CBS 4 Denver | news4colorado.com
Oct 28, 2003
Traces of prescription drugs, household cleaners and chemicals
from MRIs are showing up in the U.S. water supply, according
to government researchers who have completed one of the most
detailed surveys ever done on a single American watershed.
Just how the pollution affects people or the environment
is not clear, officials with the U.S. Geological Survey said
Tuesday.
But they said the results of their Boulder Creek study reflects
the common medications and household products getting into
the nation's rivers and streams.
The study, done in 2000, was the first to use the most advanced
equipment to detect small traces of chemicals. A nationwide
study was done the same year, but did not have the same level
of detail.
Boulder Creek water meets federal safety standards, but
chemicals including anti-depression, heart and hormone medication
adds a new wrinkle to water quality control nationwide, USGS
scientist Sheila Murphy said.
"There is little known what these chemicals do to humans
or animals in small doses," said Murphy, co-author of
the study.
Chemicals detected in Boulder Creek include metals found
in mayonnaise, shampoo, water softeners and vitamin supplements.
The study also found a spike of "gadolinium," a
rare element that is injected into medical patients during
magnetic resonance imaging exams or MRIs.
Murphy said little is known about galolinium. She said the
results do not mean Boulder residents receive more MRIs than
their counterparts across the nation.
"You would find the same results in a river downstream
from any city," Murphy said, urging residents not to
dump old medication or household cleaners in toilets or sinks.
Boulder Creek was chosen for the study because it allowed
scientists to look at the water from protected mountain headwaters,
through an urban region to an agricultural area.
The area studied includes 447 square miles that starts at
the Continental Divide and goes to the plains north of Denver.
Snowfall is the source of most of the water, though some
also came from pipelines on the Western Slope.
Officials said they study can be used to draw up water quality
policies.
"Good science is so important for policy makers to
make good policy," Boulder Mayor Will Toor.
Boulder is studying the use of pesticides on noxious weeds
near the creek, Toor said. The city also is looking at traces
of animal feces in the river and whether the waste is from
wildlife or domestic dogs.
Boulder households have responded to past water quality
issues, said Chris Rudkin, Boulder water quality coordinator.
The city found large levels of copper at its treatment plant
a couple of years ago and traced it to a chemical used by
homeowners to kill roots in water and sewer pipes.
"We got the word out and the stores that sold the product
agreed to replace it with another product," Rudkin said.
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