Is There Something In The Water?

By Margaret Lyons in News on Apr 17, 2008 5:34PM

Yeah, kind of. Back in March, a study found a cocktail of chemicals in metropolitan drinking water, but the study didn't include Chicago's supply. Well, the Trib commissioned a study of local samples, and guess what? It found trace amounts of "an anti-seizure drug, a common painkiller, caffeine and two chemicals used to make Teflon and Scotchgard."

The tests do not show that drinking water is unsafe. But they do raise important questions for regulators and city officials aware of growing concerns about potential health effects from long-term exposure to drugs in our drinking water, even at very low levels.

Not all the chemicals were found in the same sample, and experts say that the city's water supply is safe to drink. [Trib, photo by JoeM500]