FeedsThe Drugs in Our Drinking Water
Portland, along with many other big U.S. cities, has drugs in its drinking water. Over a period of five months, Associated Press investigators uncovered pharmaceutical drug contamination in the water supplies for 24 major metropolitan areas. I'd suggest reading through that AP article pretty throughly. It really gives a picture of the world-wide nature of this problem, and notes the struggles with various methods of purification.
Now, here's the question: what does Portland have in its water? What have we been drinking all this time?
According to the investigation, Portland has the following substances in its water: acetaminophen, caffeine, ibuprofen, and sulfamethoxazole. The first three are common enough, but it's still alarming and unhealthy to be drinking them in any regular amount. But what's that last one?
According to the drug's Wikipedia page, it is "commonly used to treat urinary tract infections" and, in regular doses, has demonstrated the following side-effects:
The most common side effect of sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim is gastrointestinal upset. Allergies to sulfa-based medications typically cause skin rashes, hives, or trouble breathing or swallowing and warrant immediate discontinuation of the medication and contact with doctor immediately. Sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim is also known to increase blood concentrations of the drug warfarin (U.S. brand name: Coumadin) and can cause an unexpected increase in clotting time and uncontrolled bleeding. Neutropenia and thrombocytopenia also are rare adverse effects to be monitored if a patient is placed on long-term therapy.
I don't want drugs in my water, even in the smallest doses/trace amounts that could take a while to build up. And don't think you'll be safe by purchasing bottled water or filtering your tap water at home, as the AP article notes: "Even users of bottled water and home filtration systems don't necessarily avoid exposure. Bottlers, some of which simply repackage tap water, do not typically treat or test for pharmaceuticals, according to the industry's main trade group. The same goes for the makers of home filtration systems."
So, either you find expensive pure water or are forced to drink the drugs that flush through our water system. Lovely.
This report requires action. Consider this my request to the city, county, and state: do something about this. Find a way to treat the water that removes the drugs. But is there a solution that's realistic? Reverse-osmosis filtration seems to remove the chemicals, but it's really expensive...
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I have a really hard time believing that this is actually a big deal. We ingest a lot more pesticides and antibiotics from the food we eat every day, to the point where people with antibiotic allergies (especially those who grew up outside the US) can't eat commercial meat, and we inhale all sorts of shit in the air, but I'm supposed to believe that I'm slowly being poisoned by 1 ppb of antibiotic in the drinking water? Whatevs. I'm going to go make some coffee with my caffeinated tap water now.
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You make a valid point. For me, this is just part of a pervasive shit-in-us culture.
I think my ellipsis at the end says it all: it's an open-ended situation that has a few solutions, but might not be worth the time/money to handle.
Still: it's gross. I'm not going to stop drinking the water because I don't have any other option. But it's nice to know what's in there.
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And, to the point, that's why we eat better meat without antibiotics, eat better vegetables, try our best to clean up the world, and fight against pollutants in our water and other places.
It's not just about the water, which merely is another example of a bad, pervasive situation.
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I'm just waiting for the Willy Weak to blame this whole thing on Sam Adams, Jeff Merkley, Steve Novick, and Barack Obama.
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There is something you can do about all the gross contaminates that are in our tap water.
There are a few filters on the market that are certified for the removal of synthetic organic chemicals (SOCs) and volatile organic chemicals (VOCs). Most prescription and over the counter drugs fall under those catagories. Check them out www.waterfiltercomparisons.com
I hope you find this information useful. Until there's some standard set for the removal of prescription and OTC drugs I guess it's up to us to do it on an individual basis.
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Thanks for the head's-up! That's useful information for people wanting to try to take action in their own homes.
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No problem! It's time for us to be proactive instead of waiting for the politicians to get off their asses and do something productive with our tax money.
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