A recent study has found a possible link between increased risk of prostate cancer in areas where more women use specific types of birth control — but as usual other recent studies did not find the same correlation.

We feel the importance of the study lies more in how some experts believe people have become overly exposed to estrogen.

Rather than simply stating that the increased estrogen levels come directly from ingestion of birth control medications, the study implied that people re-ingested estrogen that had worked its way out of women on the pill via normal waste channels, wound its way through (or in some cases around) waste water treatment facilities, entered the environment, and finally gotten consumed or absorbed by plants and animals that people then ate as part of their everyday fare.

Removing estrogen from drinking water?

We wish we had better news on this topic, but we must sadly report that we have yet to hear definitively that any one type of water filtration unit does a good job of removing estrogen from drinking water — nor possibly a number of other pharmaceutical byproducts currently entering our water supply every day.

We have, however, seen that some companies tout reverse osmosis as an effective way to remove MANY of those pharmaceutical byproducts, but NOT all — and we would certainly suggest that anyone considering the purchase of a reverse osmosis for the purpose of removing pharmaceutical residuals review the specifications carefully before making an investment.

Moral of the story?

Experts tell us our water supply keeps getting tainted by new things, or possibly by things we could not test for until recently, and the majority of us just sit idly by and say, “Oh well. The government (or someone else) will take care of it.”

Listen folks: The contaminants already exist and just like with soooooo many other ‘newly detected risks’ the responsibility to safeguard one’s self and loved ones will fall squarely on the shoulders of the individual… until those in power agree which bill will do the most good w/o ruining careers of friends, family, etc.

All of us here at Water Testing Blog would love to know if folks in power and/or in big business already have water filtration units installed their homes and offices and/or have their water trucked in from suspected safe sources. How many, if any, will answer that question?

For more specifics on the study, take a look at this page ( Prostate Cancer May be Linked to Birth Control Pills in Water Supply ); one of several we found while doing a search on the topic.

We get asked this question more times than we care to count… and we don’t mind answering it because at least it means the people asking us have taken an interest in the quality of the water they drink, cook with and use for showering/bathing.

Natural Contamination

Contamination of natural bodies of water (including lakes, streams, aquifers and groundwater) can have numerous characteristics and sources. While many believe only ‘big business’ causes water pollution, all humans and animals release waste products that eventually find their way into lakes, rivers, streams, oceans, etc.

Scientists refer to this occurrence as ‘nutrient loading’ and when it happens too often in one location nutrient loading may result in bacterial contamination that eventually becomes detrimental to the environment and harmful to humans who unknowingly consume the water.

Contaminants often included in the list of ‘natural’ contaminants include things such as coliform bacteria, nitrates, nitrites, etc.

Therefore, if your drinking water comes from the ground (i.e. a well) you may have ‘natural’ things to worry about… and even municipal (i.e city, town, etc.) water sources have problems from time to time. Need proof? Ever hear of things called boil water advisories?

Unnatural Contamination

This type of contamination typically comes from accidental or intentional dumping of foreign matter into or too close to a body of water either on the the surface or under the ground.

Common sources of groundwater and surface water contamination include improper disposal of industrial waste products, faulty septic tanks and waste water storage or processing equipment, landfills, pesticides and fertilizers.

Many experts believe the practice of hydraulic fracturing certainly belongs in the category of unnatural water contamination and pollution… and, of course, many other experts (who often work for or get funding from gas drilling companies) believe hydraulic fracturing poses no (or extremely limited) risks to the environment.

Thus far OUR opinion falls more in line with the folks who suspect that fracking (the nickname for hydraulic fracturing) may pose risks and that more research needs to get done before we turn the Marcellus Shale Formation under the United States into swiss cheese whose holes we filled with ‘questionable’ fluids containing a host of unknown compounds.

Moral of the Story?

You will NEVER know if your water contains unwanted contaminants UNTIL YOU GET IT TESTED and for that task you have several options: 1) Test for the basics yourself using a drinking water test kit; 2) Have a qualified drinking water laboratory test your water; or 3) test for the basics yourself with a water quality test kit and enlist the services of a qualified water testing lab from the list posted on the EPA’s Safe Water Web Site

Not too long ago many news outlets contained broadcasts and articles about the presence of BPA, a hormone-disrupting chemical, in plastics and how people, especially pregnant women, should avoid eating out of containers containing BPA.

Today we read an article about a study that found a link between the consumption of canned foods and elevated levels of BPA in humans. According to the study’s findings, people who ate canned soup regularly had much higher levels of BPA in their urine than people who ate soup made with fresh ingredients.

