We should be careful about what goes down the toilet, but caffeine is certainly not one of the concerns. One cup of american coffee contains about 1 million times the amount of caffeine that you would find in a standard impacted surface water. Caffeine in water is a reasonable indicator of sewage in source water. Sucralose is a better marker because it does not degrade, nor is it metabolized, so it is very safe. Pharmaceuticals in drinking water are certainly very undesirable, but they come primarily from human shedding rather than from toilet disposal of drugs. WHO has concluded that pharmaceuticals in drinking water are not a significant health concern with very rare exceptions. Pharmaceuticals could be a concern in ambient waters because of the effects on some fish who spend their lives in the water. We don't
Published by Joseph Cotruvo, President at Joseph Cotruvo & Associates, Water , Environment and Public Health
We should be careful about what goes down the toilet, but caffeine is certainly not one of the concerns. One cup of american coffee contains about 1 million times the amount of caffeine that you would find in a standard impacted surface water. Caffeine in water is a reasonable indicator of sewage in source water. Sucralose is a better marker because it does not degrade, nor is it metabolized, so it is very safe. Pharmaceuticals in drinking water are certainly very undesirable, but they come primarily from human shedding rather than from toilet disposal of drugs. WHO has concluded that pharmaceuticals in drinking water are not a significant health concern with very rare exceptions. Pharmaceuticals could be a concern in ambient waters because of the effects on some fish who spend their lives in the water. We don't