Big news this week from the Associated Press on pharmaceuticals in our drinking water. In an interview on NPR's Talk of the Nation, American Rivers' Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee member Dr. Joan Rose, summed it by explaining that the close connection between human waste, animal waste and our drinking water supply essentially "short circuits the natural environment and leads one to be concerned."

The Associated Press released the first major report on pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies in the U.S. this week, and the results aren't encouraging. Investigators found an array of pharmaceuticals from pain killers to antibiotics to mood stabilizers in the drinking water of 24 major metropolitan water suppliers. Even worse, thirty-four of the sixty-two water suppliers contacted by the AP couldn't provide results as they had never tested for pharmaceutical compounds.

It's not time to stop drinking tap water, but these results are certainly a cause for concern. As we noted in our newsletter article last spring, pharmaceuticals have been found in waterways throughout the U.S. While we know very little about how small concentrations of these compounds affect human health, effects on fish and wildlife are well documented. Male fish in the Potomac River near Washington, DC have been found with male and female sex organs, a mutation thought to be caused by pharmaceutical compounds. Laboratory tests have shown that human cells react to the small amounts of discarded medications found in waters throughout the U.S.

This problem isn't likely to go away any time soon as American drug consumption has increased rapidly in recent years. Americans already fill 3.7 billion prescriptions every year, likely to increase with an aging population. The chemicals in these drugs often end up in waterways after being excreted from the body or when unused medication is flushed down the toilet. Most sewage treatment facilities do not remove the compounds or even monitor for them. The federal government hasn't stepped in to require testing or set safety limits, leaving us where we are today: with a lot more questions than answers. As a result of the study, several states and cities are now planning to test for these compounds.

You can check this map to see if pharmaceuticals have been found in your drinking water - which is also the source of much bottled water.