Representatives from
The representatives reacted with interest to an Associated Press
report released Monday that showed trace elements of pharmaceuticals were found
in drinking water supplies around the
No one knows what levels of pharmaceuticals are in the water.
Local DEP spokesman Eli Fleishauer, who
read the AP report, said the DEP has no plans to require testing for the drugs
and at the levels quoted in the story it would require drinking “many hundreds
of gallons of water a day to get a single day’s dose” of the drugs.
Fleishauer added that similar quantities of lead would be
allowed under current DEP drinking water regulations.
“In general, I think our water quality is good,” Fleishauer
said.
The Associated Press report states that studies have yet to
determine what effect elevated pharmaceutical levels in water supplies have on
humans.
Decades before consumers even thought about the effect of excreted
pharmaceuticals in the drinking water supply, Paul Mattausch
questioned it: scientifically and as a consumer.
“I have a five-year-old grandson and I have no hesitation in having
him drink straight from the tap,” said Mattausch, who
is the director of
Mattausch, who has been in the water treatment business
since 1968, said Collier’s water supply is well protected.
Though his department hasn’t specifically tested for drugs in the
water supply, the county’s treatment plants are well-equipped to catch and
filter any pharmaceuticals on the off chance that any slipped through.
All of the county’s water comes from wells deep in the ground that
are not immediately impacted by surface water or discharge from wastewater
plants, he said. Most of the county’s water has been in the ground for hundreds
and thousands of years, but still goes through treatment to either soften or
desalinize it. The process used would catch drug molecules which are “usually
very, very large and very complex,” Mattausch said.
“Our water is very, very pure,” Mattausch
said, noting that the county tests for contaminants deemed necessary by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and/or DEP. If either agency directed him
to test for pharmaceuticals, he would do so, he said.
Patty DiPiero, a spokeswoman for Lee
County Utilities, said the report’s findings are a result of technology. She
said this type of in-depth testing, looking for pharmaceutical drugs in the
water, doesn’t exist currently at the state and local level.
“We don’t have to test for these constituents,” DiPiero
said.
She said the EPA has been investigating the issue for years but this
is the beginning of these in-depth findings.
“It’s so new to everyone,” said DiPiero,
who read the Associated Press investigation with great interest.
Last year, a study by Mote Marine Laboratory found traces of
antidepressants in a group of juvenile bull sharks tagged in the
The study said nine of the 10 sharks tested positive for sertraline, the active component in Zoloft.
DiPiero said she was unaware of the research or the study.
Naples Utility Director Bob Middleton said he planned to begin
researching the effects of prescription drugs in drinking water, after reading
the Associated Press report.
This will be the first time the city looks into this issue,
Middleton said, since the state DEP does not require testing for
pharmaceuticals.
“We have never tested for things like antibiotics and Ibuprofen,”
Middleton said. “It’s not in the drinking water standards. If they’re requiring
to test for something, then we’re testing.”
Middleton said he anticipates Naples City Council will ask about the
city’s testing policy during the next council meeting.
On
“I would surmise the impact on our community is nil,” Joel said.
Marco’s water supply comes from surface water from Henderson Creek
in
“If the DEP ever raises this to an issue of concern for our
community, we will be well positioned to meet that challenge,” he said.
Fleishauer, the DEP spokesman, said studies on
pharmaceuticals’ negative effects on fish are more definitive. He said the DEP
and state legislature were looking into quality standards that would address
that issue.
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Staff Writers Jenna Buzzacco, Liam Dillon,
Ilene Stackel and Tom Hanson contributed to this
report.