Green Daily

Last week, pollution experts pressed a House panel for a new approach to monitoring our country's water supply for the hundreds of contaminants that are not monitored right now. These contaminants include discarded and excreted pharmaceuticals, vitamins, cosmetics and pesticides. Some experts testified that the current Clean Water Act is no longer enough, as a very limited number of pollutants are measured.

Pharmaceuticals in the water supply raise special concerns, according to an LA Times article. Even though drugs have been found to be present in low concentrations, the problem is that they are designed to affect the body at low concentrations. In an excellent report earlier this year, the AP discovered that at least 46 million Americans' water supply has tested positive for pharmaceuticals. Most of the pharmaceuticals found are believed to come from unmetabolized drugs excreted by humans into toilets. However, hospitals and long-term care centers are also intentionally discarding 250 million pounds of unused drugs down toilets.

Clearly, we need better laws and regulations to deal with this, but what can you do? One easy step is to dispose of unused drugs by crushing them into kitty litter or coffee grounds and disposing in the trash, not flushing them down the toilet.