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Before You Pour It Down the Drain

Some simple DO's and DON'Ts when deciding what you may safely pour down the drain.

DON'T pour kitchen and bathroom cleaners and disinfectants, water-based lotions, out-of-date medicines, colognes and aftershaves.

DON'T pour motor oil, any petroleum products, anti-freeze, battery acid; workshop fluids such as paint, paint thinners or strippers, or glue; garden chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or weed killers.

What you pour down the drain may harm your household plumbing, the wastewater treatment system, and ultimately the environment.

For more information call the Service Authority at (703) 335-7900.

Dumping Your Drugs? Don’t Flush Them Away Unused

Your toilet bowl may be the time-honored venue for dumping expired or unused drugs, but your local waterways could suffer for it. The U.S. Geologic Survey has been studying the nation's waterways for years, and an exhaustive study in 2002 detected trace levels of chemicals commonly found in prescription drugs in 80 percent of the streams tested across the country. Now, under pressure from researchers who suspect hormones and antidepressants may be responsible for harming fish, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is on the march to gauge the health and environmental impact of pharmaceuticals in water. In the last year, says EPA press officer Suzanne Ackerman, the agency has made some "groundbreaking" advances and is testing methods that may be effective in removing pharmaceuticals from the water. The going is slow, she concedes, but it's happening.

Meanwhile, what should you do with your unused drugs? There are no government guidelines, so pharmaceutical experts recommend:

1. Find out if your local pharmacies take back medications. Some have occasional days designated for such drop-offs.
2. Check to see whether your area has a community household hazardous waste collection program. 3. Go to www.epa.gov/epahome/state.htm for local numbers.

(Suggestion by Marilyn Milloy, AARP Bulletin, January 2007. Vol 48 No 1.)

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP

Drinking Water and Water Reclamation

Consumer Confidence Reports

Going Green

Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Conservation Tips

Only Tap Water Delivers

For Kids and Teachers

Decrease the Grease!

Conservation House

Before You Put it Down the Drain

Leak Detection

Espanol

RELATED LINKS

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

American Water Works Association (AWWA)

Water Environment Federation (WEF)

Miss Utility

Metropolitan Washington Council of Goverments

Global Water Sanitations and Health

International Water and Sanitation Centre

Thames Water–World Water

(This site contains links to web sites owned by third parties. These links are provided solely as a convenience to you and are not an endorsement by PWCSA of the contents on those other sites. PWCSA is not responsible for the content of any linked sites and makes no representations regarding the content or accuracy of materials on such sites. If you decide to visit any third-party sites using links from this site, you do so at your own risk.)

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