Taking action on drugs in water supply

If only our water was composed of just two harmless hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom -- H2O.

Unfortunately, other chemical elements in our drinking water pose possible risks to our health.

In recent years a number of suburban residents have found their wells to be contaminated with potentially dangerous chemicals from industrial sites. In other cases, landfills are the suspected cause of groundwater pollution.

Now there is a new form of chemical water contamination. As reported by The Associated Press in articles published last week, a vast array of pharmaceuticals have been found in the drinking water of 41 million Americans.

There's no mystery on how these drugs got in the water. We have put them there by flushing unused medicine down the toilet or pouring it down the drain. When you consider 3.7 billion prescriptions have been written for Americans in the last five years, you know why this has become a growing source of water pollution.

What is unclear is the threat, if any, this contamination presents to public health. Some scientists are skeptical that the trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in water can cause harm. Others aren't so sure. It's certain that more research must be done to establish any potential risk. And, from there, the creation of regulations and standards to address the problem.

It's good to see that Illinois is not approaching the issue with the hesitancy and evasiveness found in some other parts of the country. Last week, Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will expand water quality monitoring to detect levels of pharmaceuticals in the state's water supply, to include sampling of Chicago water that is piped to the suburbs. The IEPA also will push for more intense evaluation of the health effects of an unregulated flow of prescription drugs into our water supply.

In the meantime, this is a problem with a solution. It will not take a lawsuit or a lengthy investigation to fix blame. We are all to blame.

There are ways to safely dispose of prescription drugs. For one, there are household hazardous waste collection sites in Naperville and Lake County that accept prescription drugs for disposal. The Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, or SWALCO, which provides this service, can be reached at (847) 336-9340 or through its Web site, www.co.lake.il.us/swalco/. For more information on the Naperville program, call (630) 420-4190.

Moreover, the state EPA schedules numerous household hazardous waste collections. For a list of these, go to www.epa.state.il.us/land/hazardous-waste/household-haz-waste/hhwc-schedule.html.

The government needs to do more to explore the scope of the problem of prescription drugs in our water. But this is one instance where the public can do much toward solving the problem on its own without government intervention.