WASHINGTON — Federal legislators are calling on the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set safety limits for pharmaceuticals in public drinking water supplies after a recently released report by The Associated Press indicated that there are trace amounts of pharmaceutical drugs in the water supplies of at least 41 million Americans.

Sen. Frank R, Lautenberg, D-NJ, chairman of the Transportation Safety, Infrastructure Security and Water Quality Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-CA, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, announced in a press release on March 10 that they will hold a hearing into the discovery of pharmaceuticals in US drinking water supplies.

The hearing, expected to take place in April, will “examine these problems [pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies] and help ensure the EPA and Congress take the steps necessary to protect our residents and clean up our water supply,” Lautenberg said in the release.

Meanwhile, US Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz, D-PA, released a statement on March 10 that said she sent a letter to the EPA asking the agency “to establish a national taskforce to investigate this situation [pharmaceuticals in the drinking water of 41 million Americans] and make recommendations to Congress on any legislative actions needed.”

Schwartz, whose district includes northeast Philadelphia neighborhoods, as well as the first ring suburbs of Montgomery County, said in her statement, “Like many, I was taken aback this morning to hear that the drinking water of over 41 million Americans contains quantities of pharmaceuticals. On a local level, it is particularly upsetting that 56 different pharmaceuticals were discovered in the drinking water for the city of Philadelphia.”

In her letter to the EPA, Schwartz asks the EPA to respond no later than April 1 with “a detailed explanation of the actions that your agency intends to take to address this issue.”

To read the Lautenberg press release, click here.

To read the Schwartz statement, click here.

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