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Chicago's Plan to Keep Rx Out of H20

The city of Chicago wants to move forward with a plan to collect residents' excess prescription drugs. Chicago's environmental chief, Suzanne Malec-McKenna, spoke at a city council hearing on the subject today. She explained her vision of the city's Pharmaceutical Disposal Program. 

MALEC-MCKENNA: We'll be having these recepticles at the five area police headquarters. We will also continue to collect them in our neighborhood collection events. This year we will have a minimum of five events that we'll be collecting these throughout the city.

The proposed plan is an attempt to curb the amount of prescription drugs found in local tap water. The city's water management department says its current waste water treatment equipment does not remove pharmaceuticals from treated water.

The city is waiting for approval from a federal agency, and would like to roll-out the plan this summer.