Polluted Tap Water: Are You Drinking Someone’s Excreted Tamiflu?

It seems that the urine excreted from people taking the trendy, Swine Flu aka H1N1 virus, Tamiflu drug has been found in rivers into which treated water flows. According to a recent article published in Science News, remnants of this popular flu-fighting drug is apparently contaminating some rivers in Japan raising concerns that birds may spread the flu virus.

The study discovered Tamiflu “in the treated sewage on every occasion,” and confirmed that Tamiflu survives water treatment, leading head researcher Gopal Ghosh to conclude that Tamiflu remnants in treated urine are “high enough to lead to antiviral resistance in waterfowl.”

“The problem with urine is that it is the main source of some of the chemical nutrients that have to be removed in sewage treatment plants if they are not to wreck ecosystems downstream,” according to New Scientist. “Despite making up only 1 per cent of the volume of waste water, urine contributes about 80 per cent of the nitrogen and 45 per cent of all the phosphate.” And this, concentration is what makes the removal process difficult (costly?) in most treatment plants.

Urine filtration process - Image courtesy of New Scientist

“I know what is in tap water and I refuse to drink it,” Martin Chalk. an employee of what he calls a “functional water company,” wrote to me in an email along with a link to this Huffington Post article implying pharmaceutical collusion. Mr. Chalk attached a document, Chemicals Used for Treatment of Drinking Water Supplies and suggested that many public health officers will tell you that chemicals are only present in small amounts. Yet these amounts are toxic enough to kill every living organism in the water (that’s their job) and then we drink it.”(download the document – PDF)

Some of these processes and chemicals found in drinking water are:

• Antimicrobial chemicals to remove the two most common waterborne pathogens  - cryptosporidium and giradria
• Fluoride – one of the most dangerous toxic industrial chemicals on the planet – alongside chlorine (which is also a potent carcinogen and added)
• Chemicals that help preserve the infrastructure of the pipes -stop them from calcifying and silting.

But pollutants may not only exist in our tap water. David Fowler, CEO of Wellness Enterprises, LLC, a company that manufactures water filtration products, advises that “a recent study of ten different brands of bottled water showed that several of the brands were contaminated with pharmaceuticals such as Tylenol®, ibuprofen and Prozac™…shocking evidence that even bottled water is not always safe.” Shocking indeed.

The drinktap.org website, presented by the American Water Works Association (the authoritative resource on safe water) confirms that when it comes to viruses “tap water that has been treated by conventional disinfection processes does not likely pose a risk for transmission of influenza viruses. Current drinking water treatment regulations provide a high degree of protection from viruses.” Although the site does admit that “no research has been completed on the susceptibility of the novel H1N1 flu virus (Swine Flu) to conventional drinking water treatment processes.”

But would you go to a third world country and drink their un-chlorinated water? Cancer specialist, William Dunn confirms that “chlorine can indeed cause cancerous by products after they kill any remaining bacteria after filtration. However, though a Harvard study showed the potential for these by-products to be dangerous in high quantities (in lab animals), they simply aren’t concentrated enough to harm humans.”

A recent New York Times article concluded that “it is not known how many people suffer unreported stomach upsets from bacterial contamination, or even more serious problems, like long-term exposure to contaminants like lead, from drinking tap water” although the prevailing argument rests that the majority of people who do fall ill from drinking tap water are those of already frail health.  The Times article includes a database of more than 200,000 facilities that have permits to discharge pollutants and collected responses from states regarding compliance.

Environmental health expert, Teresa Holler, succeeds in scaring us even more with this bit of information, “many [chemicals found in water] have been linked to cancer, reproductive toxicity, developmental toxicity and immune system damage. They include rocket fuel (perchlorate), a gasoline additive (MTBE); chemical by-products of water disinfection, plasticizers (phthalates), chemicals used in industrial and consumer products, pharmaceutical drugs and fuel combustion byproducts.”

Ms. Holler suggests you obtain a copy of the Consumer Confidence Report from your local water utility. Also check out http://www.ewg.org/tapwater/ to identify which unregulated chemicals may be present in your water supply.

What are your thoughts on the safety of tap water? What about bottled water? Post your comments below.