The Port Washington Water District will be hosting its Pharmaceutical Take Back Day on Saturday, Oct. 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the District’s headquarters at 38 Sandy Hollow Road. The district created this event to provide residents on the Port Washington peninsula with an opportunity to safely dispose of their expired or unused prescription drugs. Residents should gather and bring their unused prescription to this event as improperly disposing of can have a negative impact on the quality of the community’s water supply.
“When the water you rely on every day comes from beneath your feet, it is of the utmost importance to take every measure to protect it,” said David Brackett, chairman of the Port Washington Water District. “Our pharmaceutical take back day is not only providing an opportunity for our residents to safely dispose of unused medications, but it creates awareness to educate them on a topic and practice that is likely not top of mind.”
Improperly disposing of pharmaceutical drugs and other controlled substances presents opportunities for foreign contaminants to seep into the water supply, raising the potential of groundwater contamination and expense on future treatment needs. Several decades ago, it was common practice to flush unused or expired medications down the drain. For homes with septic systems, this meant creating a concentration of flushed medication in the soil around the home. For homes connected to a sewer system, it meant that the treatment facility had to implement special treatment to remove, or attempt to remove, the potential toxins from the water before it could be discharged.
“The purpose of the Pharmaceutical Take Back Day is to keep the aquifer clean and pure as possible,” said Water District commissioner Mindy Germain. “This is a proactive and necessary step to ensure the purity of our water supply now and for our community’s future generations.”
All Port residents with expired or unused medications are encouraged to take advantage of the District’s Pharmaceutical Take Back Day. To help incentivize participation, the district has made the process extremely simple. Residents will simply pull into the district’s parking lot and toss their medications into a large collection bin. Once the event concludes, the discarded medications will be taken by the Port Washington Police and shipped to a certified disposal site.
“We ask that all of our residents take a look in their medicine cabinets, fill up a box of unused medicines and bring them down on Oct. 13,” said district commissioner Peter Meyer. “If you’re like us and value the quality and health of the environment, please take a couple of minutes out of your day to give back to your community in a meaningful way. We look forward to seeing everyone there.”
Anyone who has questions about the event or how to dispose of prescription medications is encouraged to visit the Port Washington Water District website at PWWD.org.
