271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals have been released into American waterways, including those that provide drinking water. New information shows the drugs include everything from antibiotics to opiates to tranquilizers. When we began to hear reports of pharmaceutical contamination in drinking water, we decided to put our water to the test.
Detroit drinking water has won awards for its fresh, clean taste, but does that mean it’s as pure as it appears to be? We decided to have water tested from the three public sources used in our area.
We received testing equipment from the Johns Hopkins Research Lab. They agreed to screen for drugs in our drinking water.
Our first sample came from the home of the Ruprich family in Beverly Hills
Their water is from the Detroit water system. Jen Tuprich is the mother of four children and often looks after a couple more. She feels comfortable giving them tap water.
We also tested the water of the Rowe family in Clarkston. Their water comes from a community well.
We visited just one day before Michelle Rowe was about to have her second child. Her entire family was drinking bottled water.
“When you’re pregnant they limit the amount of any sort of medicine you can take and then to think you could potentially be drinking that medicine in what you think is good for you. That does concern me,” said Michelle.
So we filled two bottles from her tap to find out if she had reason for concern.
Next, we visited the Cameron family. The parents of young twins feel comfortable using tap water from the Grosse Pointe Farms system – one of the few communities not connected to the Detroit system. In fact, until they heard of possible contamination they didn’t even give their water a second thought.
The results from Johns Hopkins are in. All three water sources were free from contamination with pharmaceuticals. That means you can continue to drink tap water with no fear of taking medicine meant for someone else.
We can’t say for sure that no pharmaceuticals are in the water before it’s treated, but by the time it gets to us, it’s pharmaceutical free. Although the main problem seems to come from pharmaceutical companies, the rest of us can do our part by not discarding old medicines by flushing or putting them down the sink.
For more information visit
http://aapnews.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/29/10/41-e.pdf
