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Council's Public Health committee wants answers after the AP reported in March that the city's Water Department had found 56 prescription drugs in samples of Philadelphia water (see previous story).
But the department now says that the number is actually 17, blaming the 56 figure on an error in an internal spreadsheet.
At a budget hearing last week, Water Commissioner Bernard Brunwasser said those 17 include some common drugs:
"In our finished water supply, there were 17 trace pharmaceuticals found. These include caffeine, Tylenol, and some of the relatively common over-the-counter or prescription drugs."
Brunwasser says the 17 popped up because the department tests at the parts-per-trillion level, not the less accurate parts-per-billion level that most municipalities use:
"Philadelphia tested more thoroughly than almost any other water utility in the country. All of the pharmaceuticals that we found traces of were in the parts per trillion. We didn't find a single pharmaceutical in the parts per billion."
Nonetheless Council members want reassurances, and ideas on how to keep any drugs out of the water supply. One idea is a public awareness campaign, reminding people not to dump old medicine down the toilet.
