Thoughts of testing water for specific chemical parameters scares a lot of folks because they remember all the horrible nights they spent cramming for an upcoming Chemistry test in high school and/or college. Trust us when we say, “We feel your pain. Been there and done that.”

You should also trust us, though, when we say you don’t need complicated chemistry sets or highly specialized training to find out if your tap water contains dangerous levels of things like:

Worried about the quality of the drinking water in your home, office or school? Inexpensive, easy-to-use home water test kits are just a click or a phone call (800-861-9712) away!

Now, of course, should the results of your home water testing for key water parameters yield results above expected and/or acceptable limits, you will most certainly want to have a certified water professional perform more advanced tests on your drinking water and at no time should you rely on home water quality test kits if you have serious reason to suspect that your water contains know carcinogens or other life threatening contaminants. Leave that sort of testing up to the Water Testing Professionals in your area.

Many microorganisms and forms of bacteria, including coliform bacteria, occur naturally in our environment and not all forms of bacteria or types of microorganisms cause harm to humans. The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Primary Drinking Water Standards states that most harmful types of bacteria and microorganisms such as Legionella, Giardia lamblia, Cryptosporidium, E. Coli, fecal coliform, and enteric viruses come primarily from human and animal waste.

Simple Testing Methods for Bacteria?

Yes. Homeowners wishing to test their water for the potential presence of harmful bacteria can use a number of kits such as the 48 Hour Presence/Absence Bacteria Check test kit which is also available in 2-pack and 6-pack versions.

WaterWorks^TM Bacteria Check

Bacteria Check will not tell you what KIND of coliform bacteria it detected, but it will tell you that the sample water contained at least ONE coliform unit of bacteria in the 100 mL sample and that you may want to get the water professionally evaluated.

A quantitative testing method for the presence of peroxides in organic solvents and ethers exists as well:

EM Quant^R Peroxide Test, 0.5ppm to 25ppm

Note: The following instructions come from Galade Chemical, a distributor of the above product, and the authors of Water Testing Blog present them ‘as is’, with no expressed or implied guarantees of accuracy.

Volatile Ethers

Immerse a test strip for approximately 1 second in the solvent being tested and allow to evaporate.

Breathe on the reaction zone 4 times for 3-5 seconds each time. Alternatively, immerse briefly in distilled water.

Compare the reaction zone with the color scale.

Low Volatility Ethers

A. Immiscible with water.

Mix a sample of the ether to be tested with 3 times its volume of peroxide-free ether or petroleum benzine (boiling range 40-60°C).

Test as described under “Volatile ethers.”

Record the value indicated on the scale and multiply by 4.

B. Miscible with water

Mix a sample of the ether to be tested with 3 times its volume of distilled water.

Immerse a test strip for approximately 1 second.

Wait 2 minutes and compare with the color scale.

Convert the results as under “Conversion.”

Conversion

Allowing for dilution, 3mg/l on the color scale is equivalent to:

90mg/l tetrahydrofuran peroxide or 30mg/l peroxide calculated as H2O2

150mg/l dioxan peroxide or 45mg/l peroxide calculated as H2O2.

Consumers often ask the question, “OK, so my water is safe to drink according to my local Water Authority and a recent certified laboratory test, but why does it taste funny, smell bad and/or appear so cloudy?”

The answer to that question lies in something called Secondary Drinking Water Standards. The United States Environmental Protection Agency makes suggestions as to limitations for water parameters that do not necessarily pose health risks to humans, but can affect drinking water’s aesthetic properties (i.e. color, taste, odor, etc.).

The United States Environmental Protection Agency requires public water companies, utilities, etc. to monitor and report specific water quality parameters on a regular basis. You can find the full list of those parameters here.

“National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs or primary standards) are legally enforceable standards that apply to public water systems. Primary standards protect public health by limiting the levels of contaminants in drinking water.” (source)

The government regulates the introduction of and requires the removal of items listed in the Primary Drinking Water Standards if they exceed Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL’s) because scientists and health officials have concluded that overexposure to those items ingested via drinking water causes signifigant health risks in humans.

As always, when evaluating your drinking water for safety reasons, keep in mind that home water test kits work quite well as a screening tool in the field and that no one should rely colely upon the results of ANY field screening method when making the final determination as to whether or not they have safe drinking water.

At this time the staff of Water Testing Blog does not know of a simple testing method for bromates. This does not mean companies who bottle water cannot have their product(s) tested for bromates.

“MWH Labs has received accreditation for testing of bromate by EPA Method 317 under the Stage 2 Disinfection/Disinfection Byproducts (DDBP) Rule. Method 317 is, a very accurate and very precise analytical method for bromate, that avoids many of the problems with false negatives and false positives that are associated with the existing analytical method (EPA 300.1). Additionally method 317 is capable of detecting bromate as low as 1 ppb (vs 5 ppb for method 300.1), helping clients to more accurately assess their bromate treatment options. Bromate is regulated in bottled water and potable water at a level of 10 ppb.”(source)

A while back the newspapers and television reports filled up with reports that some bottled water contained high levels of bromates and everyone agreed that bottled water ought not contain bromates. But how many of you ever stopped to ask where the bromates came from in the first place?

