Antibiotics and pharmaceuticals

Antibiotics, anti depressants, birth control, seizure pills, cancer treatment, pain killers, tranquilizers, and cholesterol-lowering compounds have been detected in many water sources.

How do they get there?

Most come from hospitals and other medical facilities, but many also come from households.  People dispose of their unused or unwanted medications by flushing them down the toilet which goes into the water sources. 

Farm animals that are injected with antibiotics also contribute to the contamination of water because the contaminated manure which holds traces of antibiotics in it; spreads onto the land and can be washed in surface water and even seep into ground water.

How they affect us and our wildlife

Some scientists claim that long-term and synergistic effects of pharmaceuticals on humans are not known, and because they are unknown that is the reason we must be cautious. They are concerned that these drugs can interrupt with hormone production.

There is also apprehension that the contamination may result in disease-causing bacteria and humans will become immune to prescribed treatment and that drug-resistant diseases will develop.

However, the most important worry about this topic is that aquatic life is at high risk when the water is contaminated.  Scientists have found a link between anti-depressants and altered sperm levels and spawning patterns in marine life. 

What has been done?

Most research has been focused on aquatic animals.  For more information on the high risk that marine life is at visit http://ag.arizona.edu/azwater/awr/july00/feature1.htm

What the EPA is doing?

The EPA is doing tremendous amounts of research on this topic since it is very new.  However, they have found that levels of contamination are very low and there is still time to discover ways to protect and treat our waterways. 

What you can do

Prevention is the best answer. If you have unwanted or unused medications instead of flushing them into our waterways, simply return they to the pharmacies.  For more information on what you can do to help reduce the contamination of water go to http://extension.usu.edu/waterquality/htm/homeownerswater/pharmaceuticals/  or http://www.phila.gov/water/Pharmaceuticals_in_D.html