Pharmaceutical-drug contamination of groundwater, rivers, lakes and other waterways is a growing problem as millions of Americans flush unused or expired medications down toilets or discharge them in body waste. Throw in additional discharges by healthcare facilities, and it's no wonder that researchers have identified traces of pharmaceutical drugs in the drinking-water supplies of 40 million Americans.
To understand the scope of this problem, consider the following statistics released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): From 1998 to 2008, the number of Americans taking at least one prescription
