That was the joke around the office when I was pregnant with my first daughter. (Five of the seventeen women in our office were expecting babies at around the same time.)
Well, it turns out that there might actually be something in the water - and that something is not good.
This New York Times news story and this Washington Post news story describe a U.S. public water system tainted with both over-the-counter and prescription medications.
As a parent, this worries me greatly. When my children were babies and toddlers we were very careful to use only bottled water. Now that they are older, however, we've "graduated" as a family to using tap water for our cooking and drinking needs. I've even used it to mix up fruit juice from concentrate or make iced tea.
Now, I wonder if I've made a big mistake in trusting the public water supply.
Last year, my oldest daughter was extremely sick and the doctors couldn't really explain why. We even went to the emergency room a couple of times. (She's much better now, thank-you...) These news stories make me wonder if she was exposed to something bad in the drinking water. I also know that I'm not the only parent who has gone through an explained illness - one of my high school friends has a daughter who missed most of the school year a few years ago due to symptoms that could not be explained by doctors. (She's also doing better now...)
Here are the three worries that I have as a parent about contaminated water:
- Building up an immunity to key medications - is it possible that our children are now building up an immunity to certain medications (such as an antibiotics) by being exposed to small dosages through drinking water? Does this mean that these medications will be less effective if they ever need to take them for an actual medical condition?
- What about drug interaction? We've been told that certain drugs don't mix well, but now they may be mixed together in our water supply. It seems likely that drugs that a doctor would never prescribe together might end up in my next glass of water.
- What is an expectant mother to do to protect her unborn child? I'm not pregnant right now - but if I were, then I would definitely be asking this question.
In the meantime, I saw a water pitcher with a filter "guaranteed to remove 100% of impurities from the water" advertised on television. I rarely call about products that I see advertised on TV, but in this case I may make an exception.
What about you? Are you worried about the water supply? Why, or why not?
Leave a comment and let us know.
I also only use to drink bottled water Laura and then I started hearing that 1)my favorite bottled water was from a municipal source and 2)the shipping and packaging of bottled water are environmentally unfriendly, so I bought a Brita pitcher. Now, I'm wondering if that was a mistake.
You also bring up an excellent point about building tolerances for chemicals...I'm pretty disturbed by the news that there are drugs in the drinking water.
Posted by: Kimberlee Morrison | March 11, 2008 10:19 AM | Permalink to Comment