“Back when we grew up we didn’t have Mutated Ninja Turtles, Ninny-Tendo, Laptop Calculators, Cellular Tell-Lee Phones and fancy pants Eyewear Pods. We asked Santa for REAL things like HEAT and FOOD! Santa Claus brought us BOOKS and SLIDE RULES so we could get jobs after school in the coal mines!!!” – Some old codger.

The older we get the less sense Christmas seems to make… and the more money we need to make in order to pay for Christmas! As a result of that realization, we spent some time looking for deals and bargains on presents related to water quality that would have a bit more meaning than gift cards for MP3 downloads, etc.

“MP3 download? Sounds like some kinda’ STD. What kinda’ crazy kid wants one of THOSE???” – Some old codger.

Regardless of whether you share the sentiments of ‘some old codger’ or not, the fact remains that we adults need to teach the next generation about water quality, its importance, and how to properly test for it.

Otherwise all the work past and present generations have done to make sure our planet doesn’t run out of water will go to waste. On another note, the quality of water that gets pumped into our nursing homes will suck, too.

Not cool. Not cool at all.

Educational Christmas presents related to water quality

We have two main reasons for bringing this next water test kit to your attention: 1) The WaterSafe School Science Project Kit contains enough testing supplies to test for 8 different water quality parameters (Lead, Bacteria, Pesticides, Nitrates, Nitrites, Chlorine, Hardness and pH); 2) The WaterSafe School Science Project Kit comes in two sizes for performing all 8 tests on 4 water samples or on 10 water samples.

That means one eager young student could tests multiple water sources OR a whole group of eager young water students could all test their own water and compare results afterward.

Need another good reason to take a look at the WaterSafe School Science Project Kit? OK, well how about the fact that FilterWater.Com has them on sale right now. Just $39.95 for the 4-pack of tests and only $79.95 for the 8-pack of tests.

First of all, we want to say that the total number of offending water departments found to have a chronic history of failing to conduct required water testing numbered… 34 out of around 2,800. For those interested in statistics, that amounts to roughly 1.2 percent of the water departments in the State of Missouri.

“Oh… Well that’s in Missouri. That sort of thing doesn’t happen where I live.”

With recent budget cuts all across the board in pretty much every department of every city government in the country… we find it hard to believe that anyone could not think that some people, somewhere, would attempt to save money by cutting corners.

Jefferson City, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Natural Resources today released a list of 34 drinking water systems in the state that have chronically failed to complete drinking water testing required by state law.

The systems listed have at least three major monitoring violations in a 12-month period. While failing to monitor does not necessarily mean the water is unsafe, routine testing by a facility is a crucial part of maintaining a safe water supply.

The department requires all public water systems to test for bacteria at least once a month to verify these systems are providing safe drinking water to the public. The vast majority of community and non-community public water systems in Missouri comply with all monitoring requirements and meet all drinking water standards. This current list of 34 chronic violators represents only 1.2 percent of the approximately 2,800 public drinking water systems in Missouri.

…

To view more details on the violators listed, visit the department’s Website at dnr.mo.gov/env/wpp/chronic/index.html.

These systems’ owners have been sent multiple violation notices in addition to certified letters informing them that chronic failure to monitor is unacceptable. ( source )

Do we think people need to immediately stop drinking water from the tap because a few water department here and there decided to cut corners when it came to testing? Absolutely not!

The United States has one of the best, if not THE best, infrastructures for the purification and distribution of safe, clean drinking water in the world. That does NOT mean, however, that problems don’t manifest themselves from time-to-time — as demonstrated by the excerpts above from an article about water testing deficiencies in Missouri over the past 12 months.

Do we think more people need to step up to the plate and take responsibility for making sure the water they drink contains no harmful bacteria? Of course we do! With so many inexpensive and easy-to-use test kits available we see no reason why people — especially private well owners — should not perform periodic testing for basic water quality parameters.

