The title of this blog entry says it all. Legislation in New Jersey pertaining to proposed testing for perchlorate in municipal water systems and private wells got a thrashing… and once again the public must take initiative and test for a suspected drinking water contaminant on their own.

The Christie administration has backed off plans to require testing and treatment of drinking water for a chemical ingredient of fertilizer and rocket fuel that has been found in some private and public wells in North Jersey and which poses health risks for pregnant women and infants even with short-term exposure.

Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin angered some environmentalists when he chose not to sign a proposed statewide rule that would have set a limit on how much perchlorate can remain in drinking water.

The rule would have required public water systems to test for perchlorate and treat the water if levels exceeded 5 parts per billion. The rule would also have required property owners with private wells to test for perchlorate during real estate transactions.

The New Jersey Realtors Association and the New Jersey Builders Association had opposed the rule, citing the potential financial costs to homeowners with private wells.

…

Perchlorate is a naturally occurring inorganic chemical compound. Deposits in Chile are mined and used as fertilizer in the U.S. Perchlorate is often used in the manufacture of rocket propellant. It is used in fireworks, matches, lubricating oils and air bags.

The chemical has been found in more than 20 states.

…

In 2005 the National Research Council determined that perchlorate interferes with iodide uptake in the thyroid, a gland that helps regulate metabolism in adults. The thyroid also plays a major role in development of the central nervous system and skeleton in children. The council determined that an impaired thyroid in pregnant mothers could harm the fetus by causing behavior changes and delayed development and reducing the child’s learning ability.

…

Between 2001 and 2003, 123 New Jersey public water systems were tested by the EPA for perchlorate; 10 recorded perchlorate at rates of 4 parts per billion or higher. The maximum concentration detected was 13 parts per billion.

The state DEP conducted additional tests between 2003 and 2005 and found perchlorate rates as high as 23 parts per billion in a well operated by the Park Ridge water system. The borough’s consultants concluded that a fertilizer used at a nearby greenhouse was a possible source of the contamination.

Park Ridge has since addressed the perchlorate concentrations with a treatment system.

The results in Park Ridge led officials to test nearby private wells in Park Ridge, Woodcliff Lake and Saddle River. At least 17 showed perchlorate concentrations above 4 parts per million, with the highest at 110 parts per billion. ( source )

We performed a quick search on Google to try and find out what perchlorate testing costs and had no luck. We then placed a quick call to a colleague at National Testing Labs and found out the following information:

• National Testing Labs performs perchlorate testing.
• The testing does not come as part of any ‘standard testing packeage’ for homeownners.
• Individuals can call 800-458-3330 and ask for information on submitting a sample of water for perchlorate testing.
• Cost for perchlorate testing — $125 per sample
• Turnaround time for perchlorate testing — 10 to 15 business days from receipt of sample(s)

A commonly used herbicide known as atrazine has shown up in well water all across the country and despite the USEPA knowing it poses a credible dabger to humans if consumed in too great a quantity, you don’t hear about too many people in government working to keep atrazine out of the public water supply — except for Congressman Keith Ellison from Minnesota.

A member of Congress is seeking to ban one of the nation’s most widely-used herbicides, which has turned up in drinking water in some states. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) is for the second time proposing legislation that would outlaw any use or trade of atrazine.

Atrazine is most commonly sprayed on cornfields, and can run off into rivers and streams that supply drinking water. As the Huffington Post Investigative Fund reported in a series of articles last fall, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to warn the public that the weed-killer had been found at levels above federal safety limits in drinking water in at least four states. A coalition of Midwestern communities — along with the nation’s largest private water utility — is suing atrazine’s manufacturer, Syngenta, seeking to have it pay to filter the chemical from public water.

Steven Goldman, spokesman for Syngenta, did not comment specifically on the proposed bill or on the prospect of a nationwide ban.

Read more: U.S. Congressman Renews Attempts to Ban Controversial Herbicide Atrazine

Not sure if your drinking water contains atrazine or other potentially harmful drinking water contaminants? The following information about testing for atrazine might come in handy, then:

Pesticide in Water Test Atrazine & Simazine 2 Tests for Each

National Testing Labs 83 Water Parameters 20 Pesticides/Herbicides

Want our advice? Of course you do!

If you live w/in 50 to 100 miles of an agricultural area and have a well, or your local water system draws from a well located near agricultural areas, either get your water tested for atrazine as well as other pesticides and herbicides several times a year — especially after periods of heavy rain and/or runoff.

