I'm sure you've heard all the news about drugs in drinking water lately. Actually, this is not the first time this information has surfaced. There have been a number of studies over the past few years that have found traces of prescription drugs found in drinking water. What's so troubling, though, is it seems that our governments and water treatment plants can do nothing to stop this alarming trend. In other words, it's up to you to protect yourself and your family from this type of contaminant.

Let's talk about what you can do to protect yourself.

If you're drinking tap water, whether it's from a city water system or well water, you are potentially ingesting all sorts of prescription drugs including antibiotics, sex hormones, heart drugs, chemotherapy drugs, among others. No one knows the long term consequences of ingesting all this stuff, but it can't be good! Drugs in drinking water is a growing problem, but fortunately for you there's a solution.

If you're thinking bottled water is the solution, think again! Most bottled water comes straight out of a tap--it's bottled in name only. So, it's just as susceptible to contamination (if not more so) than tap water. No, the only thing you can do is to filter your water at home before you use it.

If you're concerned about drugs found in drinking water, then some sort of home filtration device is what you need. They range in cost from $20 for one of those pitchers that filters just your drinking water to over $3,000 for an under the counter distiller. You don't need the distiller, but you probably need more than just the pitcher.

Cheaper, but still very good, water filtration technologies include reverse osmosis and carbon and ceramic filters. Reverse osmosis works very well, but it demineralizes the water. That is, it takes out those trace minerals like calcium and magnesium that we need for a properly working body. Filters that employ carbon and ceramic filters work well, especially when they're constructed in such a way that filters out all the organic and inorganic contaminants, while leaving in those very important trace minerals.

In order to deal with this drugs in drinking water problem, you can buy filters for just one faucet, or you can get a whole house filter. Ceramic and carbon filters for just one faucet run around $100. Whole house types run slightly under $1,000.

If that sounds like a lot of money to get rid of the drugs found in drinking water, then compare that to a lifetime of drinking sex hormones!