I'm shocked at the amount of drugs in drinking water in many of our cities.

Dangerous drug, like antibiotics and anticonvulsants. Even sex hormones and mood stabilizing drugs. I mean, the number of drugs found in drinking water in this country is truly alarming.

Right across the US it is estimated that over 40 million people are drinking from the city water supplies that have been contaminated with pharmaceuticals. These supplies are minutely contaminated. I'm not saying the pills are floating on the surface, or that you can see red scum from dissolved drugs in your tap water. But it is without question there are drugs in drinking water, and some scientists are now worried about the long-term implications of having drugs like ibuprofen in tap water.

Personally, I am also worried. What are my children and (future) grandchildren getting out of the taps?

There's two reasons why I feel like this.

One, city water authorities don't seem alarmed, and the few who are concerned enough to put money into testing their water for drugs appear reluctant to openly release the findings of those tests.

What does that tell me about their concern for the health of citizens? Even more importantly, what does this tell me about their level of expertise? Because, surely even tiny traces of drugs in drinking water over a long time will have some affect on my health. Right? It just stands to reason, and the silence and inactivity of the water officials about drugs in drinking water defies understanding.

Two, it is all too easy for drugs to get into the water supply systems of our cities.

Actually, from what I can see, they are almost impossible to stop. We take the medication and, while some of it is taken into our system, a proportion of it is eliminated into the sewage system. This is treated and sent into the lakes, rivers and ocean from where some of it is taken back, treated again, certified as drinking water and sent into our taps. The problem is that certificate is inaccurate. In most city treatment plants, most chemicals are not removed. In Philadelphia, for example, water officers admit they have found 56 drugs or byproducts in water after it had been treated and certified safe.

This alarming state of affairs can continue because the federal government does not require cities to test for drugs in drinking water. Some cities test for one or two chemicals and drugs, but what use is that if the hundreds of others are ignored? Actually there are thousands of others. Government documents released under freedom of information legislation to the Ralph Nadar organization show more than 2000 toxic, cancer causing chemicals have been found in US in tap water.

So what do we need to do about this? If the city will not keep you safe, is there anything you can do to protect ourself?

Yes. You can fit a cost-effective water purification system into your home and take out the chemicals and cysts carried in your local tap water.

You'll notice that water treated in a city purification system can still carry drugs and residues of chemicals. That's because those chemicals have a molecular structure smaller than water, and municipal purification systems are almost never able to catch contaminants and drugs that small. But you can get small, home-sized purification systems that are effective and will remove drugs found in drinking water.

There are a number of different types of home water purification systems available. But don't pick up the first one you see. (Or the cheapest!)

Home systems that use distillation, for example, are unhealthy. I know that sounds odd. But they take everything out of the water, including the life-giving trace minerals your body absolutely must have and which are found naturally in drinking water. Reverse osmosis systems are also not recommended. They to remove the healthy, essential trace minerals from the water, but they also leave in chemicals with a molecular structure smaller than water.

You need to look for a multi-stage filtration system that will get rid of chlorine, lead, volatile organic chemicals and the many drugs in drinking water.

Your next step? I suggest you take what I've said about water filters and compare home systems. There are a lot of mediocre systems out there, so do some homework and look at a good number of options. Only a few do a really effective job and get rid of those drugs in drinking water, and you will know when you find one.