By: Rachel A. Johnson
You go to the faucet and turn the tap on. You fill up your glass and take a sip. You don’t think much about it – what may be dissolved in it, how it travels from the water plant and through the pipes, or where it came from — but should you?
Water is a polar molecule and is the essence of life – without it, life as we know it would not exist (which is explains why most space explorers search for water on other plants – read more here.) Even though you can’t see it, the structure of water is polar and therefore water can dissolve other polar compounds and ions. You might be aware of some things dissolved in your water (like the supplementation of fluoride (F-) into drinking water in certain urban areas), however there are other substances in there you don’t even know about which could impact your health.
Scientists at UNC Greensboro set out to find out what antibiotics (and how much of them) are in the drinking water of residents located in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. They tested for the presence of 15 different antibiotics, 7 of which were frequently detected in surface and ground water as well as sediment. Luckily, all antibiotics detected were below levels of concern for human health (known as risk quotients), but is any amount of unprescribed antibiotic really “safe” for consumption? Antibiotics are advantageous to us in treating bacterial infections, but low levels of consumption can affect the natural balance of bacteria in your gut – this can lead to digestive issues or common infections that could become resistant to antibiotic treatments. Even more, low levels of antibiotic pollution in the environment increases the population and ability of bacteria to survive in the presence of antibiotics, meaning that bacterial infections cannot be treated by the antibiotics currently approved by the FDA. With over 35,000 deaths per year due to antibiotic resistant infections in the United States alone (CDC), it is clear we need to take antibiotic pollution seriously and advocate for drinking water that we know is antibiotic free.
So, what can you do? Talk to your local legislature for more strict antibiotic policies, support local farms that do not treat their livestock with antibiotics, and safely dispose of your unused antibiotics at your local pharmacy. While you can do your part to make a difference, antibiotic policy changes must happen on a global scale. Spread awareness and advocate for change in order to help reduce the rise of new antibiotic resistant infections.
Reference:Gray, Austin D.; Todd, Daniel, Hershey, Anne, E. Sci. Total Environ.2020, 710(25), 136286.
