More on Water

[helwen]

Read an article on water in Beijing that fitzw had pointed me to.... they're making a canal that will bring in water from other areas of China, among other things, so that there will be safe, drinkable water for the Olympics. They had to close one of their reservoirs some time ago because the water was unsafe for drinking or agriculture, and the remaining reservoir can't keep up with demand. Meanwhile, poor farmers in surrounding areas must somehow eke out a living with even less water than before...

But China isn't the only place with water quality issues.... check out this article on U.S. water:

Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water

Some excerpts:

Federal law requires water providers to distribute annual “consumer confidence reports” that reveal levels of regulated contaminants. Providers are not, however, required to tell people if they find a contaminant that is not on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list. And there are no pharmaceuticals on the EPA list.

In Philadelphia, the water department has not informed its 1.5 million users that traces of 56 pharmaceuticals or their byproducts — like the active ingredients in drugs to treat depression, anxiety, high cholesterol, fever and pain — have been detected in the drinking water, and that 63 pharmaceuticals or byproducts had been found in the city’s source watersheds*.

Initially balking at the AP’s request to provide test results, Philadelphia Water Department spokeswoman Laura Copeland said, “It would be irresponsible to communicate to the public about this issue, as doing so would only generate questions that scientific research has not yet answered. We don’t want to create the perception where people would be alarmed.”

NYC wouldn't participate in the Associated Press's 5-month study until they found out that all other major U.S. cities were in it.

The AP learned that the New York state health department and the U.S. Geological Survey detected heart medicine, infection fighters, estrogen, anti-convulsants, a mood stabilizer and the active ingredient in an anti-anxiety medication in the city’s watershed upstate*. And the city’s Department of Environmental Protection ultimately said that it does not test its downstate drinking water.

*[Emphasis mine]

There are officials quoted from other cities as well, in Texas, Kansas, and others. The city of Milwaukee is one of the rare cities to publicly post what's in their water. Others cite security reasons, such as that terrorists might add more to the water of what nasties are already in it...

Scientists also do their research with the location information on water kept secret. They say they don't want people to blow things out of proportion, overreact.

Loved this quote:

Doctors “don’t want people to be afraid to take their medicine because of environmental concerns,” said Virginia Cunningham, an environmental executive for drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC.

Now, it's true that many people have medications they need to take! But there are others who are being over-medicated, or being given medications because it's easier for the doctors than actually solving the problem.

Then of course there are the economic and legal concerns (stock value of utilities, lawsuits). And truth to tell, the 'blame' isn't on any one company, doctor, or utility. It's a sign of how bad things are in general.

One person drops a piece of paper on the ground, that person figures it isn't a big deal -- but if everyone drops a piece of paper, it's a big deal. It's the same thing with drugs or anything else. We are none of us so unique that we can say all that each of us does is unique.

There are enough pharmaceuticals in the water that it can be carried by clouds and rivers to watersheds.

Now, it may be true that some of those medications are so dilute there isn't much harm in them. But it is also true that some of them do cause harm -- unless of course nobody thinks that male salmon with female eggs is okay (and no, that _doesn't_ mean they can produce viable offspring on their own). Hormones in the water is a bad thing. Period.

Of course, this means even the most sincerely organic farmers are only so organic... but, there isn't anything they can do about it, except do their best. How can we lobby for people taking fewer medications? I have my own meds I need on occasion, as do others I know. But I don't use mine every day (accupressure and a somewhat sensible diet are my friends), and I know that while L may take his required daily as prescribed, he avoids taking anything else as much as possible. Too bad more doctors aren't like ours.... Dr. C doesn't go pill-happy on us, and encourages natural things like diet and exercise, PT, rest, or other sensible things first.

Oh, and for more on how meds in drinking water can affect people:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23558785/

Sample quote:

Our research shows mixtures are so prevalent,” said Dana Kolpin, a U.S. Geological Survey water expert who launched a plethora of research in 2002 after finding pharmaceuticals in most samples taken from 139 streams in 30 states. “If there are any cumulative or additive issues, you can’t just dismiss things so quickly.”

and

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23503485/
Part 1 of 3, The AP study in more depth.

Comments

[oakmouse]

Stephen Harrod Buhner gives a whole chapter to the issue of pharmaceuticals in the water in his excellent book "The Lost Language of Plants". It's been a problem for decades but it's getting worse and is only now beginning to be publicly acknowledged at all.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Agreed, been happening for a long while. The article on mixed medications was a particularly interesting one to me though -- they're experimenting with re-creating mixes that have been found in the water, in the same proportions, but under controlled lab conditions so they can measure changes. It was fascinating (in a horrid, car accident sort of way) to learn that two drugs that can stimulate growth individually, had the opposite effect when combined.

The weirdest example was that some of the chemicals have a stronger effect on the cellular (or molecular, I forget at the moment) when they are weaker but combined, than when they are stronger... although I wonder if that could be happening because at a stronger dose the effect is short-circuited because the cells can't handle the drugs and don't have time to 'adapt'.

[oakmouse]

Very much in a horrid car crash sort of way, yes. It's all one big experiment. Time to learn how to do that guinea-pig nose wiggle...