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Scottsdale tap water nearly pharmaceutical-free
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Tests for the presence of 14 pharmaceuticals in Scottsdale's municipal water system found only an "infinitesimal" trace of caffeine and no traces of 13 other drugs, the city's Water Quality Department said Thursday.
Testing revealed the level of caffeine was 3.6 nanograms per liter, which translates into someone having to drink 5.6 million gallons of water to ingest the amount of caffeine in one cup of coffee, according to the city.
Suzanne Grendhal, the city's water quality director, said she grades the city's water an "A-plus."
"We would prefer that anything would have been undetected, but we're pleased there's only a miniscule amount of anything, which is good," Grendhal said.
The testing was done in response to media reports that pharmaceuticals were appearing in some municipal supplies across the country. Even so, testing for such drugs is not required, Grendhal said.
Testing was done at the Central Arizona Project Treatment Plant at Union Hills Drive and Pima Road and the Chaparral Treatment Plant at Hayden Road and McDonald Drive.
All traces of caffeine in Scottsdale water are expected to be removed later this year when an enhanced treatment system is installed at the CAP plant.
Testing also was done for acetaminophen, trimethoprim, carbamazepine, sulfamethoxazole, fluoxetine, estradiol, estrone, ethynylestradiol, testosterone, progesterone, gemfibrozil, ibuprofen and triclosan.
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