Local water authorities say impact on health is unanswered question
'No such thing as pure water'
They knew this was coming.
Water systems across the country were warned by the American Water Works Association that the Associated Press was preparing stories about pharmaceuticals in drinking water.
On Thursday, the association conducted webcasts to brief its members, and the message was this:
Modern science allows for the detection of tiny concentrations of contaminants in drinking water, but being able to detect those substances does not mean they are a threat to human health, and the impact on health is the important, unanswered question.
"There is no such thing as pure water," said Kin Hill, chief executive officer of Charleston Water System, after watching the 90-minute webcast with utility employees and two reporters from The Post and Courier.
Among water utilities in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties, Charleston Water System has voluntarily tested water for pharmaceuticals and other compounds, like pesticides, that are becoming a concern among water suppliers.
Reader poll
Do you think your tap water is safe to drink?
- yes 57% 196 votes
- no 42% 142 votes
338 total votes.
Charleston Water System is the region's largest water utility, serving about 400,000 people.
There are no regulations requiring water testing for pharmaceuticals, and utilities including Santee Cooper Water Authority and Mount Pleasant Waterworks have not tested for such compounds.
"We have been and continue to be in compliance with our testing and continue to test the things we are required to test," said Laura Varn, vice president of corporate communications for Santee Cooper.
Santee Cooper and Charleston Water both rely upon water from Lake Moultrie, and Mount Pleasant Waterworks gets more than 40 percent of its water supply from Charleston Water System.
Charleston Water System's tests found traces of caffeine, phenol (a class of compounds found in wood and cleaning products), and TDCPP (a flame retardant) in its treated water.
The system's untreated water included traces of Sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic, but none was detected in the processed water piped to consumer's homes.
Many of the compounds that have been found in some large cities' water supplies, such as estrogen from birth control pills and pharmaceuticals such as painkillers and antidepressants, were not detected in Charleston Water System's tests.
The tests that were used could detect compounds measured in parts per trillion (nanograms per liter).
For example, caffeine was found in Charleston Water System's treated water at a level of 35 parts per trillion. A typical cup of coffee contains about 700 million parts per trillion.
"I'm sitting in my office with a new carpet and a computer, so I'm probably exposed to more flame retardant than if I drank 1,000 gallons of water," said Clay Duffie, general manager of Mount Pleasant Waterworks. "We should not overreact until we know more, and where these compounds are concentrated we should look for the source and mitigate that."
The pharmaceutical compounds detected in water can get there directly, if pills are disposed of by flushing them down the toilet, or indirectly when they are passed through people's bodies.
Treated wastewater from other cities, like Charlotte, Greenville and Columbia, flows into the water supply for the Charleston area.
"We are downstream of other users," said Andy Fairey, chief operating officer of Charleston Water System.
The only large water system in the region that does not primarily rely upon surface water is Mount Pleasant Waterworks, which gets about 60 percent of its supply from the deep Middendorf aquifer.
"This formation we're taking water out of was laid down 40 to 60 million years ago, and we don't think dinosaurs were taking birth control pills," Duffie said. "We wouldn't expect to find any of those things."
He said Mount Pleasant Waterworks officials have considered testing the water, but there are no approved testing methods, and no standards for what constitutes an unsafe level of the compounds for which they might test.
"Do you want to spend $50,000 and have a bunch of data and not know what it means? We have to decide what's appropriate," Duffie said. "At this point we have no reason to be alarmed that there's a public safety issue here, but we're certainly not going to close our eyes."
Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com.
E-mail this story
Printer-friendly version
Comments
theronce (anonymous) says...
O woe is us...another thing to fear as someone tries to make an economic niche for themselves.
March 10, 2008 at 7:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MinoritySouth (anonymous) says...
Well, that would explain Harp's moobs...
March 10, 2008 at 8:09 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ImplantedYankee (anonymous) says...
This is just like the lead scare. Suddenly we could detect levels of lead in water, so it must be because of leaded gasoline (nevermind the fact that the equipment with sufficient sensitivity to detect such small quantities of lead did not exist before that point and that lead is a naturally occurring element).
With equipment this sensitive, there will ALWAYS be some detectabke contaminants. This is not news.
March 10, 2008 at 8:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
grannyofsix (anonymous) says...
now all the lawyers have an excuse to use why thier clients killed ,raped and robbed.
THE DRUGS IN THE WATER MADE THEM DO IT!!!
March 10, 2008 at 8:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
That nut in "Dr. Strangelove" had it right all along.
March 10, 2008 at 8:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
blah_blah_blah (anonymous) says...
Implanted Yankee,
"With equipment this sensitive, there will ALWAYS be some detectabke contaminants. This is not news."
This is news. Detecting contaminants is one thing, detecting abundance of lead and medicine is another thing. Something we should be concerned about.
March 10, 2008 at 8:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lexylady (anonymous) says...
This could be a good thing. We can all get cured for all of our medical problems with just two or three glasses of water a day. Let's see, they say there are antidepressents, antibiotics, steroids, various hormones, anticonvulsants, mood stablizers, etc. Just think, all we have to do is go to the faucet and drink away our problems.
Just think of the gas we will save by not having to go see a Doctor.
I can't help but wonder what other poisons are in our water supply. I will keep my healthy well water, thank you.
March 10, 2008 at 9:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RTC (anonymous) says...
I have flushed quite a few bottles of expired or discontinued medications down the toilet in my lifetime.
Guess I won't be doing that any longer. I wonder what is the safest way to dispose of these drugs?
March 10, 2008 at 9:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
buttercup (anonymous) says...
