Palm Beach Post: “Septic systems leaking drugs, chemicals into drinking water”.

To read the article by reporter Susan Salisbury in the Post use this link.

From the print edition yesterday (6/28). Two excerpts from the article:

A new analysis shows that septic systems in the United States routinely discharge pharmaceuticals, consumer product chemicals, and other potentially hazardous chemicals into the environment.
     “These are chemicals found in the products we use every day, and eventually they make their way down the drain,” said Laurel Schaider, an environmental chemist at Silent Spring Institute and the study’s lead author. “What’s concerning is that we are potentially re-exposed to these chemicals as mixtures through our drinking water and we have no idea what the health effects from those exposures are.”

and. . .

     Known as contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), these types of pollutants are frequently detected in U.S. rivers, lakes, and drinking water supplies. However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not currently regulate them in drinking water. Many emerging contaminants are hormone disruptors.