Just read a story in Jon Barron's newsletter that made me think twice about drinking tap water. The AP concluded a 5-month investigation last week which found that the drinking water of at least 41 million Americans contain trace amounts of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones. These drugs come from animals (from the antibiotics and hormones they receive) and from people (all the prescription and recreational drugs we take find their way into the sewers, and recycled back into our drinking water). The major potential causes are the major drop in age of puberty in children, and that the release of antibiotics in the water cause a huge increase in bacteria and viruses. The article also says that bottled water is not a great alternative - many bottlers just repackage the tap water w/out testing it for pharmaceuticals, but instead to get a good water distiller or a really good water filter.
