Cocaine,
Spices, Hormones Found in Drinking Water
Published February 26, 2010
This image shows how we can not be completely certain that our water is completely safe because of the bad things they have found in drinking water.
Summary: Scientists have been finding unwanted contaminants in people’s drinking water. They have been finding cooking spices, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, and other unwanted materials in the drinking waters. During holiday seasons testers have found holiday related remnants in the water, such as sage, cinnamon, chocolate, and many other treats! One spice they are finding a lot is vanilla. They found about 6 milligrams per liter of water! As for illegal drugs, they are mostly found in the waters of European countries. Drugs get in the water through from the waste of the users and can enter groundwater sources. In Spain, one testing showed that 22 of 24 samples contained cocaine byproducts. A pharmaceutical drug that affects life in the waters is birth control, or other hormone drugs. These drugs have caused some male fish to mimic female fish. People often flush prescription drugs down the toilet if they are done with them or if they are expired, and scientists want more towns to avoid this. They suggest having days where people can bring their drugs to the police or pharmacy where they can be properly disposed of. Some other contaminants in the water can cause major health problems later on.
Opinion: A lot of this really surprised me! I did not know
that so many cooking spices ended up in our drinking water. I also thought it
as funny how the water, depending on what spices were being used in abundance,
represented what holiday it was! I think I kind of expected there to be some
illegal drugs in the water but the amount of cocaine was really shocking. It is
not safe to have that much cocaine in the drinking water in Europe and it
really worries me. I think creating days to return your drugs is a good idea. It
is a coincidence because my family recently received an email that the Horsham
Police Department was sponsoring one of these days in our community. It is good
to know that the authority in our community is trying to solve the problem of
unwanted drugs in our water.
Questions:
1. Do you think our water is tested for illegal drugs
specifically? Or do you think they would show up in the purity tests?
2. If people don’t watch what they put down the drain do you
think these contaminants could cause major problems for us?
3. After hearing about the cocaine problem in Spain, do you think you would be comfortable drinking the water in Spain? Why or why not?
-Natalie
Opinion: I feel like this is a big problem, especially if it interferes with things such as allergies. Since police can not go to everyones' houses every single second of the day, it will be hard to clear this problem up too. I hope that filter systems at water treatment plants increase, and maybe there can be tracking devices at each house to see if drugs are put in the water so that people can be fined. Hopefully, in the future technology will be able to come out that will make the water safer without traces of certain chemicals or spices. I think it is funny though that different holiday oriented spices show more in the water during different times of the year though.
ReplyDeleteQuestions:
1) Will people really return drugs on drug return days?
2) Can people die because of water having certain chemicals, spices, or drugs in it?
3) How is it possible that there are 6mg of vanilla per liter of drinking water? Shouldn't it get filtered out?
Answer Questions:
ReplyDelete1. Do you think our water is tested for illegal drugs specifically? Or do you think they would show up in the purity tests?
Since this comes across as a newer issue, I do not believe these come up on water purity tests. Our water is most likely tested for illegal drugs specifically because we have not learned anything about drugs showing up in our water quality reports. But, this issue is a scary thing, and should be fixed so it doesn't cause major health problems down the road.
2. If people don’t watch what they put down the drain do you think these contaminants could cause major problems for us?
Yes, this could most definitely cause major problems. These drugs getting into several people's water could affect their health badly, say if they were allergic or not supposed to be near certain contaminants in the water. Especially because people may be caught off guard, it could cause terrible issues and it is best we stop this now.
3. After hearing about the cocaine problem in Spain, do you think you would be comfortable drinking the water in Spain? Why or why not?
I probably would not be comfortable drinking water in Spain. I would most likely bring my own water bottle, due to safety concerns. I would not take the dangerous risk of by accident drinking contaminants like these certain prescription drugs within the water. Therefore, I would not drink the water in Spain because of these contaminants.
Invite a Professional
ReplyDeleteI emailed Ms. Christine Dell'Amore, the author of the article. She is a freelance writer with a master's degree in journalism from the University of Colorado. I believe she is a good choice because although her master's is in journalism, she specializes in environmental reporting and consistently writes for National Geographic. Also, she received an undergraduate in environmental science and policy at the University of Maryland. Since she wrote this article, it is also assumed that she would be knowledgeable on the topic. This is the email that I sent:
Hello Ms. Dell'Amore,
My name is Toni Santacroce. I am a high school student, and am currently in Environmental Science class. In class, we are currently studying the hydrosphere. A few students in our class run a blog where we analyze articles and recently, we have chosen yours about contaminates in drinking water. Since you have studied the environment as well as journalism and are renowned in both, it would mean a lot to me and my classmates if you took a moment out of your day to comment on our most recent blog post and offer your comments. I have visited your website and flickr; some of your pictures (as well as the fact that your traveling is so expansive) are really breathtaking, especially the ones from Copenhagen! Anyway, if it does not take too much time, I ask you again to offer your comments on my and my classmates' blog, which can be found at:
http://brainybloggers101.blogspot.com/2013/04/cocaine-spices-hormones-found-in.html
Thanks again for your time!
All the best,
Toni
Expand with a new link
ReplyDeletehttp://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-10-drugs-tap-water_N.htm
The link above relate to the article because it talks about how drugs get into our water and why. People flush their drugs down the toilet and even through that water is cleaned multiple times, not all of the drug residue comes out. With the drug residue rising in our water supply, scientists are getting more and more worried about the future of the water. In Philadelphia there has been 56 pharmaceuticals or bypass products found in drinking water that has been treated. The government does not even require any testing for drugs in water. Only 28 out of the 62 big water providers were tested and even then they only tested for one or two drugs. The big reason why this is a problem is because the pharmaceuticals are not meant for a life time, they are only meant for a short period of time.