Test kits such as the Pesticide Test Kit for atrazine and simazine work well as occasional screening methods but when it comes to giving the final word on whether or not your water contains harmful contaminants, always turn to the experts at a certified drinking water testing lab such as National Testing Labs.

Many people don’t know this, but cartridge filter systems actually do a pretty good job of removing particles from water — when installed correctly and the actual filter cartridges themselves get cleaned at the right times.

So NATURALLY that makes one wonder, “Hmmm…. When should I clean my cartridge filter?” So glad you asked because we happen to have a pretty good answer to that question!

It is time to clean the filters when you notice a decrease in the pressure from your jets, or when the pressure in your filter tank increases by 8 psi from when the filter was newly installed.

Sounds pretty obvious, right? Yeah… It does. But now HOW should you clean the cartridge filters now that you know WHEN to clean them?

In order to clean the filter, first remove it from its canister and use a garden hose to dislodge any debris between the pleats. Soak the filter in commercially prepared filter cleaner, or spray with the same to remove organic material and oils.

To remove stains soak overnight in a solution of one quart bleach and 5 gallons water. Thoroughly rinse the cartridge with fresh water and reinstall it into the canister. Be sure to follow manufacturer’s directions for installing the filter.

DO NOT use a high-pressure car wash wand, a stiff brush or acid wash to clean the filter cartridges as these methods can damage the filter media.

Yep. Now you know when and how to clean your cartridge filters… but what happens if you accidentally rip the media or the dog gets hold of the thing and uses it as a chew toy?

Sorry to say this, but you need to get a new cartridge filter. Take a look at these replacement cartridge filters and find one to fit your system.

Ready or not, folks, pool season has crept up on a lot of us and that means the time has come to start checking the pool water for sanitizer content, pH and alkalinity on a regular basis… or wind up with green, nasty, algae-infested water!

For years Pool Check 3 Way Test Strips have served as the workhorse for pool and spa owners checking basic pool water parameters on a regular basis… and right now you can pick up a bottle of 50 test strips for about $5 at TestProducts.Com.

Detection Ranges:

• Free Chlorine: 0, 0.5, 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 ppm
• Bromine: 0, 1, 2, 6, 10, 20, 40 ppm
• Total Alkalinity: 0, 40, 80, 120, 180, 240, 360 ppm
• pH: 6.0, 6.4, 6.8, 7.2, 7.6, 8.2, 9.0

Just to let you know, TestProducts.Com normally charges more than seven dollars for the Pool Check 3 Way Test Strips.

Although this really did not shock or surprise any of us, not a lot of testing takes place for a commonly used pesticide/herbicide called atrazine… and it seems as though little action gets taken when spikes in atrazine concentrations do get recorded.

Despite growing health concerns about atrazine, an agricultural weedkiller sprayed on farm fields across the Midwest, most drinking water is tested for the chemical only four times a year — so rarely that worrisome spikes of the chemical likely go undetected.

High levels of the herbicide can linger in tap water during the growing season, according to more frequent tests in some agricultural communities.

Spread heaviest on cornfields, atrazine is one of the most commonly detected contaminants in drinking water. Studies have found that exposure to small amounts of the chemical can turn male frogs into females and might be more harmful to humans than once thought.

…

Even with limited official testing, atrazine in the past four years was detected in the drinking water of 60 Illinois communities where more than a million people live, according to a Tribune analysis of state and federal records.

Under a deal between the EPA and the chief manufacturer of atrazine, about 130 water utilities in 10 states are tested weekly or biweekly. The Tribune analysis showed that during 2008, four downstate towns — Evansville, Farina, Flora and Mount Olive — were among nine Midwest communities where the average annual level of atrazine and its breakdown products exceeded the federal safety limit of 3 parts per billion. About half of the 130 saw concentrations that jumped above 3 parts per billion at least once that year.

In Flora, about 240 miles south of Chicago, atrazine levels spiked as high as 30 parts per billion. The findings concern researchers because some studies have shown adverse affects from exposure to concentrations as small as 0.1 parts per billion. The chemical has not been found in Chicago tap water, in part because Lake Michigan dilutes farm runoff.

The more frequent tests are done outside the EPA’s official monitoring program and don’t count when regulators consider whether communities meet the legal limit for atrazine.

They also don’t trigger provisions in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act that require the public to be notified about water contamination. As a result, residents are rarely advised that they can buy inexpensive filters to screen the chemical out of their tap water.