People who ate a serving of canned soup every day for five days had BPA levels of 20.8 micrograms per liter of urine, whereas people who instead ate fresh soup had levels of 1.1 micrograms per liter, according to the study. BPA is found in many canned foods — it is a byproduct of the chemicals used to prevent corrosion.

…

“We are concerned about the influence of [hormone-disrupting] chemicals on health in general, and BPA is one of them,” Michels told MyHealthNewsDaily.

The study is published online today (Nov. 22) in the Journal of the American Medical Association. ( source )

So there you have it, folks: A good, solid reason to support farmers in your area by purchasing your foods fresh from grocery stores that buy local.

As far as BPA in plastics goes, we will say only that plenty of companies now use BPA-free materials in their containers so the risk of ingesting BPA from plastic containers is one that most of us can easily avoid – if we choose our plastic containers carefully.

Replace older plastic containers

… with newer ones bearing the BPA-Free badge. Oh, and if you routinely use old margarine tubs, cool whip tubs or other plastic tubs (like we do!) you should swap them out for tubs manufactured more recently, too.

And don’t forget to properly recycle the plastic items you decide to get rid of! We don’t want them ending up in landfills where they could possibly leach their BPA content into the environment over time!

It appears as though even members of the water filter industry want to get in on the Black Friday and Cyber Monday madness. FilterWater.Com currently offers $5 off of purchases of $50 or more and $25 off of purchases of $500 or more.

While not massive discounts on their own, combine either offer with FilterWater.Com‘s offer of free shipping for orders over $99 and the savings really start to add up!

So, if you have previously waited to invest in water test kits, water filter systems or replacement water filters, you may want to start thinking about making that investment again real soon because the discounts will apparently disappear after 11/29/11 (tomorrow!).

Web sites have flaunted the results of studies about bacteria on and around the ice machines and soda fountains in the food service industry (especially the self-service ones. Yuck!) but today’s email inquiry comes to us from ‘Jacky’ who said,

“My friends and I own a small eatery with a bed-n-breakfast in the mountains and we have water from the town. Every once in a while the news tells us to boil until further notice. The last time it happpened a customer asked how long they could have been drinking bacteria water before the news told us to boil the water. I said we don’t know and they said we should know that sort of thing before we serve people food and drink. How long COULD the water have been bad?”

From the sounds of things you had a real snot eating or staying in your place. We hope he/she at least tipped well and didn’t cause you any other grief!

Regarding the answer to the question asked, you will have to talk to the town water department and ask them for information on their bacteria testing policies and public notification policies since some municipal water systems have tighter, more stringent testing requirements than others — but none can get any looser than those set by the State & Federal Governments.

Regular testing for bacteria?

We assure you that your local water department, if it follows State and Federal Water Treatment & Testing Guidelines, performs regular testing for bacteria, testing for chlorine and tests for a host of other important water quality contaminants and water quality parameters on a regular basis.

If you want more detailed information on the steps used by your local water company to protect you from bacteria and other unwanted drinking water contaminants, we suggest that you contact your local water department directly.

As we mentioned, city and municipal water departments take specific, regulated steps to protect their customers from bacterial contamination… but even in the best of circumstances sometimes things happen which could possibly put those customers at risk.

Water main breaks between the water treatment plant and customers’ homes as well as unexpected equipment failures at the water treatment plant can both certainly happen at any time and both may result in opportunities for bacteria to enter the drinking water supply.

Personal protection against bacterial contamination?

Recently a number of folks have started installing UV water sterilizers like the Crystal Quest UV 6 in their homes as a final layer of protection against bacterial contamination. These devices render bacteria unable to reproduce by exposing the unwanted critters to a specific wavelength of UV light.

So, while the devices do not necessarily kill the bacteria right away, UV water sterilizers like the Crystal Quest UV 6, when used in the right application, make certain the organisms do not have a chance to multiply and create problems for those who ingest them.

Please note, however, that UV water sterilizers should NOT get used as the first line of defense against bacteria when dealing with untreated and/or unfiltered water.

Why? Because UV water sterilizers can do nothing to remove unwanted particles, solids and/or chemical contaminants. To remove things of that nature one should consider a unit that uses activated carbon, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, etc.

WaterFilters.Net carries a large selection of water filter systems and replacement water filters for use in private residences as well as a wide range of commercial applications.

While on the topic of commercial water filters…

Jacky had concerns about water quality in a commercial setting so it only makes sense that we end this article by mentioning the CQE-UV-00105, a commercial UV water sterilizer with a flow rate greater than 22 GPM.

Crystal Quest CQE-UV-00105

An old saying goes, “No matter where in the world you go, there you are.”

