and conserving the water table as a resource can only help the other issues of pollution.
that’s a really excellent point - we are so focused on the end point of making the world safe at a calculated level of risk for humans - what if the end point was instead to keep the water as clean as we can? It would be way more expensive, but it would revolutionize current environmental policy.
this is one of the reasons I quit taking bc pills as well. but that’s even a very hard call to make - I wouldn’t ask anyone to risk a surprise baby, either!
[...] This is why you should continue to drink tap water, even though the news tried to scare you into buying bottled water. (which, by the way, comes from a tap 40% of the time anyway) [...]
With all of the safety concerns about pharmaceuticals in our water there’s a safe solution. According to the U.S. EPA, the vast majority of these compounds are Synthetic Organic Chemicals (SOCs) and/or Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs). You should look for filters that are certified for VOCs, THMs and Chloroform as these are representative of the vast majority of prescription drugs. You can check out information on certified filters at: http://www.waterfiltercomparisons.com
If you think bottled water is a safe alternative to tap water then I’m sorry to say you’re mistaken. The majority of the time, bottled water is just repackaged tap water sold back to the public for 2 to 3 times the price. Check out: http://www.bottledwaterblues.com for better information about the harmful effects that bottled water has not only on the environment but also our health.
[...] I’ve written before, there are a bunch of untreated chemicals ending up in our drinking water. And beyond that, there [...]
[...] Distance Dial on Tiny Choices Survey: Amanda!Toxic Shampoo! | Tiny Choices on Water Water Everywhere.Latest news, reviews and opinion on The End of the Line at The End of the Line Blog on Tiny Choices [...]
I was really scared the first time I saw this news on TV. Fortunately, our family has a water filter at home. Such a relief. We got ours from http://waterfilters.mercola.com/drinking-water-filter.aspx Truly, we have to be cautious of the water we are drinking now.