By Richard Mesquita, AquaMD

Take a look at these incredible findings from a nationwide U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report of water samples tested in 30 states for 95 different prescription and nonprescription drugs:

• 75 percent of the water tested contained two or more drugs.
• 54 percent of samples had more than five drugs.
• 34 percent of samples had more than 10 drugs.
• 13 percent of samples had more than 20 drugs.

What types of drugs were found? Try painkillers, tranquilizers, anti-depressants, antibiotics, birth control pills and chemotherapy agents, to name a few ...

How Drugs Get Into Your Water Supply

Here are the two primary contributors to drugs in the water supply:

1. Forty percent of all antibiotic drugs are fed to livestock. These animals generate significant amounts of manure, containing traces of these drugs that's sold and used as fertilizer on lawns, gardens and farms. When it rains, the drugs in the manure are washed into rivers, streams, and underground water supplies.
2. Drugs are flushed down drains and toilets by:

• People cleaning out their medicine cabinets.
• Hospitals and drug companies disposing of their old drugs.
• People taking drugs and naturally excreting them into human waste.

The drugs are carried by sewage systems to wastewater treatment plants that unfortunately do not remove pharmaceutical contaminants from the water. So these drugs are released into the environment and back into the water cycle.

Researchers claim that the amount of pharmaceuticals and personal care products released into the environment each year is the same as the amount of pesticides released into the environment each year. So you are talking about 888 million pounds of drugs released into the environment each year, or about three pounds per year for each U.S. man, woman and child.

Environmental, Health Risks

There is very limited information as to how drugs in our water supplies affect humans, fish and plant life. But, recently, researchers have found that:

1. Pharmaceutical drugs in water trigger hormone imbalances in fish causing the feminization of the male fish.
2. Antidepressants found in water cause premature spawning in shellfish.
3. Drugs that treat heart ailments prevent fish from repairing normal damage to their fins.
4. Antibiotics in water are contributing to the rise of bacteria that is resistant to conventional antibiotic treatment.

Some researchers are very worried about the long-term impact of drugs in the water supply because:

• Some people are now exposed to traces of multiple drugs at one time, and that is in addition to other harmful metals and chemicals in their water.
• Many drugs in the water supply are known to have dangerous side effects (when taken in normal prescription doses).
• Drugs that were only intended for external application will now be ingested and vice versa.
• Some individuals are allergic to drugs found in the water supply.
• People are exposed to combinations of drugs that should never be combined.

What's Being Done to Fix The Problem?

Not nearly enough. Yes, there are proposals in the works by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for risk assessment guidelines on new pharmaceutical drugs. Still, these guidelines simply involve putting labels on drugs that they feel have environmental risks. But putting more labels on drugs won't stop people from continuing to flush them down the drain because it's convenient!

And, the guidelines they are working on will not address drugs that are already being sold. They will only apply to new drugs being developed.

There is research being conducted to figure out how to efficiently and economically remove pharmaceutical drugs from water supplies, but no silver bullet has been found. Each water company solution tested so far creates its own problems.

For example, adding ozone to the water destroys many of these drugs, but it also forms bromate, a toxic disinfection byproduct linked to cancer.

Chlorination also destroys some drugs, but has its own side effects and creates Haloaectic acids and Trihalomethanes, which are linked to cancer, kidney damage, liver damage and central nervous system damage, among others.

How Pure is Your Water?

Unfortunately, no single filter exists that removes all contaminants. Water treatment systems are customized to treat individual problems. The key is to find out what problems you have in order to get the appropriate treatment system.

Remember, you're not only exposed to contaminants in water by drinking them. You are also exposed to contaminants when you shower, bathe, cook, wash laundry and use eating and drinking utensils washed in contaminated water.

But once you find out what's in your water, you can install the appropriate water treatment system to fix your problems. And, please consult with your health practitioner about the contaminants you were exposed to in order to treat any damage they may have done to your body.