From aspirin to antidepressants, medicines can make our lives better, but they may not be doing the same for the environment.
For as long as we've been using medicines, they've been finding their way into our water. Bill Crawford with the Benzie Leelanau Health Department says, "it could be excretion through the person taking the medication, it can be done in cases where people flush it down the toilet. It can be done to a certain degree through public treatment facilities that don't have the capacity for that. The levels vary widely because there are different concentrations going into different bodies of water. Bodies of water are different in size and volume, so in some cases there's more dilution and in others there's less dilution." The levels of pharmaceuticals in the water overall are low, but there is some debate among researchers over what is considered safe. Bill Crawford continues by saying,"it's both an environmental impact concern and a potential health impact concern because much of our drinking water comes from surface water. The problem is, so little study has been done on it to recognize what the impact on the environment and humans is." Removing these chemicals entirely would be impossible, but we can minimize our impact by finding ways to safely dispose of unused medication.
So what do you do with it?
"We don't want them flushed down the toilet because it's a problem whether you have a septic system where it kills the microorganisms, or going into the waste stream. Our water treatment plants can not handle these things," says Bill. Many pharmacies and hospitals have take-back programs, not all do. Recycling centers will often take them on special collection days, but only law enforcement can handle controlled substances.
Elisa Seltzer of the Emmet County Public Works says,"we've developed a program. Our first event was at the end of September when we collected medicines from everyone in the area. We had pharmacies helping us out. We had law enforcement helping us out. It was a very successful start to our program. There is more and more interest. I expect to see more programs in the future." Programs that will make protecting our water as convenient as taking a pill.
If you have unused or expired medications at home and don't know what to do with them, make some phone calls. Check with your pharmacy, doctor's office, veterinarian, and local recycling center for options. Also, if you have a place or know of a place that takes them, please leave a comment detailing where.
