Drinking Water
Have you heard the recent reports about medications being found in drinking water all over the country? Yes, sadly it’s true. The reports show that the amounts are very small traces- everything from mood stabilizers to sex hormones. An Austin mom is concerned about giving tap water to her six month old. Here’s what she wrote:
I am concerned about the reports regarding drinking water being contaminated with medications. It’s been all over the news and it’s really starting to panic me. I have a six month old who takes formula, which I mix with tap water, as directed by our pediatrician. I’m wondering if I should order from one of those water delivery companies or if that is even contaminated? I’ve put a call into the pediatrician and she has urged us to continue using tap water, saying that the amounts are too small to affect us. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Even if it doesn’t affect us adults, wouldn’t it harm our babies and kids since they are so much smaller? Please help!!
This is a very reasonable concern for us parents. I took a few minutes to do some research and found one article on Yahoo News that says there were no medications found in the Austin water supply. Are they not reporting any traces or is it true that we are one city that has non-contaminated water?
Of the 28 major metropolitan areas where tests were performed on drinking water supplies, only Albuquerque; Austin, Texas; and Virginia Beach, Va.; said tests were negative. The drinking water in Dallas has been tested, but officials are awaiting results. Arlington, Texas, acknowledged that traces of a pharmaceutical were detected in its drinking water but cited post-9/11 security concerns in refusing to identify the drug.
Please share your thoughts on this news story and tell us how you and your family are handling concerns over water that is contaminated with prescription drugs.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Austin gets all of its drinking water from the Colorado River. Since there are no appreciable cities upstream, it makes sense that Austin would have little or no pharmaceutical traces in the water.
And if we did, using bottled water wouldn’t help- chances are, the bottled water comes from a municipal supply that does have pharmaceutical traces.
March 18th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
My daddy has worked for the City of Austin for a very long time. The Water and Wastewater department to be exact.
When I was younger he would have to go to these silly water conventions similar to wine tastings but with water instead. They would always test municipal water supplies and bottled water supplies. The C of Austin almost always came out higher than the bottled waters, and many many of the bottled waters were simply someone elses municipal water supplies.
Think about this: You could completely legally sell bottled water advertising that it sources from the flowing streams of the Colroado River, and just bottle it from city pipes.