Looking for a unique present with a purpose that won’t break the bank AND may help to save a loved one’s life? Many people simply will NOT go out and buy a drinking water test kit regardless of how much time has passed since anyone tested their water… so therefore WE believe a test kit like the SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit would make a GREAT gift for Christmas.

Think of it this way: You could spend all day wandering around an overcrowded shopping mall hunting for a gift that would, um, well… hopefully make the person happy OR you could get them a gift that has meaning.

We fully concede the fact that opening a nicely wrapped package and finding a water test kit may not exactly ‘wow’ anyone, but just think of the gratitude a person would show if the water testing gave them insight into problems they have wondered about for a long time… and what about if the testing alerted them to problems that could adversely affect the lives of anyone who consumes the water?

Think of the gratitude THEN!

What does the kit test for?

Free Chlorine, Total Chlorine, Chloride, pH, Total Alkalinity, Total Hardness, Nitrate, Nitrite, Iron, Sulfate, Hydrogen Sulfide, Copper, Lead, Pesticide, and Bacteria.

In conclusion

If you need another reason to order the SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit… we saw that the Filter Water Web Site has the kit, which comes with two tests for each water parameter except the bacteria test, on sale for $32 (down from the usual price of $36).

OK, so maybe not ‘new’, but having spoken with the manufacturers of this product, we can safely say that a whole lot of people who could really use this product do not know of its existence.

For years people conducting tests for certain varieties of oxidizers (Free Chlorine, Chlorine Dioxide, Bromine, Iodine, and Permanganate) have relied upon DPD-1 tablets, DPD-1 powders and DPD-1 liquids to help them obtain accurate, repeatable results.

Now, however, an easier method of adding DPD-1 reagent to test samples has become available on FilterWater.Com, an online retailer of water quality testing and water quality improvement products.

Why consider switching to DPD-1 ReagentStrips?

• The United States Environmental Protection Agency has deemed the DPD-1 ReagentStrip test procedure equivalent to USEPA method 330.5 for wastewater when used in conjunction with a Palintest Chlorometer 1000 equivalent meter (i.e. the eXact Chlorine Photometer).

• The United States Environmental Protection Agency has deemed the DPD-1 ReagentStrip test procedure equivalent to USEPA method Standard Method 4500-Cl G for drinking water when used in conjunction with a Palintest Chlorometer 1000 equivalent meter (i.e. the eXact Chlorine Photometer).

• eXact DPD-1 Reagentstrips deliver a precise dose of DPD-1 reagent into a 10 mL sample without the need to count drops (DPD-1 liquids).

• Working in the field with DPD-1 Reagentstrips becomes much easier since testing personnel will not have to worry about small or large gusts of wind blowing away their reagent as they attempt to add it to a sample (DPD-1 powders).

• Due to the ‘dehydrated nature’ of DPD-1 Reagentstrips, they will dispense rapidly and easily into hard and cold water without the need for laborious, time consuming tablet crushing (DPD-1 tablets).

• As long a the test instrument (i.e. meter or test kit) uses as standard 10 mL sample size, an eXact DPD-1 Reagentstrip will provide consistent test results regardles of who made the test kit/meter.

If you use DPD-1 on a regular basis we think you owe it to yourself to give eXact DPD-1 ReagentStrips a try.

Note: For those who know a thing or two about DPD, you may find yourself wondering why we didn’t compare the DPD-1 ReagentStrip to an old school method of reagent delivery called ampuoles which involves breaking glass tips off into test samples. Ahem… Breaking of glass in order to perform testing. Need we say anything more about ampuoles?

About two months ago we posted an article (Four Bottle Water Filter Station — by 3M Filtrete) about an innovative idea that gives people the convenience of bottled water without the expense of having to purchase it all the time.

The Filtrete Water Station uses a recyclable filter to reduce levels of sediment and the taste and odor of chlorine from water… and then puts the filtered water into four reusable 16.9 ounce bottles.

Does this unit remove EVERY possible drinking water contaminant? No, but since some bottled water companies take tap water, filter it, bottle it, and then sell it… don’t you think you could do the same at home for a lot less money?

