This isn't the free perscription drug coverage I'd hoped for.

What’s new? Well how about the recent stories about prescription drugs in the drinking water supplies of some cities?
The five-month AP investigation tested the drinking water in 62 major metropolitan areas supplying water to 41 million Americans. Testing showed 24 of the large metro areas contained traces of pharmaceuticals. Tiny amounts of pharmaceuticals for birth control, mood stabilizers, anti-convulsants, heart medicine, painkillers, antibiotics and anti-seizure medications were discovered by tests.
This isn’t really new. In 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released the first study of pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater-related chemicals in streams across the nation. Most sites were downstream of urban and farming areas where wastewater is known or suspected to enter streams. The 2002 study showed that pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater-related chemicals had been detected at very low concentrations in streams across the U.S. Many of the chemicals examined (81 of 95) do not have drinking-water standards or health advisories. Measured concentrations of compounds that do have standards or criteria rarely exceeded any of them. Among the chemicals detected were: human and veterinary drugs (including antibiotics), natural and synthetic hormones, detergents, plasticizers, insecticides, and fire retardants.
Chemicals of all kinds enter our surface and ground water through wastewater treatment systems, industry, and agriculture. Domestic sewage treatment plants are not equipped to remove the trace amounts of chemicals and pharmaceuticals that are flushed down our drains. Sewage sludge from treatment plants, and manure from livestock operations, is spread onto farm fields across the country. The antibiotics and other drugs found in these wastes, and fertilizers and pesticides applied to fields and yards, can find their way into our ground and surface water.
The small amounts of pharmaceuticals identified in drinking water may be so small that they are not a health risk. These studies will probably spur improvement in water and wastewater treatment. My hope is that they also spur increased environmental awareness and promote efforts to keep these chemicals out of the environment in the first place.