In my personal opinion, there needs to be some major shifts in the priorities of our water quality treatment. My foremost concern is in regards to new and emerging contaminants or constituents, particularly pharmaceutical drugs. Whether you are aware of it or not, medical drugs have been finding their way into our drinking water at a staggering rate. Since not all drug residues are absorbed by the human body, every time you take a pill a fraction of the residue eventually finds its way down the toilet and back through the water system.

Unfortunately, most of our water treatment facilities are not properly equipped to detect all these drug residues, essentially giving these constituents a free pass to your tap. I believe that this has the potential to become a severe issue in the future, but the severity can be reduced if proper attention is paid to it now. Since having pharmaceutical drugs in our water is somewhat of a new concept, there is understandably less focus on the situation. The problem with this is that we can't be sure of all the different problems these drugs could cause or how acute the effects could be. There are so many new drugs with new chemical make ups emerging everyday that it will be very difficult to figure out the different harms and treatments associated with each one. Trying to develop remediation approaches would be an arduous task, at the least. This is what differentiates pharmaceuticals in water from other contaminants, such as inorganics. While there are multiple inorganic contaminants, each has a specific chemical make up and can be easier to sample, analyze, and treat. But with modern medicines you may have thousands of different products and prescriptions, each with their own chemical ingredients and complex structures.

Watching TV for a short while can really prove a point in this case. You may start to lose track of how many new types of medicines and prescription drugs are being put out on the market. It seems there is always some new drug for every possible situation: anti-depression medicine, birth control drugs, herpes pills, and so on. The part in these commercials that sticks out to me the most is when the often serious side effects are announced very quickly, almost like bids at an auction, while we see people walking through a beautiful valley or rowing a boat. My point is that whatever new medicines are being prescribed for whatever ailments people have, they are not for everyone. Not all of us are interested in trying the latest menopause pill, and we are definitely not interested in the side effects we may experience. This is why I am apprehensive about having pharmaceutical drugs in our water and invoking citizens and scientists alike to take an active approach towards a solution.