The state of California wants you to think twice before flushing your unwanted or expired pharmaceuticals.
The state has designated this week as “No Drugs Down the Drain” week. Brian Barreto is with California American Water which serves 21,000 households in San Diego County. He says drugs that are thrown down the drain can leach into the water supply and harm the environment. But he says people shouldn’t be afraid to drink tap water, which goes through a filtering process.
“A person would have to drink more than a million gallons of water to ingest a dose equivalent to one extra strength Tylenol or 500 milligrams,” he says.
Still, Barreto says people should not get in the habit of flushing their old drugs. He says it’s important to protect the water supply especially since it’s limited. California American Water is the water utility for Coronado, Imperial Beach and parts of Chula Vista and San Diego.