Granted many of those companies may use more sophisticated methods of water purification such as reverse osmosis, but not all of them.

Also, please don’t forget about the space in landfills you would not take up with all the disposable, empty water bottles you would no longer throw out.

“Oh, but I recycle my water bottles….”

Good for you! Too bad not ALL of the material that goes into the production and packaging of most bottled water can get recycled. The fact that the bottle and (sometimes) the caps can get recycled does NOT mean the plastic coated cardboard boxes used to ship the product will break down nicely in nature or get recycled.

And what about the fossil fuel used to cart all those bottles from the factory — and yes, we said factory. The image that a group of people sit around a remote location secretly bottling pure, safe and pristine drinking water is exactly that: an image — to the distribution center and from there to countless locations before it finally ends up in the cooler for you to grab as you head off to another meeting, to the gym or out for an afternoon of frantic Christmas shopping.?

Don’t get us wrong

We LOVE that (many) people have committed themselves to recycling the waste from various products they use on a daily basis. We just hope that more people will start bottling their own water at home instead of paying outrageous prices for filtered water that has an ecological footprint extending well beyond its trendy, recyclable container.

It sickens us to read about valuable resources such as water testing kits sitting idle on shelves so long that their components age beyond expiration dates… especially when it happens in an economically depressed or otherwise challenged area such as rural India.

Forget about the wasted money. Think, instead, about the waterborne illnesses that water quality testing could possibly have prevented. THEN think about the money spent treating those diseases which more than likely exceeded the cost of the test kits by ten or twenty-fold!

These kits were meant to test water samples to ensure clean and drinkable water in rural areas. But in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda district, the field testing kits — provided under the Rajeev Gandhi Rural Drinking Water Mission — were not used till their expiry date.

The kits, worth around Rs 25 lakh, have now been rendered useless. The district administration is conducting a probe as to why the kits were not distributed on time. ( source )

Water testing kits have expiration dates and we suggest that anyone who owns a test kit check the dates on reagents periodically to make sure all reagents have adequate shelf life remaining. While some reagents have very long shelf lives, others (i.e. certain liquid test reagents) lose potency very rapidly and must get replaced often.

As an example, Phenol Red & OTO reagents found in most basic 2-way pool water test kits should get replaced each new swimming season and/or if they sit in direct sunlight for too long, sit for too long with their caps not put on tightly, or get stored near strong oxidizers such as chlorine or bromine.

While on the topic of replacement reagents for pool water test kits, if you own a Taylor Pool Water Test Kit, you will definitely want check out this Taylor Test Kit Reagents Page before next pool season begins.

In conclusion

You count on your water test kits to tell you if you have safe pool water and safe drinking water so it would only make sense that you would want the components in that kit working at optimal levels. Expired test kit reagents may or may not give you the performance needed to guarantee accurate, dependable results!

Rude family members contribute to a lack of cold, clean drinking water? Apparently so because ‘Kaytee’ has more than a few issues with her greedy, insensitive, water guzzling family.

“My husband and kids have no manners. We live in a place where temperatures hit the high 90′s for a good part of the year and since our tap water pretty much stinks (literally! yuck! so much chlorine!) we bought a Riviera filter by Brita and so far it has worked out GREAT — except that my family can’t seem to figure out how to refill the friggin’ thing so that when I get home I can have a glass of water, too! Do they make a larger pitcher or do I need to go out and get another Riviera and write my name on it?”

Ha ha. We have all grabbed a carton of milk or orange juice out of the fridge only to find that it had no weight and no contents. Now a similar heartbreaking event happens with filtered drinking water? What’s this So annoying! Well, lucky for you some folks at Brita must also have lazy family members because Brita does actually make a larger version of its very popular Riviera model.

The Riviera holds approximately 64 ounces of filtered drinking water at most which makes it kind of heavy when full so rather make a larger pitcher, Brita decided to make an in-fridge water dispenser called the Brita UltraMax Dispenser capable of holding an additional ten full 8-ounce glasses of cold, refreshing filtered drinking water more than its cousin the Riviera.

