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NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2009
WATER (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Klamm, spokeswoman for the Lawrence Utilities Department. "But it's too soon to know what the effects are going to be."
The University purchases its water from the Lawrence Water Treatment Plant, which treats water from Clinton Lake and the Kansas River.
Klamm said the Lawrence Water Treatment Plant didn't test for pharmaceuticals on a regular basis because no Environmental Protection Agency regulations required it to do so. She said she wasn't certain when Lawrence last tested the water for pharmaceuticals.
According to the EPA, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, or PPCPs, range from prescription and over-the-counter drugs to lotions and cosmetics. As of 2007, more than 100 PPCPs had been
identified in environmental samples and drinking water. Oftentimes, drugs enter the water supply when people flush their unwanted pharmaceuticals.
Although the first study of PPCPs in rivers was nearly 30 years ago, it has been only within the past decade that equipment and testing methods have been advanced enough for scientists to detect the drugs, according to officials.
Research also has shown that conventional water treatment methods are only moderately successful in completely removing the drugs.
Concerns of experts in this field center on long-term, cumulative effects of exposure to a variety of unwanted supplements, which to date remain unknown.
With the studies leaving more questions than answers, no standards yet exist to regulate safe levels
of exposure to pharmaceuticals in our drinking water.
CONCERNS
One of the major concerns of pharmaceuticals in drinking water is the cumulative effects of ingesting unintended substances during a long period of time.
As Christian Daughton, an EPA scientist and authority on PCPPs in water supplies, said in his 2008 study, "Simultaneous exposure to multiple drugs, each significantly below its individual safe' level, could result in combined action as a result of additive or interactive effects."
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Craig Adams, chair of the civil, environmental and architectural engineering department with the University, said although he thought most concentrations of pharmaceuticals weren't high enough to harm humans, there were two exceptions antibiotics and hormone compounds.
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The presence of antibiotics can build up antibiotic resistance, making the drug less effective in treating patients.
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Kathy Richardson, waste reduction and recycling operations supervisor for the Lawrence/Douglas County Household Hazardous Waste Facility, said the facility would accept pills only by appointment, made by calling (785)864-3030. She said the facility could not accept controlled or narcotic substances, such as prescription pain killers.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The presence of hormone compounds, such as estrogen, can disrupt metabolism and sexual development in children.
"Hormonal compounds have extreme power on our endocrine system at extremely low concentrations," he said.
Hormone compounds probably have no effect on adults because they are no longer developing, but there is no research on the subject yet.
Mike Meyer, a research geochemist with the Lawrence office of the U.S. Geological Survey, presented a third concern. He said he wondered whether filtering the pharmaceuticals could change their chemical makeup into more hazardous forms.
Adams said he still thought drinking tap water was as safe or safer than drinking bottled water.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION
ceticals primarily enter the environment one of two ways: throwing pills down the drain and performing bodily functions.
"The active ingredients of pharmaceuticals have probably long been present in drinking water ever since pharmaceuticals first came into widespread use." Daughton said in an e-mail. "Their presence is a direct result of their intended use."
According to Daughton, pharma-
The human body doesn't metabolize medications completely. Studies have shown that up to 90 percent of some oral medicines can pass through the human body unchanged.
The primary route is through routine bodily functions, such as urination, and when chemicals wash off our bodies when we bathe.
HOW TO DISPOSE OF UNWANTED DRUGS
Instead, Watkins Memorial Health Center Chief Pharmacist Cathy Thrasher said pharmaceuticals should be handled as hazardous materials. Unwanted drugs should either be taken to the Watkins Pharmacy or to the City of Lawrence/Douglas County Household Hazards Waste Facility, 711 E. 23rd St.
Daughton said the second route PPCPs enter the water system was when people threw their unwanted pills down the drain.
Adams said people could focus on preventing pharmaceuticals from ending up in the environment by prescribing correct doses, prescribing medication only when it is needed and properly disposing of pharmaceuticals.
According to the EPA, PPCPs stay in the environment, particularly in the water, because the chemicals don't dissolve easily or "evaporate at normal temperatures and pressures."
Both facilities accept pills free of charge.
WATER FILTRATION SOLUTION
PPCPs return to the drinking water because methods used today aren't capable of removing all the compounds, Adams said. He said
Suzanne Rudzinski, EPA deputy director for Science and Technology in the Office of Water, said the most effective methods for the removal of pharmaceuticals from drinking water were also the most expensive, reaching potentially billions of dollars in investment.
one of the least effective methods in removing pharmaceuticals was by using powdered activated carbon, which is what the Lawrence Water Treatment Plant uses to filter its water.
