Is our tap water safe to drink?

For more than 30 years, Monroe Water Treatment Plant superintendent Bobby Gibbs has been keeping our water safe to drink. Monday he was busy giving 35 kids from Swayze Elementary School a tour of the plant. "We do that about 60 times a month to make sure its safe." Thats testing the cities water for any harmful bacteria. But the latest news of possible pharmaceuticals in the drinking water came as a shock to Gibbs. ”It was surprising. Something I have never heard of, and if it becomes something we need to be concerned with I am sure the state will be in touch with us and let us know what we need to do." Right now the state and federal government doesnt require any testing and hasnt set any safety limits for drugs in the water. "The main way prescription medication gets into our drinking water is we all take pills, people take medication. Now most of that medication is absorbed by the body, but some of it goes down the toilet. But that is not a problem here in the Ark-La-Miss because our treated wastewater is put back into the river further downstream from where we take in the water that is going to be treated." Trace amounts of several different drugs including antibiotics, mood stabilizers and sex hormones have been found in the drinking water of 24 major cities, but that doesnt bother Gibbs or Monroe city water customers. "It’s not a concern of ours or the state health officials I talked to." "My concerns arent that great. Like I say, I would be more concerned of bacteria in the water than the small amounts of pharmaceuticals they are finding in it." Chris Snyder, Copyright 2008, KARD/KTVE News.