What do these Brita filters remove/reduce?

Both the Riviera Pitcher Filter and UltraMax Dispenser use the OB03 Water Filter, a filter certified by the NSF and the Water Quality Association to reduce levels of copper, mercury, cadmium, chlorine, and zinc in drinking water.

What NSF Standards does the Brita OB03 water filter certify to?

A very good question! While cruising around the web we found a number of sites claiming that the Brita OB03 water filter does a number of things… that we could NOT verify on the NSF, WQA or Brita web sites.

Therefore, we proudly present certification information about the Brita OB03 water filter that we COULD verify:

1) The Brita OB03 water filter has certified to NSF/ANSI Standard Number 53 (Health Effects) for the reduction of Copper, Mercury and Cadmium.

2) The Brita OB03 water filter has certified to NSF/ANSI Standard Number 42 which deals with the reduction of specific aesthetic or non-health-related contaminants (chlorine, taste and odor, and particulates) that may exist in drinking water for the following: Aesthetic chlorine, taste & odor, and zinc.

3) None of the three web sites mentioned earlier say anything about the OB03 having certifications for it’s ability to remove lead or volatile organic compounds (VOC’s).

Most people looking to test their drinking water for chlorine want to know the concentration of free chlorine, also called the free chlorine residual, in their drinking water. Basically speaking, free chlorine (hypochlorous acid) acts as an effective sanitizing and disinfecting agent in lower concentrations but can cause serious harm and damage to organic material (i.e. human skin, hair, cells, etc.) in higher concentrations.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has set the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for free chlorine at 4.0 parts per million, also known as milligrams per liter (mg/L).

The most commonly used test for free chlorine residual uses a reagent called DPD (what is DPD?). More specifically, it requires DPD-1 and DPD-1 comes in several different forms: liquid, powder, tablet and reagentstrip form.

Around this time last month we talked about the outbreak of cholera in Haiti and a whole lot of our readers started to wonder if such an epidemic could ever reach the States… and we answered ‘yes’, but we don’t believe it would get much traction due to this country’s water quality infrastructure.

The disease ran rampant, and continues to run rampant across Haiti because the country’s sanitation system, or more accurately because of its LACK of a decent sanitation system. Without a way to properly process (disinfect/sanitize) human waste, the vessel by which cholera and many other diseases spread, that waste can easily find its way into water supplies where it has the opportunity to infect many more people.

Sounds nasty, but that grim story has existed as a harsh reality for the residents of Haiti and other areas we in the United States and other ‘Western’ countries have labeled as ‘Third World’.

The disease was originally endemic to the Indian subcontinent, particularly around the Ganges river. Trade routes by land and sea helped spread it to Russia, then to western Europe, then America during the Irish immigration period. Cholera is no longer considered a pressing health threat in Europe and North America due to filtering and chlorination of water supplies, but still heavily affects developing countries. ( source )

Stopping the spread of cholera and other diseases

Several people have come forward and blamed the Haitian government and a number of emergency relief agencies for not having enough medicines and vaccines to properly treat those who have already contracted chlorera. We think those people’s words have some merit, but not much.

The real problem lies with Haiti’s inferior sanitation and clean water distribution system. The disease normally spreads through contaminated drinking water so… instead of treating the problem after-the-fact, action needs to get taken on the front end where initial contamination occurs — and that means stopping the flow of infection waste into the water supply.

Advanced water purification and sewage systems mean the developed world no longer faces a major threat from cholera. The disposal and sterilisation of anything that may be infected is an important way of stopping its spread. ( source )

We do not have all the answers

Now before anyone gets on their high horse and asks, “Well do you know how to stop the flow of infectious waste into the Third World’s water supply?” No… No, we do not. We do know, however, that the answer lies in clean water because fewer people getting infected will, in the end, mean fewer people having the ability to spread the disease.

Since digging up all of Haiti or any other Third World country and installing proper sanitation systems would cost far more than anyone would want to pay, we suspect the solution will have to come from making safe, clean drinking water available to the masses.

