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How to Drink Drug-Free Tap Water

Eileen Gunn

But in reality, most parents think twice before giving their tiny tots so much as a dropper full of Children's Tylenol.

So the news from the Associated Press that at least 41 million Americans have drugs in their drinking water was especially disconcerting for parents with infants who drink formula mixed with tap water or toddlers who routinely ask for a glass of water before bed.

"Environmental pediatricians have known about this for quite a while, but there isn't a lot of data," notes Alan Greene, a San Francisco Bay Area pediatrician and author of Raising Baby Green. "But you have to expect things like mind-altering drugs and hormones to have a bigger proportional impact on kids, especially babies."

Yet among the more then 2,400 news stories that followed up on the AP's report, few had any advice for consumers on what to do about the problem.

Eco-blogs, such as NoImpactMan and Treehugger jumped on the topic, but mostly to dissuade people from using it as a reason to drink bottled water.

Their rationale is that several bottled-water brands, like Coca-Cola's(KO Quote - Cramer on KO - Stock Picks) Dasani or PepsiCo's(PEP Quote - Cramer on PEP - Stock Picks) Aquafina, are not much better than tap water. They often come from public water sources, which aren't tested or treated for these particular polluters. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which usually takes its lead from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, doesn't require water bottlers to test for drugs and most don't yet make a point of filtering them out, according to the AP report.

The most common water filters -- the ones that attach to your tap or integrate into a carafe -- use carbon to clean your water. Experts say they aren't effective in this situation.

But you don't have to resign yourself to merely turning on your tap and hoping for the best. Reverse osmosis filters out at least some of the drug particles when it's used on a mass scale. And Greene says that, "it does a better job at home than anything else."

Everpure, a part of Pentair(PNR Quote - Cramer on PNR - Stock Picks), has said that its ROM III system "effectively filter[s] out the heavier molecular particles common in many pharmaceutical drugs." It costs nearly $700 on the company's Web site and a set of three replacement cartridges sells on Amazon.com (AMZN Quote - Cramer on AMZN - Stock Picks) for $230. After the up-front cost of the system, that's about 65 cents a day to make sure you aren't inadvertently doping your toddler's sippy cup.

General Electric(GE Quote - Cramer on GE - Stock Picks), Sears(S Quote - Cramer on S - Stock Picks) and Whirlpool(WHR Quote - Cramer on WHR - Stock Picks) also make reverse-osmosis systems that run from $160 to $300, plus $60 to $100 a year on filters, according to Consumer Reports. But when we called these companies to confirm their systems would deal with this particular nuisance, GE didn't get back to us, and Sears and Whirlpool couldn't provide an answer. A Whirlpool representative said pharmaceuticals haven't been among the additives addressed when the company tests its filters.

Dr. Greene and fellow baby Guru Dr. William Sears suggest that another reasonable solution might be distilled water.

During distillation, water is boiled, then the steam is collected and turned back to water. Polluters that turn easily to gas, like chlorine, might not be left behind, but just about everything else will be. Dr. Sears estimates that it takes care of 98% of the contaminants in water.

Distillers for the home aren't especially common. Sylvan Source makes one that can process six gallons of water a day and doesn't have the continuing cost of replacement filters. The downside: It weighs 85 pounds and costs as much as $3,800.

Dr. Greene points out that babies are at their most vulnerable for the first six months, and suggests that the environmental indulgence of buying bottled water that's distilled might be justified until the kids are little bigger. Deer Park, Ice Mountain and Ozarka, all Nestlé brands, bottle distilled water.

To make up for the environmental incursion of buying water, you can opt for multigallon drums that sit on your counter or in your refrigerator and use less plastic than dozens of small bottles. You can be sure to recycle, or if you have the water delivered to your house (Ozarka costs about $30 a month for 20 gallons), you can hand back the empties when you're done.

Meanwhile, for a more long-term solution to this emerging problem, get in touch with your local water authority and tell them you want to know about drugs in your water and how they're improving their water processing to get them out. And call your regional EPA office to let it know you want to see the agency implement standards and reporting requirements for pharmaceuticals in water, just as they do for other substances.

Now that this subject has come to light, let's hope water authorities and the EPA will begin to address it.

After all, you shouldn't have to worry when your toddler comes looking for a late-night glass of water.