The Port Washington Water District hosted its fifth annual Pharmaceutical Take Back Day on Oct. 28 to encourage local residents to safely dispose of expired or unused pharmaceuticals in their homes.
Together, the community collectively disposed of approximately 200 pounds of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Providing residents with a convenient way to dispose of these toxic chemicals will help to maintain the quality of the community’s drinking water by keeping harmful medications out of the wrong hands.
Since the event’s inception in 2018, the PWWD has collected nearly 1,000 pounds of pharmaceuticals.
“We truly enjoyed seeing so many of our residents come out in support of our environment during this event,” said PWWD Commissioner Peter Meyer. “Its steady growth from year to year shows that it is making an impact on our community, and we look forward to bringing it back next fall.”
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.
“While the continued success of our Pharmaceutical Take Back Day is due in part to our ability to streamline the process and make it as simple as possible, it is even more so due to the eagerness of our residents,” said PWWD Chairman David Brackett. “We are always proud of our community, but events like this show that they share our passion for protecting our water.”
With another positive response from the community, the Port Washington Water District will continue to host similar events in the future.
Residents will be notified of when these events occur and are encouraged to not only participate but invite their friends and neighbors to do so as well. If residents missed this event and would like to properly dispose of your unused or expired medications before the District’s next event, please visit the Port Washington Police District.
“Providing our residents with resources they can use to Do It For Port and protect our water source is one of our favorite things to do at the PWWD,” said PWWD Commissioner Mindy Germain. “This event gives our neighbors an opportunity to do just that, and the fact that it grows in popularity every year shows that they are as passionate about their environment as any other community on Long Island.”
The district gives special thanks to ReWild Long Island, Residents Forward, the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee, the Manhasset Bay Protection Committee, Kostal Paddle, the Port Washington Water Pollution Control District and the Villages of Baxter Estates, Flower Hill, Manorhaven and Port Washington North for helping to spread the word and making this event as great a success as it was.
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 www.PWWD.org.
