Drinking water tainted with trace amounts of prescription drugs

WASHINGTON and NEW YORK According to reports by the Associated Press and the Washington Post, the New York and Washington area’s drinking water has been discovered to contain trace amounts of common prescription items.

The drugs found in Washington were: the pain medications ibuprofen and naproxen; the anticonvulsive drug carbamazepine, which is used to reduce epileptic seizures and a mood stabilizer for treating bipolar disorders; sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic used for treating urinary tract and other infections; and monensin, an antibiotic used for cattle.

In New York, the geological survey and state health agency also detected the heart medicine atenolol; antiseizure drugs carbamazepine and primidone; relaxers diazepam and carisoprodol; infection fighters trimethoprim, clindamycin and sulfamethoxazole; pain relievers ibuprofen, acetaminophen and codeine; and remains of caffeine, which was also found in Washington, and nicotine.

The Associated Press has gone on to say that 24 of the major metropolitan areas across the continental United States have discovered drugs in drinking water supplies.

The reason for the discovery is that not all medications taken by a person are absorbed into their body. The rest being that the drug passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue.

And although the chemicals in the water pose no immediate health threat, the health effects of drinking these drug compounds over a long period is largely unstudied. Some scientists said there is probably little human health risk; others fear chronic exposure could alter immune responses or interfere with adolescents' developing hormone systems.