Philadelphia Mountain Biking Association - Forums

I drink Philly tap water when ride, partly because i thought there was enough Chlorine in it to prevent any sort of mold growing in my water bladder.

Now i read this:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-03092008-1500637.html

"Officials in Philadelphia said testing there discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water, including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems."

56 varieties, one short of Heinz 57.....  at least i dont have to tap a 56 on the tap to get it to come out...yet....

That explains my addiction to it. I feel no pain when i ride and all the anti-psychotics are making me feel pretty level...

I love that the theory behind it is the urine of people who take these drugs is processed but the process isn't good enough to screen the drugs.  Yet it is somehow good enough to screen all the other pollutants... Hmmm.  I think I'll be using bottled for everything now.

So you mean to tell me that I can finally drop my over priced insurance policy ;D Why should I continue to pay through the nose when I get all the medications I need to at the low cost of a monthly water bill??

Sounds like it could turn into that Chris Rock bit...

Fall down and break your arm?  Put some Philly Tap on it!

I'd really like to see a break down of parts per million/billion per drug type.  It would be a good indicator in which ways the city is medicated.

Dude that's really funny because I bet it would be.  The only problem is Merck keeps dumping all kinds of shit "by accident" into our tributary system so the source of these chemicals is likely difficult to isolate unto the masses alone.

Yup, the settlement from the Wissahickon Creek fish kill of '06 caused by Merck dumping pharma chemicals just happened in December. 

http://www.epa.gov/reg3wapd/san_connections_2007dec.htm

"Merck discharged potassium thiocyanate causing extensive fish kills in the Wissahickon Creek on June 14th and 15th and also resulting in the Philadelphia Water Department temporarily closing its Schuylkill River drinking water intake. Merck will pay $10M to put into place systems that will prevent future dangerous discharges at their facility. Merck will spend approximately $9M for extensive environmental projects. A Consent Decree requires Merck to pay $1,575,000 in penalties for past violations: $750,000 to the United States; $750,000 to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and $75,000 to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

The Merck facility located in West Point, Montgomery County discharges pollutants to the Upper Gwynedd Township Publicly Owned Treatment Works. The treated effluent is discharged into the Wissahickon Creek, a tributary of the Schuylkill River."


Nasty nasty stuff.

I wouldn't eat anything that came out of any of the local waterways...

Virus!

More pharma water fun.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/11/pharma.waterfish.ap/index.html

Here's an interesting take-away from the CNN article...

"After just seven weeks, male fathead minnows began producing yolk proteins, their gonads shrank  :o, and their behavior was feminized -- they fought less, floating passively. They also stopped reproducing, resulting in "ultimately, a near extinction of this species from the lake," said the scientists."

I used to ride with a Male Fathead Minnow, his name is Slappy.  He became "feminized" after he got married and doesn't ride much anymore... poor bastard.    ;D

As far as the water goes.. besides the tax base and good jobs that's just another "perk"  we get for living in the Pharma Triangle boys..

Three or Four weeks ago I got a call from Fred Brown who was on his road bike near were German town and Lincoln meet and he saw on of the creeks running into the Wiss. was green like the color of anti-freeze, rushing downstream. 

 :-X