Human being are giant food processors. We take in food and liquids at the top and, some time later, we dispose of what's left of the food and liquids at the other end. This may not be the most exciting reality to think about but, unless we do start thinking about its implications for our drinking water, we could end up in a lot of trouble. You might have noticed a change in the weather recently. For these purposes, it doesn't matter who or what's responsible, simply register that we have drought conditions in many parts of the country.
This means we're increasingly reliant on our rivers for drinking water. As and when it rains consistently, the reservoirs will no doubt fill up again. Until then, we're into the recycling business. We draw in water upstream of our towns and cities, and pump out the treated effluent downstream. Unfortunately, one town's downstream is another town's upstream. So the theory says our drinking water will be purified before it gets piped to our faucets. The practical reality is that all the water is cleansed of the bad bacteria that comes from human waste. To that extent, the water is safe to drink. But the treatment plants can't take out everything that might be harmful.
As a nation, we consume a vast amount of drugs. Many also have the habit of flushing away unwanted drugs. Add to this emerging evidence that drug manufacturing plants are not self-contained and also pump some drugs into the local rivers. The result is a major cocktail of drugs recycling in our drinking water. In a study published by researchers in New York in 2010, there were regular test samples taken from three waste water treatment plants in New York. This water was analyzed for the presence of opiates and muscle relaxants like Carisoprodol. In the second part of the study, samples were taken nationally to give a comparison. The results show higher than expected levels of Carisoprodol and other drugs affecting humans. But the concentrations were up to 1,000 higher in the treatment plants close to the manufacturing facilities.