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Klobuchar Demands Action from EPA on Safe Drinking Water

Tells agency to stop dragging its feet regarding pharmaceuticals in the water supply

April 15, 2008

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar pushed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tuesday to stop dragging its feet in addressing reports of pharmaceuticals detected in the nation’s drinking water and demanded immediate action to protect consumers.

Klobuchar, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, spoke at a hearing called to examine the EPA’s response to reports that small quantities of drugs – including antibiotics, sex hormones, and anti-seizure compounds – have been detected in the drinking water of dozens of major American cities.

“Any concentration of harmful pharmaceuticals in our nation’s drinking water supply is unacceptable,’’ Klobuchar said. “We shouldn’t be just studying the problem. We should be solving the problem.’’

Klobuchar noted that the city of Minneapolis opened a state-of-the-art ultra filtration water treatment plant in 2005 that can filter out even the tiniest microbes. But she said Minneapolis is unusual and called on the EPA to help more cities and towns upgrade their water treatment technology. She noted that the agency doesn’t even require local water treatment plants to test for pharmaceuticals in drinking water.

Klobuchar also said that time and money the EPA has spent studying the health impacts of pharmaceuticals in water would be better spent helping communities actually improve their water filtration systems and make water safer.

It is estimated that some 40 million Americans are served by public water treatment facilities in which small amounts of medications, painkillers and other drugs were detected.

“It really shouldn’t take a newspaper article to get this story out,’’ Klobuchar said, referring to an Associated Press investigation of the subject. “The EPA talks a lot about the things we can do, but my concern is that there hasn’t been enough action.’’
 

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