Simplicity… a beautiful thing

In a country like Haiti where power lines may or may not reach many areas and the power may or may not always flow through the lines if they do exist, obviously more complex, powered water purification systems such as ultraviolet disinfection (which require power) could prove useless at the times when people might need them most.

About a month ago we talked about a series of gravity feed filters made by Doulton that use special ceramic filters to remove/reduce levels of potentially harmful Cysts (i.e. Cryptosporidium, Giardia, etc.), Particulates (i.e. Rust & Sediment Creating Turbidity), and Bacteria (i.e. E. Cholera, E. Coli, Typhoid, Shigella, Klebsiella Terrigena, etc.).

Today we’d like to offer a different gravity ceramic filter system for your consideration. This one, the Katadyn Ceradyn Drip Water Filter System uses three Katadyn ceramic depth filters remove bacteria, cysts, algae, protozoa, sediment, dirt, spores, some viruses, and other disease causing agents… down to the 0.2 micron level.

Made from BPA-free plastic and capable of producing roughly 1 gallon of filtered water per hour, Katadyn claims each Katadyn Ceradyn Drip Water Filter System has a life expectancy of 40,000 gallons.

What does that mean in the real world? Quite simply, it means that a household or village could set up a Katadyn Ceradyn Drip Water Filter System and continually feed it source water for a period of roughly 4 1/2 years and get one gallon of vastly improved drinking water each and every hour during that time.

Within that time period the individual three advanced Katadyn ceramic depth filters (20743) in the Katadyn Ceradyn Drip Water Filter System will need replacing every 13,000 gallons. But still… If used non-stop, that equals more than 500 days of continuous clean water production without need to change a filter!

‘Tis the Season for clean water, fa la la la la… la la la la.

With Christmas fast approaching we will now begin throwing interesting and USEFUL gift ideas out in the hopes that some of you will bypass this year’s trendy gimmick gifts and instead buy something of substance and worth… for the people in your family that you like.

We don’t care if you still want to send lumps of coal (or stale fruitcakes) to the other people on your Christmas list, though.

Rain water in your shower

Most of us have fond memories of walking around outside on a nice, warm Summer or Spring day enjoying the feeling of rainwater falling on our face. Each of the large, gentle drops striking our face softly and washing away some portion of the day’s dust.

Now imagine getting that same feeling each and every day in your shower… and NOT having the unpleasant smell of chlorine in the water.

With the Culligan RainDisc, an NSF/ANSI 177 Certified product for the reduction of free (available) chlorine in shower water, you can have it!

Reduces chlorine and more

Not only does the Culligan RainDisc reduce free chlorine levels by 97% (test results verified by independent lab), but it also reduces scale, rust, sediment and the odor of sulfur (if present).

Chlorine keeps water safe… Why get rid of it?

While very true that tap water with a free chlorine residual will most likely contain a lot fewer bacteria and/or other biological contaminants than water without a free chlorine residual, but once the water reaches your shower, the chlorine has done its job — and most people want it to go away at that point.

Not only does chlorine have a tendency to smell really bad, prolonged and/or repeated exposure to chlorine residuals in shower water can dry out a person’s skin (especially in the Winter), damage their hair and in some cases cause acne.

Additionally, several studies have also pointed the finger at chlorine vapors given off by heated swimming pools and showers as potential sources of carcinogenic compounds called TTHM’s (Total TriHaloMethanes). Other studies have suggested that repeated exposure to TTHM’s may result in a higher likelihood of a person developing respiratory problems.

Worried that a lack of chlorine will result in bacterial growth?

The Culligan RainDisc uses a specially blended bed of KDF filter media whose chemical nature allows it to also act as a bacterial growth inhibitor as well as an effective filtration mechanism.

Easy to install

Worried that you (or the person you give this to as a gift) will need a plumber’s license to install the Culligan RainDisc RDSH-C115? Nonsense!

This unit comes with everything the average person would need to get the job done in a matter of minutes and more or less just screws onto the same place as your/their old shower head.