So said Benjamin Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the U.
S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
He was commenting on the AP internet release about contaminated drinking water.
The story, dated March 9, 2008, is a four-page single line summary of the findings by a nationwide Associated Press investigating team.
Members of the team, according to the release, "reviewed hundreds of scientific reports, analyzed federal drinking water databases, visited environmental study sites, treatment plants, and interviewed more than 230 officials and others.
They surveyed the nation's 50 largest cities and a dozen other major water providers as well as smaller community water providers in all 50 states".
Folks, what they found out ain't pretty! We, meaning at least 41 million of us, are drinking pain medicines, cholesterol meds, and meds for asthma, epilepsy, heart problems and mental illness.
Some lucky folks are drinking antibiotics, estrogen, caffeine, steroids and veterinary drugs.
Philadelphia officials reported finding 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water.
Grubmles of EPA when asked about the findings, said that EPA is taking the matter seriously.
The report, in brief, indicates that all sorts of medicines and chemotherapy agents as well as steroids and hormones are showing up everywhere: in city drinking water, in wells, in watersheds, in rivers and lakes.
They are even showing up in the deep aquifers.
One can quickly deduce from the findings that perhaps many more than 41 million of us are ingesting various of these substances in our drinking water.
Many places do not test for these substances.
There is essentially no way to remove these substances in current water treatment methodologies.
The article also notes that it is unknown what effects all of this could have on people.
It is unknown how much various of these substances interact and to what extent chlorine in the water can make some pharmaceuticals more toxic.
Fish and other aquatic forms of life are beginning to show genetic defects thought to be the result of some of these substances, as noted in a Newsweek story last year.
Everything being found is in minute quantities.
But the questions remain unanswered: what is the cumulative effect, given that there are so many different substances and that they have been accumulating for decades? Are We Getting Early Notice? This is the second big story about medicines, drugs, chemotherapy agents, and steroids in drinking water all over everywhere.
The first was the Newsweek story last year that focused on genetic mutation beginning to show up in fish found in some rivers, thought to be a result of medicines and drugs in the water.
The findings in these early investigations seem to point in one direction: there is likely much more trace material in the water we drink and the sources from which we draw our water.
Wells and watersheds are being affected.
Bottled water and filtered water use the same sources so they are not safe either.
The amounts of what is going into the water are increasing and are cumulative: the stuff does not go away and does not break down.
It is not being removed or dissolved.
Everything is in trace amounts.
But that is no comfort because there are so many things and they accumulate.
Could it be that we are witnessing an early warning about future regulations? There are those who already think the EPA is preparing to declare septic systems as unacceptable because they put back into the ground human waste that contains the substances being detected.
The coming standards may call for systems that either put nothing into the ground (zero discharge systems) or treat the waste to a far more stringent - and expensive - standard than anything previously experienced.
Never write off human inventiveness when it comes to solving new problems.
There will surely be more studies to determine exactly what is in the water and what is to be done.
Someone may very well devise ways to get all of these elements out of the waste from humans and even from animals.
However, lacking such solutions there is another possibility: that the issue will be addressed by not allowing any human waste, whether treated or untreated, to be put into the ground or bodies of water in the first place.
Neither the EPA or any other responsible monitoring or regulatory body will stand by for very long just hoping that we are not inadvertently about to destroy ourselves through genetic mutation or medicinal poisoning.
Study findings such as reported by the AP investigating team may hasten and broaden the move already underway towards non discharge sanitation.
Homeowners and homebuyers: study these matters carefully and ask questions locally.
Sanitation systems and indeed almost everything about sanitation in times past were mostly invisible and taken for granted.
Not anymore! We are now entering a buyer, builder and developer beware era when it comes to sanitation.
What is your local jurisdiction planning by way of future sanitation? What problems are being experienced locally? What mandates are being anticipated from the top down in your state? What are the regional trends regarding water usage and wastewater treatment? Bottom line: well owners take notice.
Check your water quality frequently.
Septic system owners: keep a close ear to the ground.
You might someday be told that septic systems won't be allowed.