Although that method removes volatile organic compounds such as pesticides and industrial toxins, Adams said, the method is not as successful in removing drugs from the water system.
One example she cited was using reverse osmosis to filter water, which could cost millions of dollars for an individual city, according to Bob Mesick, a designer with Remco Engineering, a water treatment system manufacturer out of Ventura, Calif.
Klamm said the Lawrence plant was not looking to change its system for the time being.
and Mississippi rivers this summer. Adams' study found small amounts, measured in parts per trillion, of several PPCPs, the most prevalent being caffeine, antibiotics and ibuprofen.
STUDIES
Adams and a team of environmental researchers examined raw and finished drinking water from parts of the Missouri
Adams is not the first to discover PPCPs in drinking water. Previous research determined that:
OF 20 drinking water facilities, all contained the insect repellant DEET in their raw samples, and 90 percent contained it in their treated samples. More than 65 percent of the treated samples also included anti-anxiety medication, anti-seizure medication, ibuprofen and a radiation-blocking agent, according to a 2007 study by the American Water Works Association Research Foundation.
80 percent of 139 streams in 30 states contained at least one contaminant; 54 percent had more than five contaminants; and 13 percent had more than 20 contaminants, according to a study by the U.S. Geological Survey from 1999 to 2000.
In the meantime, the EPA is developing test methods and determining successful ways to remove the pharmaceuticals from the drinking water.
However, these studies determine exposure, not the potential harm that could come from it. And until more is known about the toxicity of exposure levels of these pharmaceuticals recurring in drinking water supplies, Rudzinski said, the EPA would wait to release any formal regulations of the substances.
More than half of 20 U.S. drinking water facilities in a 2008 EPA study contained at least three contaminants: 83 percent included an herbicide chemical, 78 percent included an anti-anxiety medication, and 56 percent had an antilepileptic medication.
"The City of Lawrence is keeping our eyes and ears open to make sure we do the right thing," said Aurora Shields, water quality manager for the City of Lawrence.
Edited by Abbey Strusz
MTV (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
The award-winning video features Reynold's group, Nerds in Disguise, performing Lit's "My Own Worst Enemy." It also features an unusual type of party, where people from
two different walks of life come together to share a good time.
Reynolds said he and his friends knew from the beginning they wanted to depict a college party
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in their video. Making the party look realistic, however, became a challenge within the contest rules, which stated that all video submissions had to incorporate both Pepsi and Rock Band products, could only feature music from a pre-approved list of songs and could have no more than 10 people shown.
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"I'll polish it up and put it in a trophy case, that's for sure."
SHANE REYNOLDS
Chatham, III. freshman
between two cliques of different people, such as rock stars and nerds. The party-goers can be seen downing plenty of Pepsi in keg-
"The problem is you can't have a party with only 10 people, " Reynolds said, "so we decided to double each of us up to make it look like there were actually 20 people."
In the video, each person plays two characters: a nerd and a rock star. Reynolds said the main message was there could be unity
In some of Reynolds' more memorable scenes from the video, he pours soda over his head and rides a child's bicycle into a pool.
In an interview with The Kansan before the winners were chosen.
party fashion.
Reynolds said he hoped to bring a Moonman award back to Lawrence and keep it in his dorm room.
"I'll polish it up and put it in a trophy case, that's for sure," Reynolds said.
Edited by Brenna M.T. Daldorph
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPECIALTY JOURNAL
SEPT 19 PAUL WALL
SEPT 20 STARILIT PLATOON
SEPT 22 CARBON LEAF
SEPT 23    BADFISH
SEPT 24    MADE BOWEN
SEPT 25    THE SWCHW
SEPT 26    BROTHER ALL
Kansas Zen Center Upcoming Classes
Sept. 17 & 24, 7 p.m.
Sept. 26, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Foundations of Zen class: An Introduction to Zen Practice. Open to all, regardless of experience. $^{3}20$ suggested donation for both classes. Taught by dharma teacher Jane Gnojek
One day retreat designed for beginner and new practitioners. Organization for beginners at 8:30 a.m. to 4 a.m. take a bunk, wear comfortable clothes. 125 for nonmember, 225 for member, 101 for participants in this fall' Foundations of Zen class. Led by guided teacher Judy Ritman.
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