Oregon Public Broadcasting

Low levels of prescription drugs are ending up in our drinking water and no one is certain what their long-term effects may be on human health.

As Pete Springer reports, a public forum is being held Thursday in Portland on the subject.

Drugs usually get into drinking water two ways— someone either flushes them down the toilet or they pass through our bodies. 

Trace amounts of hormones and pain killers have been found in Portland’s drinking water. 

Sewage systems are not equipped to filter out these drugs and updating the systems is generally considered too expensive.

Teresa Huntsinger handles water quality education work for the Oregon Environmental Council.

Teresa Huntsinger: “There’s very little known about the human health impact of these very, very low levels of pharmaceuticals—we’re talking about parts per trillion—and so people could be potentially exposed to these chemicals at very low levels over the long-term.”

Huntsinger says we’re just now learning about this issue because of new water quality testing methods.

The Oregon Environmental Council along with other groups are calling for the pharmaceutical industry to develop a program to collect and safely dispose of unused prescription drugs.