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What's In Iowa's Water?

What's in Iowa's water?  Would you believe antibiotics, steroids,  personal care products, pharmaceuticals, acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen, caffeine, cotinine (a metabolite of nicotine), deet (an insect repellent) and carbamazepine, an anti-seizure medication used to treat people with epilepsy and bi-polar disorder?

An Exclusive Report from WHO's 13 News

Des Moines, May 5th, 2005 – Do you know what's in your water? The Environmental Protection Agency sets standards for and monitors pollutants in the water. Things like chemicals from manufacturing and pesticides from farm run-off. But other contaminants are now showing up in the water and many of them come from you and me.

They're called “emerging pollutants”. Things like hormones and antibiotics. They aren't necessarily new to the water but scientists are just starting to test for them. In this Channel 13 Investigation, Sonya Heitshusen takes a look at what's in your water and how it might impact your health.

More than 70-thousand miles of rivers and streams in Iowa provide the state with the majority of its drinking water. In central Iowa, your water primarily comes from two rivers, the Des Moines and the Raccoon.

Rain, run off and treated waste water fill the rivers. This is the same water that, after purification, flows through your pipes. The quality of that water directly effects your health. That's why the government implemented the safe drinking water act more than 30 years ago.

The Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) is in charge of setting and enforcing standards for known toxins like arsenic and lead. But the E.P.A. does not have standards for other pollutants like antibiotics and hormones used in people and animals. We have not been monitoring for these chemicals in the past and now that we're developing sensitive techniques, we're finding them. And now that they're finding them, scientists also want to know how they might impact our health.

Dr. John Vargo, Phd. says, “One of the biggest concerns is the effect of antibiotics in the environment. Some studies have shown there is a correlation between bacteria resistant to antibiotics and presence of these drugs in the environment but testing is still limited.”
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