Dumping drugs down the toilet or drain doesn’t get rid of the drug pollution problem; it only moves it to another location, and the toxins in those drugs can return in your water or in the fertilizer used to grow food.
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Wastewater treatment plants that receive liquid waste or sewage from pharmaceutical factories treat and discharge that water into waterways, rivers and streams, causing harm to fish and other aquatic life, according to Stat News.
It’s not just the drug companies that are polluting the waterways, although they are a major player; treatment plants also handle the discharge from residential dwellings, where drugs are often flushed down the toilet.
Discarded drug pollution is happening around the world. The number of contaminated waterways in India has more than doubled, and a large part of the severe water pollution can be traced back to the country’s massive drug industry.
India’s low cost of manufacturing has lured a number of drug companies to set up shop, congregating in the city of Hyderabad and along the Andhra Pradesh coastline. Water sampling near drug factories in Hyderabad show significant amounts of toxic industrial solvents and heavy metals are being released into the city’s waterways.
Local media reported that some of the drug companies’ personnel bypassed the treatment plants and were seen in unmarked vehicles, dumping illegal toxic waste into waterways at night. All that toxic waste pollution created by the “bulk drug” industry also creates another problem — antibiotic resistance.
When mussels in Puget Sound were tested, three out of 18 locations tested positive for the opioid oxycodone.
All of the areas where the mussels contained opioids were highly urbanized, suggesting the drugs may be excreted in toilet water, ending up in wastewater and then finding their way out into the ocean.
Pharmaceuticals, including antidepressants and chemotherapy and diabetes drugs, have long been detected in marine life, but the study represents the first time opioids were detected in the Puget Sound area.
Opioids kill an average of 115 Americans daily and have now found their way into waterways, where they're now coursing through filter feeders, including mussels, and possibly other sea life as well. The appearance of the drugs in waterways is a sign of just how pervasive opioid use has become.
Another source of pollution by wastewater treatment plants is sewer sludge — called biosolids — which is used as a fertilizer on agricultural lands, parklands, golf courses, lawns and cemeteries.
Biosolids include human and industrial waste and, while the human waste is not much of a problem as a fertilizer, the industrial waste is full of toxins and heavy metals — and most wastewater treatment plants do not have the equipment to eliminate them.
If you grow vegetables in your garden and avoid using pesticides and other chemicals, be aware that the compost and organic fertilizers purchased from your local store may contain biosolids. Your best option to avoid sewage sludge is to purchase from a local nursery you know and trust.