Scientists questions effects of drugs in water

Prescription drugs have been discovered in deep groundwater near Berlin, drained from sewage farms at the outskirts of the city, a German scientist visiting Las Vegas said Monday.

While pharmaceutical ingredients are the latest discovery emerging as potential threats to drinking water, Traugott Scheytt of Berlin's Technical University, said the latest findings may be "only the tip of the iceberg."

Scientists here fear Las Vegas may face a similar problem.

Southern Nevada's waters are laced with perchlorate, a rocket fuel booster made in Henderson, as well as chemicals that disrupt hormone activity, causing fish to change gender. Local water supplies have not been tested for prescription drugs.

Scheytt told those attending the International Association of Hydrogeologists meeting at the Riviera hotel-casino that 15 tons to 21 tons of clofibric acid, a common ingredient in prescription drugs, has flowed into Germany's waters from treated sewage flows and leaking landfills.

"Are there any hazards to wildlife or people?" he asked. "I don't know. No one knows at this time."

However, the acid is persistent, cannot be removed by filtering or from artificially recharging the aquifer, Scheytt said.

Clofibric acid is the latest in a series of potential threats to water that have appeared as the industrialized world develops. No one knows if drugs, for instance, pose a threat to human health.

Scientists are concerned the drugs might cripple people's immune systems as bacteria and viruses learn to outwit antibiotics and other disease-fighting drugs.

Most of the latest research on pharmaceuticals has been done in Great Britain and Germany.

Patrick Leahy, chief geologist for the U.S. Geological Service, said drugs found in the water worldwide are the latest concern for U.S. scientists studying areas with pressing demands for clean drinking water sources.

In places with rapid growth, such as Las Vegas, the scientists are trying to keep up with the latest information available, he said.

The chemicals formed in water supplies are the pieces of a puzzle waiting for scientists to put it together, Leahy said, noting the theme of the international conference was "Gambling with Groundwater."

Two years ago USGS scientist Hugh Bevans of Carson City led a study on insecticides, pesticides and other contaminants in the Las Vegas Wash leading into Lake Mead, Southern Nevada's major source of drinking water.

The USGS scientists discovered the highest levels nationwide of female egg yolk sac protein in male carp swimming in the Las Vegas Bay. Dioxins, furans, DDT (banned more than 20 years ago), DDE, chlordane and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have all been found in the bay's sediment.

Drugs may have the most potent effects in water supplies. Birth control pills, anabolic steroids, anti-inflammatory steroids, livestock growth hormone (DES) and non-steroid drugs used in thyroid treatments are all suspects. These chemicals are suspected in sexual and hormone changes observed in fish, turtles and alligators.

Hormone changes in fish are actually changing their sexual orientation, such as Lake Mead's carp.

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