LMAO @LowcountryMoose
March 10, 2008 at 11:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
proud2bme (anonymous) says...
ImplantedYankee,
very well said!
March 10, 2008 at 11:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lexylady (anonymous) says...
lowcountryMoose..That is hysterical!!!
Rtc.. Keep flushing.. I can only pray that we are not drinking recycled sewage...
I can live with the mood swings, and boners, but I damn sure can't live with the thought of recycled sewage water, even if I was high!!! ...lololololololol
March 10, 2008 at 1:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RTC (anonymous) says...
lexylady, lol, As long as the boners are on the males, if not, we are all in serious doo-doo.
March 10, 2008 at 1:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MinoritySouth (anonymous) says...
Posted by LowcountryMoose (anonymous) on March 10, 2008 at 9:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Drink up and share in the American Dream: Going through life with a buzz and a boner!
and your own breasts to play with..
March 10, 2008 at 1:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lexylady (anonymous) says...
RTC, I sure hope it is on the correct gender..lololol..because if it isn't, Then there is more in the water than they are telling.. Could it be possible that....................No Way.... a boner is a boner no matter which way you look at it!!!! LMAO!!
March 10, 2008 at 1:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bflosue (anonymous) says...
My mother's doctor said that to dispose of old meds: break them in half if possible, put them into a ziplock bag, add used kitty litter (or wet coffee grounds), zip, put into the trash. This keeps them out of the hands of addicts and out of the water supply.
I use a Britta filter now, but I really want to get a Water Maker - it is basically a dehumidifier that condenses water from the air and then filters and purifies it for drinking. I want to avoid the chlorine and flouride that is added to the water but avoiding all these drugs and chemicals is even more incentive.
March 10, 2008 at 3:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RTC (anonymous) says...
I would like to know about the quality of the reverse osmosis water. We get this from the stations and use it for cooking and drinking. It goes through such a high pressure and removes a lot of stuff, but I have no idea about drug removal.
I wish Mr. Duffie had addressed that concern.
March 10, 2008 at 4:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
GSDLover (anonymous) says...
To Thomas1776,
First it is Charleston Water System. And secondly, look at this news brief from their website:
http://www.charlestonwater.com/public...
Scroll down this page to get the answer to your question that you said you could not find. It tells of the reason for changing out these meters. Also, there was an article in the P&C as well as flyers in the bills explaining what was being done.
CWS is not a city or state entity, Charleston Water System is a public water and wastewater utility governed by a Board of Commissioners.
lexylady:
Bad news, all of the water is recycled wastewater! We drink it, pee it out, flush it, goes through the treatment plant and is reintroduced to our rivers, streams, lakes, oceans, etc, where it is then pumped to a water treatment facility to be processed and the cycle begins again!!!
March 10, 2008 at 5:53 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lexylady (anonymous) says...
RTC..Give him a glass and see what comes up??? lololol
March 10, 2008 at 5:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lexylady (anonymous) says...
Thomas, thanks for the info. Now I know I will be sticking with my well water.. Good Grief, are we supposed to believe that we are being kept completely safe by the process you mentioned? There is also a perfect terrorist opportunity here, don't you think? I'm not saying this is terrorist related, but it is scary.
March 10, 2008 at 6:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RTC (anonymous) says...
lexy, I'll let you have the honor. I don't know if could "hand"le it. LOL
March 10, 2008 at 6:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
This is so stupid. We're talking ppb here folks. If you want straight H2O, you best start your own distillery.
Water is a conglomeration of everything in the environment that is water soluble. If there were no people at all the water would contain nitrogen, sulfur, lead, and all the things that those can compound with that are water soluble. Maybe if you drink water with 1 part per billion prozac or viagra over a lifetime you will be affected, but frankly you're ready to die by then anyway. If it was ppt I'd be concerned, or if there were some evidence that ppm or ppb could be a problem I may be concerned, but at these levels with nothing to show that these levels are harmful this is nothing but scare journalism.
Now if you want the real scary part of this story, hydrogen makes up the vast majority of water, even water polluted with chemicals. Hydrogen is explosive. Even scarier, hydrogen won't burn without oxygen, and that's the other major component of water! I expect the entire population of the planet to go up in flames at any minute.
We're all doomed.
March 10, 2008 at 7:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lexylady (anonymous) says...
RTC, with my luck I would get the watered down version!!
This is toooooo funny!!
March 10, 2008 at 7:51 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RTC (anonymous) says...
LOL lexy, just what is in your water? I think I need some of it. I am about petered out.
March 10, 2008 at 8:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lexylady (anonymous) says...
OMG, this is so hysterical, and it all started with LowcountryMoose. I wonder how he got That name??
RTC, you are quick on the draw, I'll tell you that!! I don't know when I have laughed so much. As far as what's in my water?, I am starting to wonder that myself. I must get it tested again.
March 10, 2008 at 9:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
RTC (anonymous) says...
Yeah, I was shocked by his hilarious comment. He actually preached at me the other day about reading my Bible and learning tolerance when it comes to homosexuality.
I never said I hated them, I just said I didn't support them. Maybe he got hold of some of the water with mood elevators in it, and he lightened up.
Whatever, it's been fun.
March 10, 2008 at 9:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
geekguy2008 (anonymous) says...
This information probably originated from some talking head at AquaFina.
March 10, 2008 at 10:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Postandcourier.com is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Postandcourier.com does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not postandcourier.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website.
Users can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends' recent posts, add an avatar that fits their personality, and more. If you have posted here before you'll need to sign up again, or if you've never posted before, start now by signing up!
Full terms and conditions can be read here.