Flushed Drugs Threaten Nation's Water Supply
None by KCPW
(KCPW News) Everything from powerful painkillers to hormone replacement drugs are showing up in the nation's sewer systems - and some have been found in streams and their fish. KCPW's Julie Rose reports on a new program in Salt Lake City to stop people from flushing their drugs down the toilet:
Federal wildlife officials are now warning people not to flush expired prescriptions down the toilet, because everything from painkillers to hormone replacement drugs are showing up in the nation's water supply. Salt Lake City Water Quality Administrator Florence Reynolds says the city's wastewater facilities aren't equipped to check for prescription drugs.
Luckily, she says Salt Lake gets its drinking water from snow run-off and streams that are not affected by waste discharge. However, she adds much of the city's wastewater ends up at the Great Salt Lake where flushed drugs can seep into the environment. Alternatives to flushing are limited, since only a police officer is allowed to handle or dispose of prescription drugs.
Next month Reynolds hopes to have drop boxes at the Salt Lake City Police Department so expired prescriptions can be collected and incinerated.
Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW
1. Royce Gibson said:
It's not just expired prescriptions that are dumped in the toilet. Significant amounts of the prescription medications that we swallow are not absorbed or changed by our bodies. These medications end up in our bladder and then in the sewer. Sewage treatment cleans the water of bacteria and solids, but doesn't remove the excreted medications. So when this water is returned to streams, rivers, or lakes, it includes trace amounts of many prescription drugs.
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