Continuing on the theme of water quality in America, I would like to discuss a very disheartening and scary trend. Pharmaceuticals - estrogen, testosterone, anti-depressants, antibiotics and others - are showing up in alarming levels in our drinking water. My mother-in-law was the first to really bring this to my attention and she is working very hard with the agriculture departments and non-profits here in California to maintain and restore our water quality. It turns out that these pharmaceuticals are getting into our water through human and livestock waste, as well as leaching from landfills where people have thrown away extra pills. When laboratories develop birth control, anti-depressants or other drugs they are processed to such a minute level that the conventional water filtration systems, be it the local municipality or mother nature's aquifers, cannot filter out the molecules and they end up in our drinking water. It may seem a trivial thing at first because they are at such small levels of contamination but there are some very frightening things happening in response to this.
The Potomac River that runs along Washington DC and empties into the Chesapeake Bay has been found to be so contaminated with pharmaceuticals that they have actually found asexual fish. These fish were not previously asexual but due to the estrogen and testosterone levels, they have evolved to become asexual. The Potomac River is the drinking water supply for the DC metropolitan area. Yes, it is treated but living there I noticed a very sad trend. Of the seven couples at my office that were trying to start a family, only one couple was able to conceive naturally and have a healthy and complication free pregnancy. Five of the seven couples had multiple miscarriages and the sixth couple had a baby born that died minutes after. I'm not saying that all the complications were from pharmaceuticals in the water, the couples were mostly in their mid to late 30's so that could have had some effect but those ratios seem extreme even for that. We all know that pregnant women and fetuses are more susceptible to medication and environmental factors and our drinking water would seem a good place to look towards finding an answer to all these couples' heartbreak.
There is a way to filter out these molecules through reverse osmosis. Being an architect, I always encouraged my clients to install a whole-house reverse osmosis water filter. Unless you live at the top of the mountain and drink the snow melt there is no doubt that you have pharmaceuticals in your drinking water. There seems to be less of an affect on healthy adults so I don't mean to alarm anyone into buying all bottled water. In the event my husband and I ever decide to have kids, however, we will definitely purchase a reverse osmosis filter beforehand.
As consumers of pharmaceuticals there are things you can do to help remedy this toxic trend. By eating better you help your body better defend itself against infection and systemic problems like depression. The less pharmaceuticals we need the less it will end up in our water. If we pledge to eat organic and pasture raised meats this also reduces the amount of antibiotics from livestock operations that wind up in our water supply. Do not throw away unused medications or flush them down the toilet, please call a local authority on disposal of pharmaceuticals and consult with them about the best way to get rid of them.
Everything seems to come back around to eating better and supporting the natural local way of producing our food. With your vote for the local sustainable food supply it becomes apparent how many other ways it improves our lives!
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