Who We Are Home | Drugs in Drinking Water | News Room The Great
Lakes are home to 20 percent of the world’s surface freshwater
and, increasingly, host to a worrisome class of chemical
compounds known as contaminants of emerging concern. Often
originating from everyday products ranging from shampoos and
pharmaceuticals to textiles and home furnishings, as well as
from common agricultural practices around the Midwest, these
compounds can have impacts on people and wildlife that are far
from benign and are raising concerns about their effects on the
body’s endocrine system -- the driver of key functions such as
growth and development, metabolism and reproduction. An Alliance
report released today notes that since the production of
synthetic chemicals took off after World War II, the waters of
Lake Michigan – which take a century to refresh -- have yet to
see a complete turnover. Halfway through this cycle, scientists
are beginning to see alarming trends of an increasing multitude
of chemicals found in the water.