Atrazine can’t be sprayed in Europe because it contaminates groundwater, but it remains widely used in the U.S., where the EPA endorsed its continued use as recently as 2006, based on a scientific review from 2003. Federal records show the review was heavily influenced by industry and relied on studies financed by Syngenta, a Swiss-based company that manufactures most of the atrazine sprayed in the U.S. ( source )

The last paragraph cited above pretty much says it all: The word of the chemical manufacturer, and not that of an independent organization, got used to shape and mold public policy regarding the testing and regulation of atrazine.

Pesticide in Water Test Atrazine & Simazine 2 Tests for Each

National Testing Labs 83 Water Parameters 20 Pesticides/Herbicides

Want our advice? Of course you do!

If you live w/in 50 to 100 miles of an agricultural area and have a well, or your local water system draws from a well located near agricultural areas, either get your water tested for atrazine as well as other pesticides and herbicides several times a year — especially after periods of heavy rain and/or runoff.

Test kits such as the Pesticide Test Kit for atrazine and simazine work well as occasional screening methods but when it comes to giving the final word on whether or not your water contains harmful contaminants, always turn to the experts at a certified drinking water testing lab such as National Testing Labs.

Kyle from Florida asked,

My company does a lot of plumbing work for residential and commercial customers. Not all the time, but many times we get asked to test the water once we finish a job. I see a lot of test kits that use drops and those test strips on the market, but I want to use something a bit more professional like a meter of some sort. All the meters I’ve seen out there that test for a bunch of parameters have a ton of buttons, vials, powders and an instruction manual you could use to knock out a cow. Do they make a multipurpose water testing meter for the simple guy? Thanks for your help and I love the site. Lot of good info here!

Stop it, Kyle, before you make us blush!

To answer your question directly, yes you can find a reliable water testing meter made for the ‘simple guy’ and no you will not have to attend night school just to figure out how it works.

The eXact Micro 7+ Water Testing Meter offers extreme versatility, has only one button to worry about, does not use vials, and comes with a handy, compact manual barely capable of killing a fly.

Below you will see a quick demonstration of how easily you can test water:

Now Kyle, if that looked like too much work, or like it involved way too much ‘technical stuff’, then you may as well hang up your water testing hat(?) and send all your samples out to a place like National Testing Labs ‘cuz testing water in the field does not get any easier than it does with the eXact Micro 7+ Water Testing Meter.

• Direct read parameters — Total Alkalinity, Bromine, Calcium Hardness, Free Chlorine, Total Chlorine, Copper, Ozone, Permanganate, and pH

• Additional parameters — Ammonia, Chloride (as NaCl), Chlorine Dioxide (DPD-1), Chromium Hexavalent, Cyanuric Acid, Fluoride, Hydrazine, Hydrogen Peroxide (Low, Mid and High Range), Iodine (DPD-1), Iron (Fe+2), Total Iron (Fe+2/Fe+3), LR Total Hardness (as CaCO3), Magnesium, Manganese, Nitrate (as NO3), Nitrite (as NO2), pH (Acid and Alkali), Potassium, Protein (as BSA), Sulfate, Sulfide, and Turbidity. Kit includes conversion chart for these parameters.

• USEPA Compliant meter for Free & Total Chlorine — 0.01 ppm (mg/L) precision

• Built-in, permanent cell — no loose glass or plastic cells to lose

• Easy fill testing — Simply fill or dip meter into water

• Automatic countdown timer for accurate timing of testing

• 140 test memory — saves 20 tests per menu item

• No-slip grip housing — ideal for wet testing conditions

• Lightweight — weighs only 6 ounces w/ batteries installed

• Waterproof — IP-67 Rated and meter will float if dropped into water

• Easy-to-read LCD display — no color matching required

• Environmentally friendly — recyclable parts & uses 60% less reagents than 10mL sample tests

• CE certification

Tyler had a question about conductivity:

Hi. Yesterday we had an appointment with a man who came by the house with one of those fancy pants test kits that is supposed to shock homeowners into buying an expensive and unnecessary(?) water filter system. One question: Does a high conductivity value really mean our water is bad

Thanks for your help!

When talking about water or another solution containing electrolytes, conductivity, also called to as specific conductance, refers to the water’s ability to conduct electricity. We measure conductivity in siemens per meter (S/m).

High quality deionized water has a conductivity of about 5.5 mS/m, typical drinking water in the range of 5-50 mS/m, while sea water about 5 S/m[2] (i.e., sea water’s conductivity is one million times higher than deionized water). ( source )

Many times a solution’s conductivity value gives a good indication of how many dissolved solids (aka: total dissolved solids) the solution contains. As for whether or not drinking highly conductive water poses a danger to your health, that will depend on what TYPES of solids you have dissolved in your water.

