- BOULDER (AP) -- Traces of
prescription drugs, household cleaners and chemicals from MRIs are showing
up in the U.S. water supply, according to government researchers who have
completed one of the most detailed surveys ever done on a single American
watershed.
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- Just how the pollution affects people or the environment
is not clear, officials with the U.S. Geological Survey said Tuesday.
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- But they said the results of their Boulder Creek study
reflects the common medications and household products getting into the
nation's rivers and streams.
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- The study, done in 2000, was the first to use the most
advanced equipment to detect small traces of chemicals. A nationwide study
was done the same year, but did not have the same level of detail.
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- Boulder Creek water meets federal safety standards, but
chemicals including anti-depression, heart and hormone medication adds
a new wrinkle to water quality control nationwide, USGS scientist Sheila
Murphy said.
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- "There is little known what these chemicals do to
humans or animals in small doses," said Murphy, co-author of the study.
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- Chemicals detected in Boulder Creek include metals found
in mayonnaise, shampoo, water softeners and vitamin supplements. The study
also found a spike of "gadolinium," a rare element that is injected
into medical patients during magnetic resonance imaging exams or MRIs.
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- Murphy said little is known about galolinium. She said
the results do not mean Boulder residents receive more MRIs than their
counterparts across the nation.
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- "You would find the same results in a river downstream
from any city," Murphy said, urging residents not to dump old medication
or household cleaners in toilets or sinks.
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- Boulder Creek was chosen for the study because it allowed
scientists to look at the water from protected mountain headwaters, through
an urban region to an agricultural area.
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- The area studied includes 447 square miles that starts
at the Continental Divide and goes to the plains north of Denver. Snowfall
is the source of most of the water, though some also came from pipelines
on the Western Slope.
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- Officials said they study can be used to draw up water
quality policies.
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- "Good science is so important for policy makers
to make good policy," Boulder Mayor Will Toor.
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- Boulder is studying the use of pesticides on noxious
weeds near the creek, Toor said. The city also is looking at traces of
animal feces in the river and whether the waste is from wildlife or domestic
dogs.
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- Boulder households have responded to past water quality
issues, said Chris Rudkin, Boulder water quality coordinator. The city
found large levels of copper at its treatment plant a couple of years ago
and traced it to a chemical used by homeowners to kill roots in water and
sewer pipes.
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- "We got the word out and the stores that sold the
product agreed to replace it with another product," Rudkin said.
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