Chemicals in our water?

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by Kristian Gravenor

The disclosure that traces of pharmaceuticals, from birth-control pills to antibiotics, were detected in Toronto sewage water has Montreal's water boss wondering what might be floating in our pipes. "A light bulb lit over my head when I heard that. I thought we should analyze and follow up and see what's happening here. But I'm not sure our tools are sensitive enough to detect it," says Michel Gagné, who runs the island's two water filtration plants, adding none-too-reassuringly, "We only measure chloroforms. That's what the law tells us to do."

Montreal's water supply is filtered through sand, ozone and juiced up with chlorine before reaching your tap. Gagné hopes it's enough to kill whatever else might be in there. "We have treatments that are hopefully sufficient to decompose those chemicals but (Health Canada) should tell us what those medications contain. Then we can hire experts to study the problem."

Elizabeth Nielsen of Health Canada says that the feds are on the case. "There's some evidence that these substances, in very, very minute quantities, could get into the environment in the broad sense of the word, not just in water. We want to prevent any substances from getting into the environment that aren't designed to be there."

Gagné urges Montrealers to help keep our water clean by returning unused medications to pharmacies, which have special programs for their disposal. And hold onto your waste chemicals until the city passes by in their twice-annual chemical collections. For the pick-up schedule call 872-3434.