Concerned about Drugs in Your Drinking Water?

The Associated Press recently reported[1], in typical dramatic fashion, the results of their investigation where various studies detected low levels of a variety of pharmaceutical drugs in 24 major U.S. cities' water supplies. The report states these drugs consist of common over the counter drugs like Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen as well as a number of varieties of prescription drugs. The report goes on to explain these drugs are expelled from the body during normal waste elimination, get treated in local municipal wastewater treatment plants and are ultimately discharged into our environment where they turn up in dilute quantities in the raw water supplies that our local water treatment plants use to produce our tap water. The report also states that our local water treatment plants are unable to remove most of these compounds and some end up in our final drinking water although in extremely low concentrations (i.e., parts per trillion to parts per billion).

The news report also states that health risks of consuming these low levels of pharmaceuticals are unknown... this is true. Finally, it states that home filtered water and bottled water that comes from municipal supplies (over 25% of all bottled water in the U.S. comes from a tap water source[2]) may not be safe. This statement leaves the reader with the impression that these drugs might still get into our bodies even though we use conventional filtration systems on our homes.

The truth is that national testing laboratories are still developing the standards and testing equipment required to detect and identify these compounds. Until they do, no one can make a definitive statement that their filtration products remove these compounds. That is the reason the report states, "...users of bottled water and home filtration systems don't necessarily avoid exposure."

The good news is that while testing standards are as of yet unavailable, based off our current knowledge we believe that many of these pharmaceutical compounds will be reduced by the latest carbon-block technologies, such as those used in the Wellness Filter®. The Wellness Filter has already been tested to reduce a broad spectrum of organic compounds and chlorinated organics (also known as chlorinated hydrocarbons). Once testing standards are available for pharmaceuticals and their byproducts we will be able to validate and make a formal claim.

Our Wellness Filter product line is designed to give you the best drinking and bathing water available. As our trademark states, "The best quality of water on earth... could be your faucet."