<h1 class="newsTitle">Cocaine, Spices, Hormones Found in Drinking Water</h1><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/11/091112-drinking-water-cocaine.html">http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/11/091112-drinking-water-cocaine.html</a><br>
<br><div class="inlinedate">Christine Dell'Amore<br><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/">National Geographic News</a><br></div>
<div class="inlinedate">November 12, 2009</div>
<p class="intro">
<i>This story is part of a special series that explores the global
water crisis. For more clean water news, photos, and information, visit
National Geographic's <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/freshwater/">Freshwater Web site.</a></i>
</p><p>
How's this for a sweet surprise? A team of researchers in Washington
State has found traces of cooking spices and flavorings in the waters
of Puget Sound. (See <a href="http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps/map-machine#s=r&c=48.367198426439465,%20-122.51129150390626&z=7">map.</a>)
</p>
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<p>
University of Washington associate professor Richard Keil heads the
Sound Citizen program, which investigates how what we do on land
affects our waters. </p><p>
Keil and his team have tracked "pulses" of food ingredients that enter the sound during certain holidays.
</p><p>
For instance, thyme and sage spike during Thanksgiving, cinnamon surges
all winter, chocolate and vanilla show up during weekends (presumably
from party-related goodies), and waffle-cone and caramel-corn remnants
skyrocket around the Fourth of July. </p><p>
The Puget Sound study is one of several ongoing efforts to investigate
the unexpected ingredients that find their way into the global water
supply. </p><p>
Around the world, scientists are finding trace amounts of
substances—from sugar and spice to heroin, rocket fuel, and birth
control—that might be having unintended consequences for humans and
wildlife alike. </p><p>
<b>Vanilla Seas?</b>
</p><p>
When spices and flavorings are flushed out of a U.S. home, they travel
to a sewage-treatment facility, where most of them are removed. </p><p>
In the area around Puget Sound, the University of Washington team
found, the spicy residues that remain in wastewater end up flowing into
the sound's inland waterways. </p><p>
Of all the flavors trickling downstream, artificial vanilla dominates
the sound, Keil said. For instance, the team found an average of about
six milligrams of artificial vanilla per liter of water sampled. </p><p>
The region's sewage runoff contains more than 14 milligrams of vanilla
per liter. This would be like spiking an Olympic-size swimming pool
with approximately ten 4-ounce (113.4-gram) bottles of artificial
vanilla. <br></p>For now, there's no evidence that a sweeter and
spicier sound is a bad thing—salmon, which can smell such flavors,
could be enjoying their vanilla-enhanced habitat, Keil said. <p>
In an attempt to understand some of the consequences of spice in the
water, Keil and colleagues plan to study whether cooking ingredients
harm the reproduction of octopuses in Puget Sound.
</p>
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<p>
Overall, he added, the spice project has become a successful recipe for
educating people, especially schoolkids, "that everything you do is
connected to the watershed." </p><p>
<b>Illegal Drugs</b>
</p><p>
The link from kitchen or bathroom to coast can also grease the path for
some rather unsavory substances, such as illegal drugs, experts have
discovered.
</p><p>After a person has taken drugs such as cocaine, heroin,
marijuana, and ecstasy, active byproducts of these substances are
released into the sewage stream through that person's urine and feces. </p><p>
These byproducts, or metabolites, are often not completely removed
during the sewage-treatment process, at least in Europe, said Sara
Castiglioni of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research
in Milan, <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_italy.html">Italy</a>.
</p><p>
That means the drug-tainted wastewater can enter groundwater and
surface water, which are collectively the major sources of drinking
water for most people. </p><p>
(Related: <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090816-cocaine-money.html">"Cocaine on Money: Drug Found on 90% of U.S. Bills."</a>)
</p><p>
In a new review study, Castiglioni and colleague Ettore Zuccato found
that illegal drugs have become "widespread" in surface water in some of
Europe's populated areas.
</p><p>For instance, in a 2008 study scientists discovered a byproduct
of cocaine in 22 of 24 samples of drinking water at a Spanish
water-treatment plant—despite a rigorous filtering and treatment
process.
</p><p>
Likewise, in 2005, Zuccato found that a daily influx of cocaine travels down the <a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0205/feature6/index.html">Po River</a>, Italy's longest river.
</p><p>Though these drug traces are still tiny, it's possible that the
potent residues could be toxic to freshwater animals, according to the
study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal <i>Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A.</i>
</p><p>
For this reason, the "risks for human health and the environment cannot be excluded," the study warns.
</p><p>
<b>Pharmaceuticals</b>
</p><p>
Scientists are also developing a clearer picture of how legal
pharmaceuticals and personal-care products—from antibiotics and
morphine to fragrances and sunscreen—are flooding our waterways. </p><p>
For example, previous research had revealed that up to 44.1 pounds (20
kilograms) of pharmaceuticals flow down Italy's Po River each day.
</p><p>
Much like illegal drugs, traces of pharmaceuticals often filter through traditional sewage-treatment processes.
</p><p>These products are also found in many U.S. waterways, and
studies have shown that certain drugs may cause harm to the
environment—though no evidence to date has shown effects in people,
according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
</p><p>Some of the drugs that mimic hormones, such as birth control,
may also throw off an animal's endocrine, or hormone-regulating,
system. Some male fish in the U.S., for example, have been <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070122-sex-change.html">growing female parts due to exposure to estrogen</a> in the water.
</p><p>
Researching these substances is important, Castiglioni said, "because
[these] are quite unknown contaminants, and they are present in the
environment in huge amounts, especially for pharmaceuticals." </p><p>
To control the flow of these substances, some experts have suggested
creating "green pharmacies," which would allow a consumer to send back
their drugs to a pharmacist or manufacturer instead of flushing them
down the toilet and into the wild.
</p><p>
<b>Contaminants</b>
</p><p>Current EPA regulations say that more than 90 contaminants must
be filtered out of drinking-water systems, said Cynthia Dougherty,
director of EPA's Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water.
</p><p>Viruses and other microorganisms are kept at bay, as are
inorganic substances such as lead, cyanide, copper, and mercury.
Pollutants from fertilizer runoff, such as nitrate and nitrite, are
also removed.
</p><p>In addition, the agency regularly studies new chemicals that
may need regulation. Of particular interest right now is perchlorate, a
natural and human-made chemical used in fireworks and rocket fuel,
Dougherty said.
</p><p>At sufficiently high doses, the chemical—found in at least 4
percent of U.S drinking water—can reduce iodine uptake into a person's
thyroid gland. If continued long-term, reduced iodine can lead to
hypothyroidism, according to the agency, which is now seeking input on
whether to regulate perchlorate.
</p><p>Ultimately, "what you really want is to not ever have things
you're concerned about in drinking water in the first place," Dougherty
said.
</p><p>
That's why it's crucial for local communities to keep a close eye on what runs into their waterways, she said.
</p><p>"If you have an understanding of what your source of drinking
water is and what can happen to it," Dougherty said, "you can be a more
educated citizen in engaging in those issues."
</p><br><br>