U.S. Water News Online
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Trace amounts of pharmaceutical drugs, including Prozac and birth-control hormones, are leaving the city's wastewater treatment plant for the Grand River, a new study shows.
Some of the drugs, which also include codeine, anti-seizure medications and caffeine, are also turning up in Lake Michigan and in Grand Rapids' drinking water.
The city in 2005 collected samples of untreated waste going into the wastewater treatment plant, treated waste leaving the plant, "raw" water from Lake Michigan and treated water at the Lake Michigan water filtration plant.
Scientists believe the drugs are too diluted to pose an immediate threat to humans.
"If I were in Grand Rapids, I would still drink the water," said Amy Perbeck, toxicologist for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
John Wierenga, superintendent of the city's water filtration plant, told The Grand Rapids Press for a recent story that the findings show no need for changes in the water system, which serves 270,000 customers and already eliminates many of the drugs.
"It's probably some of the cleanest (water) to be found on the planet," Wierenga told the newspaper.
Perbeck said she's most concerned about the effect of birth-control hormones on fish and other wildlife.
Officials are using the test results to urge people not to flush unused medications down the toilet.
The tests were funded by a state grant.
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