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Today’s
findings by the Associated Press confirm what Environment lllinois has suspected
for some time: that prescription drugs and other medicines are now in the tap
water for millions of Americans. Many of the nation’s top health experts have
predicted this growing threat for years and have warned about the impending
challenge of protecting U.S.
drinking water supplies from increased contamination due to pharmaceutical
drugs.
This is a
problem that must be addressed quickly and correctly by local, state and
federal officials including local drinking water suppliers and municipal sewage
authorities.
Environment
Illinois
promotes a multi-pronged solution to the challenges faced by medicines,
hormones and prescription drugs found in our tap water:
First, the pharmaceutical industry should prevent the unnecessary flow of its
products into our nation’s rivers and bays. Where feasible, drug makers ought
to re-engineer their products for more efficient human intake, so there are
less excess active ingredients flushed into water systems.
Moreover,
we should also apply the long-held medical maxim of “first, do no harm” to the
large volume of over-the-counter health products. While prescription drugs are
at least tested to be “safe and effective” before reaching the market, we ought
to at least certify that OTC products yield at least some benefit for consumers
before allowing them to enter our waters as pollution. Ditto for the myriad
hormones and antibiotics that are now administered to millions of livestock
every year, with little regard for downstream consequences.
Secondly, Environment
Illinois calls upon the nation’s water and sewage treatment facilities to move
quickly and proactively to upgrade the technology at their facilities to
protect the American public from these and other drinking water contaminants. Experts
and industry spokespeople have stated that studies show that implementing ozone
water treatment is the most effective method for removing pharmaceuticals from
our drinking water sources, going beyond the traditional use of chlorine which
deals with bacterial contamination and some chemicals but usually cannot tackle
these newly found prescription drug pollutants. Environment Illinois calls upon the use of the best
available technology to proactively address the growing threat of
pharmaceutical contamination in the nation’s drinking water supply.
Third, Environment
Illinois calls on Congress and the Bush administration to dramatically increase
the funding for Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds which are
the nation’s cornerstone program to help communities upgrade their water and
sewage treatment facilities. These projects are important and expensive, and
local water authorities are often stretched to the limit when it comes to the
extensive financial investments needed to implement these types of projects.
EPA has projected that communities across the country will need to spend nearly
$400 billion over the next 20 years to improve sewage treatment systems in
order to preserve water quality. To ensure clean water, President Bush and Congress
should fund the Clean Water SRF at $1.5 billion and prioritize funding for
projects that utilize green infrastructure to reduce polluted runoff.
Unfortunately,
President Bush’s 2009 budget proposal weakens this critical clean water
program. The proposed Clean Water SRF budget of $555 million is a cut of $134
million below the FY 08 enacted level and nearly $800 million below the FY 04
funding level of $1.34 billion. This is taking a huge step backwards when it
comes to tackling the issue of pharmaceuticals or other contaminants in America’s
drinking water supply and sends the message that protecting public health is a
low priority for the current administration.
Lastly, Environment
Illinois believes that we should require the drug companies and pharmaceutical
manufacturers to pay for the increased cost of upgrading sewage treatment
plants and drinking water facilities to the extent that their products, when
used as intended, are polluting our waterways and drinking water.
Safe and
healthy drinking water for all Americans should be a right, not a privilege.
Yet with the recent celebration of the federal Clean Water Act’s 35th
anniversary and the current attention towards this new threat to our tap water,
it is critical that our elected officials, chemical manufacturers,
pharmaceutical companies, and local utility and sewage treatment facility
managers take the necessary steps to protect public health and ensure clean
drinking water for all Americans.
