Synthetic chemicals on tap

Everthing is connected.

This article reports on the presence of various synthetic chemicals (cosmetics, pesticides, pharmaceuticals etc.) in drinking water and raw water. Not surprisingly, the current techniques used in water treatment are incapable of removing many synthetic chemicals from raw water so these chemicals invariably go into tap water.

More importantly, where do these chemicals come from? "Out of sight, out of mind" is not longer applicable nowadays. Within a watershed, whatever we dump into water bodies (or even on the ground) will travel around quite a bit but eventually they will end up downstream as raw water for treatment into domestic supply.

In Singapore, perhaps we should start to pay attention to what we dump into soil or water as there is a high chance all sorts of nasty stuff will end up in our reservoirs. Remember, our water treatment systems are not foolproof. And many of these chemicals are not even routinely tested for in tap water.

Synthetic chemicals on tap

via ES&T Online News on 1/14/09