A probe has found that drinking water for at least 41 million Americans contains a vast array of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones.

Duane Moser, an assistant research professor with Desert Research Institute, collects water samples from the Las Vegas Wash in Henderson, Nev. in this October 18, 2007 file photo. A probe has found that drinking water for at least 41 million Americans contains a vast array of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones. [Agencies]

Drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas – from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Kentucky, according to the probe made public on Sunday.

"The presence of so many prescription drugs – and over-the- counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen – in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health," said the probe conducted by the Associated Press.