OTTAWA, Oct 20, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- At least 10 toxins have been found in
the Ottawa River that supplies the Canadian capital with its drinking water,
city officials said.
City councilors were sent a memo by the infrastructure services department that
said "extremely low concentrations" of such drugs as acetaminophen and chemicals
such as bisphenol A were found in tests conducted earlier this year, the Ottawa
Sun reported.
Earlier this month, Canada declared bisphenol A, or BPA, a hazardous chemical.
It is used widely in plastic drinking bottles and liners for canned products,
and mimics estrogen in the human body.
Among the other chemicals found was lasaloid A, which is used as an antibiotic
for livestock, the Sun said.
The findings come 10 days after the city was fined $562,500 under the provincial
Ontario Water Resources Act for failing to report two spills of millions of
gallons of untreated sewage into the river in 2006, the Ottawa Citizen reported.
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