Let me tell you a quick story about prescription drugs in drinking water. This topic is a growing concern across the nation, and bears careful consideration on everyone’s part.

In an investigative report by the AP, surveys and test data for water supplies in over 50 cities were reviewed.

In the city of Philadelphia, the report showed 56 different drugs were found. Among the major items found were the painkiller acetominophen, antibiotics amoxicillin, azithromycin and tetracycline, as well as carbamazepine, diclofenac, and prednisone.

For your information, the Philadelphia Water Department oversees water quality and supplies water to the city.

The watersheds that the city relies on are the Schuylkill River and the Delaware River. Philadelphia has a treatment plant on each river that disinfects and treats the incoming river water prior to distributing it to city neighborhoods.

Based on reaction to this report, the Philadelphia City Council asked for more information about why such a large number of prescription drugs in drinking water were found in the Philadelphia supplies.

The commissioner of the Philadelphia Water Deaprtment stated that more advanced techniques were used in sampling local water supplies, thus it was not surprising that more substances were able to be detected.

Even with this observation, there are other reasons to be concerned.

The Environmental Protection Agency currently does not have standards in place for restricting the number and amount of prescription drugs in drinking water. The EPA also does not know what the long term effects of even small concentrations of these medications in the water supply could have on consumers.

Additional information from Clean Water Action, a national environmental organization, points out that fish in the Allegheny River have been altered by exposure to hormones. This is another reason why government agencies should take the problem seriously.

It should also be noted that a major contributor to the increase in drugs in the drinking water is due to increased use of medications, combined with improper disposal of unused medications. The end result is the same: drugs enter the water supply after passing through wastewater treatment systems and back into lakes and rivers.

Do yourself a favor, and take action on this information. The best action you can take is to put in a drinking water filter system in your home. The best systems can filter out chemical contaminants, remove metals and organic chemicals, and remove unwanted medications. Do your research and find the system that works best for you!

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Andre J. Sylvester is dedicated to researching the best methods for water purification. Visit his site at http://www.best-safe-water-purifier.com/ to find out what products he recommends based on his research.