say what?

I came upon this headline over and over this morning on my morning run. (The Gainesville Guardian is a free semi-weekly newspaper targeted at the residents of the east side of town and delivered to homes on Fridays.) So naturally I spent most of my run thinking about the recent Associated Press news revealing trace levels of potentially dangerous pharmaceuticals in some of the nation's largest water supplies. I was happy that Gainesville Regional Utilities had taken the initiative to handle this issue before it became a problem, that is until I read the first paragraph of the story:

Gainesville Regional Utilities officials say they're confident the local drinking water supply is free of pharmaceuticals, even though they're not testing for the chemicals.

What?! The article does go on to say that GRU taps groundwater instead of using surface water like those cities mentioned in the AP article, but still. It claims the groundwater is protected with a 7,000-acre conservation area surrounding wells. I think I'd be happier with actual tests, especially since this claim comes from a city that's had an active Superfund site since 1983.