BLOOMINGTON - A unique program in Livingston County to keep leftover medicines out of the water supply is being expanded into McLean County.

Representatives of area pharmacies and some government and law enforcement leaders will be at the Lexington Community Center at 7 p.m. Thursday to discuss expanding the Pontiac Prescription Drug Disposal (P2D2) Program into McLean County, said Paul Ritter and Mike Novario.

Ritter is the Pontiac Township High School science teacher who developed the program with his ecology students and Novario is the director of pharmacy at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington who wants the program in McLean County.

Novario hopes that most McLean County pharmacies, in July, will begin accepted leftover prescription and non-prescription medicines. In Livingston County, the medicines are shipped to an incinerator approved by the government to burn unused medicines, Ritter said.

BroMenn Regional Medical Center in Normal will have a representative at the meeting and hopes to become one of the medication drop-off sites, said spokeswoman Sherry Galbreath, adding, "We definitely want to be a part of it."

To kick off the effort, St. Joseph is hosting P2D2 Green Day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 28 at the southeast parking lot of the hospital campus. Pharmacists and police will be accepting unused and expired prescription and non-prescription medicines, said St. Joseph's Katy Pyne. The day also will include blood pressure screenings and children's activities.

The U.S. Geological Survey has found a variety of pharmaceuticals - including antibiotics and anti-depressants - in 80 percent of waterways tested. Many people dispose of leftover medicines by dumping them down the drain or flushing them down the toilet. Because some of that water contributes to our water supply, scientists are concerned that trace amounts of medicines in our drinking water may prove harmful to humans.

"Over my 30 years as a pharmacist, there have been tremendous increases in the number of medications developed to help treat and prevent disease," Novario said. "To see those advances become a hazard to the environment and mankind because they are not disposed of properly is very depressing."

Bringing the P2D2 program to McLean County will help residents know how to dispose of the medicines, he said.

Since Ritter and his students began the program in January, about 20 pharmacies in Illinois - including 12 in Livingston County - have accepted leftover medications and the Pontiac Police Department is accepting powerful pain killers, such as narcotics, Ritter said.

In Pontiac alone, more than 350 pounds of medicine have been disposed of, he said. While incineration does produce smoke, the emissions are monitored and have less impact on the environment than tossing the medicines down the drain or into the garbage, Ritter said.

Meanwhile, a Michigan teacher has implemented the program there and Ritter has been asked to present information about the effort to towns in Washington and Missouri.

"I didn't see it coming that our program would be implemented across the United States but I understand why it's happening," Ritter said. "This is something that people can do to make a difference in their world."