Pharmaceutical are not known for handing out their medications, especially those that make good money for them, for free. However, in recent years, that’s exactly what has been happening, in very small doses, in most major North American cities. These and other drugs, including hormones, over-the-counter medications and water soluble vitamins turn up in water supplies in increasingly large amounts.
Though there are no thresholds for exposure, there is also (as of the late ‘aughts) no way to filter them out. The molecules in question are simply far too small to be pulled out that way. Furthermore, since there are no regulations regarding these substances, municipal water treatment systems are not compelled to innovate a way to deal with the problem, if they even see it as a problem.
Most people see it as a problem. In fact, until these stories broke, most were unaware that sewage was recycled into drinking water. This has been safely done many times over for the last several decades all over the arid parts of North America.
