Psych meds in my drinking water???

I have been concerned for quite some time about the presence of pharmaceutical drugs in my drinking water.  Here are some statistics on this important subject. 

In the year 2000,  the US Geological Survey surveyed 139 streams in 30 different states in the US.   What was found was an alarming 95% of these sources were contaminated with traceable amounts of  pharmaceuticals.   It was also reported that the amount of drug contamination in the water and groundwater in the US is equivalent to the amount of pesticide contamination. 

Since pesticides have been in use for approximately the same number of years as psych meds have been,  I suppose that is not an unexpected comparative statitistic.   What is most alarming about these statistics is that they are accumulating on a daily basis !  Not only do drugs get dumped (excreted/peed)  into the waste water system,  they are disposed of in haphazard ways  by private consumers dumping pills into the toilet,  etc.  Considering that more than 100 million people are taking these types of medications daily,  and that farming as an industry is a huge user of meds to tranquilize and medicate livestock and poultry before sending to market,   it is a scary thought indeed how much has and will continue to accumulate in our ground water and soil.   These statistics were compiled in the year 2000.    It is now ten years later.  Frankly I’m a little scared to research and find the current amounts of contaminants in the groundwater.  But logic tells me its certainly not going to be less,  and I would not be surprised if the levels have even doubled those of this decade ago study. 

This is a problem of such a magnitude,  that I do not know if we will actually be able to solve it in time. 

For now,  I will continue to drink my purified water never letting a drop from the tap touch my lips.   As much as possible i will continue to eat agricultral products that are produced on clean farms,  and those that do not use meds on their animals or crops.  And as much as possible I will continue to spread the word to raise awareness of this ongoing problem.