This is one of the many things that genuinely scare me, in what is happening to the environment. A close relative of mine works at the water protection agency; antibiotics are not that much of a problem in Swedish waters so far, but she has a lot of international contacts and she's told me that in some countries, antibiotics are dumped in the water, ending up in the ground water, with obvious consequences. Some people are even advised to flush unused medication down the toilet. (Granted, that way it has to pass through filters and chemical purification, so its better than throwing it into the river, but everything is not caught by the filters.) And only recently I read about a doctor who had prescribed antibiotics against a virus infection, without even meeting the patient... he was warned, of course, but the number of doctors who do that is probably frighteningly high. (Some people simply should not be doctors.) And finally, in some countries they give antibiotics to animals as a routine proceedure. All these things mean that very soon, bacterial infections may no longer be treatable with antibiotics, and even more people will die from fairly uncomplicated infections. Not to mention all the species of animals that will suffer or become extinct.

Sorry, I know that you know all this, neutrino, but I had to rant.