“Bromate is a chemical that is formed when ozone used to disinfect drinking water reacts with naturally occurring bromide found in source water. EPA has established the Stage 1 Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts Rule to regulate bromate at annual average of 10 parts per billion in drinking water. This standard will become effective for large public water systems by December 2001 and for small surface water and all ground public water systems in December 2003.” (source)

We have all read about folks getting sick from bacteria in water or seen the television reports about entire communities contracting strange ailments which eventually trace back to the indroduction of bacteria into the public water supply.

Believe it or not, not all forms of bacteria pose a danger to human life. In fact, the killing off of too much naturally occuring bacteria in the human body will lead to illness. Hence the reason why we now have yogurts and other products which encourage the growth of specific cultures in the human digestive tract.

Fact remains, though, that the introduction of harmful bacteria such as E. Coli, a bacteria strain well known for its ability to harm and even kill people, into potable water is an issue that all people who maintain their own wells or live, perhaps, at the tail end of a public water system’s line ought to check on a regular basis.

How Can People Test for Coliform Bacteria in Water?

A very safe and easy test from Industrial Test Systems, Inc. called Bacteria Check detects the presence of coliform bacteria down to 1 cfu per 100 ml — the EPA limit for coliform bacteria in drinking water — and requires no incubation. The test takes 48 hours and gives results much faster in the case where the sample water contains higher levels of coliform bacteria.

WaterWorks^TM Bacteria Check

Please note that Bacteria Check will not tell you what KIND of coliform bacteria it detected. Instead it will tell you that the sample water contained at least ONE coliform unit of bacteria in the 100 mL sample. 

Looking for just a few of the Bacteria Check tests? You can find 2-pack and 6-pack versions of the Bacteria Check test on a web site called H2OKits.Com.

In a previous post we hinted at the existence of a testing procedure for the presence of peroxides in organic solvents. For safety and liability reasons we opted not to go into detail about it, as our areas of expertise deal with testing for specific water parameters and not for specific parameters of other liquids such as organic solvents.

Peroxides formed in/over organic solvents can lead to very dangerous, explosive situations and although we will now discuss (briefly) a testing method for peroxides in organic solvents, we suggest that all parties concerned over such matters consult with the manufacturer(s) of their chemicals for better, more detailed testing, storage and safety information.

For hydroperoxide determination in organic solvents, moisten the test pad of the WaterWorks^TM Peroxide Check test strip with the solvent. Allow the solvent to evaporate and dry. Moisten the test pad with a drop of distilled water. The formation of a blue tint or color on the test pad indicates the presence of hydroperoxide.

The above test procedure provides qualitative results, not quantitative results, and serves as a presence/absence testing method only.

One of the most widely used testing methods for free and total chlorine makes use of something known as ‘DPD’ which stands for N,N Diethyl-1,4 Phenylenediamine Sulfate. The addition of DPD to water samples containing oxidizers such as free chlorine, bromine, iodine, chlorine dioxide and/or permanganate results in the formation of a reddish tint to the water whose intensity directly relates to the amount of oxidizer(s) present in the water sample.

At low oxidizer concentrations water samples turn a slight shade of pink in the presence of DPD and at higher oxidizer concentrations the sample will turn blood-red orange. In extremely high concentrations of oxidizers, as in above 10 ppm, the sample will turn blood-red and then go crystal clear due to the bleaching effect of the oxidizer(s) it contains.

Other oxidizers such as ozone and total chlorine do not react directly with DPD and require the addition of a compound known as Potassium Iodide (KI) before they will react with DPD.

• DPD-1 — Used to test oxidizer levels in water samples containing free chlorine, bromine, iodine, chlorine dioxide and/or permanganate.
• DPD-3 — Useless on its own, but when added to samples already containing DPD-1 and free chlorine, total chlorine, bromine, iodine, chlorine dioxide, permanganate and/or ozone, pink through blood-red color development will occur in the sample.
• DPD-4 — The combination of DPD-1 (N,N Diethyl-1,4 Phenylenediamine Sulfate) and DPD-3 (KI) to samples containing free chlorine, total chlorine, bromine, iodine, chlorine dioxide, permanganate and/or ozone will result in pink through blood-red color development in the sample. Simply put, DPD-1 + DPD-3 = DPD-4.

DPD comes in various forms, the most common of which include tablets, powder pillows, liquids and ReagentStrips^TM. Each works equally well when used correctly and may typically be interchanged with one another, though all do have their pros and cons.

• Tablets: One of the cheapest forms of DPD available and has a very long shelf-life. Difficult to break apart and dissolve in cold or hard water samples and may leave suspended solids floating around in samples.
• Powder Pillows: Inexpensive form of DPD. Difficult to dissolve in cold or hard water samples and may leave suspended solids floating around in samples. Users also complain of ‘annoyance value’ associated with having to tear the foil pillows open and pour the DPD powder into the sample vials. Not well-suited for outdoor testing.
• Liquids: Shorter shelf-life and much more unstable than other forms of DPD, considered ‘messy’ by many users, but also probably the expensive form of DPD.
• ReagentStrips^TM: Convenient delivery method for DPD, rarely leaves undissolved solids in samples regardless of temperature or hardness, decent shelf-life, and available in bottles of 50 or individually wrapped tests (excellent for field work).