medicated water

I'm sure everyone has heard about the new report from the AP about finding pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies. I'm so glad the issue has gotten some attention and that the government may actually look into ways of improving the situation.

In the past I've written about how hormone-disrupting chemicals are showing up in water supplies and also about ways to dispose of medication properly. What I was surprised to read about in the report form the AP is that the traces of pharmaceuticals are mostly coming from people's waste being flushed down the toilet. I thought it was more an issue of dumping bottles of old pills down the drain. Of course, that is a bad thing to do too, but how can one really control traces of drugs in your pee? I don't know enough about water treatment to understand what a huge undertaking that kind of filtration would be.

In the meantime, I'll share some new info I have since learned about proper drug disposal. I recently cleaned out our medicine chest of expired things. I checked Earth911, which directed me to my city's Department of the Environment to find out where I could take expired medications for disposal. They gave me 2 local options. Whatever you do - don't flush them!