Traces of Meds Found in Drinking Water

I come from the land of fluoridated water (back in the day), and now live in the land of highly protected aquifers. The only problem is that our high protections fail against biological pollutants pushed through with floods and the occasional accident. For example, a few years back, a local convenience store gas tank cracked and leaked fuel that leached through the soil and affected the aquifer that feeds our water supply that gets processed by the local facilities into potable water. Not a good thing. We've also had some deadly bacteria stirred up in our rivers and lakes by unusual flooding. Definitely not a good thing.

For decades, manufacturers have used nearby waterways to flush their plants and people have also been flushing stuff down their own drains. Fortunately, our area is practically obsessed with water quality and imposes strict requirements upon clean room laundry services and other facilities flushing their byproducts into the sewers. But, it's not a perfect system. While gray water is always separated, there is always a chance that water to be reprocessed could be contaminated by substances that could eventually reach potable water reservoirs.

We use filtered water, but don't yet have a whole-house filter installed and hope to install an alternative to salt-based softeners.

My youngest sister is very tall and we used to joke that there's something in the water. What a thought that it could be true!