San Diego Tap Water Contains Pharma Products

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 10, 2008 at 1:57 PM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

A variety of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics and sex hormones, have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans. San Diego officials plan to open a new water trea

A variety of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics and sex hormones, have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans. San Diego officials plan to open a new water treatment plant that would remove some of those products. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

The study found traces of a mild tranquilizer, anti-seizure medication, and ibuprofen in San Diego tap water. The concentrations are tiny and far below the levels of a medical dose for prescription or over-the-counter drugs. But some scientists are worried about the long-term consequences to human health.

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The San Diego County Water Authority's new Twin Oaks Valley treatment plant opens next month. John Liarakos with the Authority says the $170 million plant will use several treatment systems, including ozone, to clean the water.

Liarakos: The ozone treatment has been shown to eliminate some of the pharma waste products that have been detected in the water system. Not all of them, but a good number of them.

He says the authority's first treatment plant will produce some of the highest quality water in San Diego. But Liarakos says that water will be mixed with treated supplies from other sources. Some of those sources were found to contain the pharma waste products.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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