Update: Pharmawater report misses deadline

The series revealed how drugs — mostly the residue of medications taken by people, excreted and flushed down the toilet — have gotten into the water supplies of at least 24 major metropolitan areas, from Southern California to Northern New Jersey. The stories also detail the growing concerns among scientists that this pollution has adversely affected wildlife, and may be threatening human health.

EPA officials responded with concern, pledging to organize additional research and by saying people should be informed if drugs are detected in their water supplies.

But Kyla Bennett, a lawyer and former EPA biologist, said the EPA "is moving with all deliberate delay."

Bennett, who directs the New England branch of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said Congress first ordered the EPA to address the issue 12 years ago.

"When it should be pressing forward, EPA is spinning in place, as if it has overdosed on pharmaceuticals," she said.

Imagine that.