Having said that, we suggest that you not let an in-home water filter system salesman persuade to buy ANYthing based solely upon the results of a conductivity test. Get your water tested by an independent laboratory such as National Testing Labs first and then start looking for a water filter system after you find out if you really have any ‘issues’ with your water.

Digital Conductivity Meter With Cap

A few months ago we wrote a small piece on a company called Puralytics whose new photochemical water purification system may revolutionize the way people get safe drinking water while camping or after a natural disaster strikes. In that article we mentioned Puralytics Finalist Status in Imagine H20 Prize.

Obviously not willing to rest on its laurels, Puralytics has now received a grant to further development and commercialization of its photochemical water filtration products.

Inside sources predict a commercial launching of the products sometime in 2010.

Puralytics has received a grant from ONAMI, the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute, to advance their unique water treatment capability. This grant is provided though the ONAMI Gap Fund, which will fund technology research and verification in conjunction with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Puralytics has developed a photochemical water purification technology using semiconductor light sources and nanotechnology, with 100% water recovery, low energy, and environmentally sound products. This new process has demonstrated effectiveness eliminating organics, heavy metals, and pathogens from water. ( source )

All of us here at Water Testing Blog congratulate Puralytics on its accomplishments thus far and look forward to learning more about their new products as they become available!

As many of you already know, Water Testing Blog believes quite strongly that private well owners should test and/or have their well water tested periodically. Many of you also know that each and ever chance we get, we will repeat our position on the matter and provide our readers with reasons why periodic well testing makes sense.

This time our quest for reasons to test well water took us to Union Township in New Jersey where the town’s Environmental Commission and the South Branch Watershed Association have teamed up to promote the testing of local well water by well owners.

On Wednesday April 14, 2010, Union Township residents will have a chance to get their well water tested by a certified water lab for various forms of bacteria and nitrates for a discounted rate of $50.

Test kits must be purchased in advance from March 29 until April 13 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the township Municipal Building, Perryville Road. No cash will be accepted — checks only, please. Kits must be delivered back to the Municipal Building with your sample on April 14 between 7 and 10 a.m. Additional information about the tests and the procedures is available in the Township Clerk’s office there, or call the South Branch Watershed Association at 908-782-0422 ext 10.

“Most people in our watershed rely on private wells for their drinking water and other household needs,” said Bill Kibler, executive director of the Watershed Association. Wells, which draw water out of underground aquifers, may be susceptible to contamination that seeps in from the surface of the ground or that has infiltrated the aquifer itself. The proximity of a well to a septic system, or an area where animal waste is allowed to accumulate, increases the chances that the water may become contaminated. Shallow wells with little or no casing may be more susceptible to contamination than deeper cased wells.

“There is no water utility company or public agency that is responsible for testing well water,” says Kibler. “Private well owners are essentially on their own when it comes to monitoring their wells for contamination. Because of this, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends that homeowners have their well water tested annually. The South Branch Watershed Association is here to help people test and protect their drinking water.”

The association is able to offer the testing at a reduced cost through an agreement it has with a state-certified testing laboratory.

Additional information about the association and its other programs is available at its web site at www.sbwa.org. ( source )

For those just tuning in, if you own a well and you DON’T get it tested periodically for things like coliform bacteria, nitrates, arsenic, heavy metals and pesticides, you really ought to consider changing your ways!

Why bother testing well water after the well passes its initial water quality tests? Simple: As demand on the aquifer from which your well draws its water changes, when weather patterns shift, and/or when some jerk with a load of industrial garbage dumps it near a waterway (or runoff stream) that feeds the aquifer… the quality of water in the aquifer can suddenly change.

Bacteria, toxins and poisonous metals could care less where they end up and if fate, gravity or negligence guide them towards your water supply, no one will watch for them if you don’t. In other words, the EPA won’t stop by one Saturday morning to see if you have safe drinking water.

So please test your well water on a regular basis. Local authorities would not offer discounted (or sometimes free) well water testing if they didn’t know for sure that water from a well can sometimes become contaminated by something as simple and natural as Spring weather melting snow and creating runoff 200 or more miles away from the location of the well.

One More Thing…

At-home Drinking Water Test Kits serve as excellent screening tools but only drinking water quality testing performed by a certified drinking water testing lab such as National Testing Laboratories can give the final word as to whether or not you have safe water coming out of your well.