Also, U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., has asked the EPA to establish a national task force to investigate the issue and make recommendations to Congress on any legislative actions needed.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, who heads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, chairman of the Transportation, Safety, Infrastructure Security and Water Quality Subcommittee, said the oversight hearings would likely be held in April.

Boxer, D-Calif., said she was “alarmed at the news” that pharmaceuticals are turning up in the nation’s drinking water, while Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat who said he was “deeply concerned” by the AP findings.

Both represent states where pharmaceuticals had been detected in drinking water supplies, but not disclosed to the public.

EPA spokesman Timothy Lyons said the agency is “committed to keeping the nation’s water supply clean, safe and the best in the world. We encourage all Americans to be responsible when disposing of prescription drugs.”

The Lautenberg-Boxer announcement came just 24 hours after the AP’s release of the first installment of its three-part series, titled PharmaWater.

The five-month-long inquiry by the AP National Investigative Team found that while water is screened for drugs by some suppliers, they usually don’t tell their customers that they have found medication in it.