Trace Amounts of Medication Found in Ontario Drinking Water

A new study is showing minute amounts of medications and other compounds are making their way through water treatment and into drinking water.

The study, conducted Mark Servos from the University of Waterloo, looked at a number of water treatment plants across Southern Ontario, and found trace amounts of medications like ibuprofen or cholesterol lowering drugs did make it into the drinking water of some cities in Southern Ontario. But Servos says people shouldn't be overly concerned.

"We'd be talking about the equivalent of one tablet in all of the drinking water that you drink in the entire year. So very very low amounts."

Servos says the study shows Ontario needs to continue to be vigilant about updating water treatments.

"We're very good at detecting these things.  But our concerns are that these kinds of compounds can have affects at very low concentrations.  And there are sensitive populations, so we can't eliminate or be absolutely confident that the risk is zero, although we do believe that the risk is minimal."

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