We believe that saying has quite a lot of significance in the world of water testing, too, because water supplies all over the world could potentially have contamination issues… so testing the water locally will always make sense in our minds.

Having said that, today’s question comes to us from a gentleman named ‘Dan’ who wrote, “i live in a village in Haiti, about 30 minutes from Les Cayes. I need to test the water supply that the locals use. We suspect ground water contamination. What do you recommend?”

First of all, Dan, what sort of contamination do you suspect? More than likely we think you mean ‘bacterial contamination’ based upon the information we have read about the sanitary conditions in parts of Haiti so we will operate under that assumption.

With that in mind, take a look at products such as EZ Coliform Cult Bacteria Water Test Kit which make it possible for pretty much anyone to test for the presence of coliform bacteria in a water sample without the need for expensive lab equipment or incubation ovens. Additionally, with the use of a battery powered portable UV light source at the end of the testing period a person can positively identify E.Coli if present in the sample.

Simple things besides bacteria to test for?

The list of potential drinking water contaminants stretches on for miles and could, from estimates, possibly even circle the globe a few times!

Don’t let that daunting number dissuade you from performing due diligence by testing for some of the simpler, easier to detect and ‘definitely-worth-knowing-about’ contaminants. We will now list a few of the ones that spring to our minds right away, but please do not take this list as the final word in ‘simple’ drinking water contaminants most people can easily test for.

Now some of you may look at that collection of test kits and say, “Wow! That’s a lot to deal with!” but don’t worry, we would also like to take a moment to list for you some combination test kits that keep everything organized, provide easy-to-follow instructions and allow user to test for a number of water quality parameters.

We recently received an email from ‘Janelle’ in North Carolina who wrote,

“I’m trying to find someone to come test my well water. I’m in Reidsville, NC. And we are just renters I have never had well water before and I would like to know what’s in it. When it rains really hard for a few days the water smells like fish. Then sometimes like onion do you know of a company that test wells in Reidsville??”

While we do not know of a specific company that tests well water in your area, Janelle, we suggest contacting your local health department and asking them if they can provide you with a list of qualified local water testing laboratories.

We took the liberty of doing a quick Google Search for ‘well water testing in Reidsville, NC’ (click the link, Janelle!) and while no immediate matches popped up, a few companies appeared to have locations w/in 20 or 30 miles of where you live, Janelle.

You should also check out the EPA’s North Carolina Water Page. It contains a number of links and phone numbers that may prove useful.

Regarding the ‘fishy smell’ in well water?

Without actually testing the water we suspect that your water may contain some form of organic matter whose levels change in accordance with the changing of the level of the aquifer from which your well draws its water. From what we have read the organic matter usually does not pose much of a health threat, though in some instances it can, and it typically poses more of an aesthetic nuisance than anything else.

Sources also indicated that certain types of bacteria in one’s well may also cause well water to possess a fishy smell at times.

Regarding the ‘onion smell’ in well water?

Most resources we viewed suggested changing the anode rod in the hot water heater since it, over time, can begin collecting mineral deposits or fail in other ways that can result in water coming from the water heater smelling like onions and sometimes, though we neglected to mention this in the previous section, like fish.

Treating for onion water and fishy water?

As noted a moment ago, making sure the anode rod in the water heater has not gone bad or become encrusted with unwanted mineral deposits makes for a wise course of action if water in a home has taken on an onion or fishy smell.

One site we found said the following about diagnosing and treating water that contained foul odors:

“This type of odor may indicate the presence of organic (non-pathogenic) matter. The most common method of treatment for this type of odor is activated carbon filtration or chlorination followed by carbon filtration. It is helpful to attempt to diagnose the cause of the odor so that proper treatment is designed. You may also test your well water for bacteria and nitrates to confirm portability of the water.” ( source )

No matter what, though, Janelle, make sure you get the water tested by a certified water testing laboratory — preferably one that specializes in diagnosing problems with well water.

Today’s inquiry comes to us from a woman serving her country in the United States Navy. ‘Ronda’ had a question about the DPD products she had seen on our web site.

“Do your DPD Chlorine tabs work in Hach equipment?”

Good afternoon, Ronda, and thank you for this inquiry. When weighing the different DPD options (tablets, powders, reagentstrips, etc.) make sure you note the sample size that each test method will work in. As a general rule most devices that use DPD as a reagent will have 10 mL sample sizes, but we have also seen devices that use 15 mL sample sizes, 7 mL sample sizes and 20 mL sample sizes.

Check your machine’s manual to find out what sample size it takes. In order to remain compliant with whatever drinking water directives you follow you will need to match up the sample size w/ the correct reagent amount.

Specifically, though, you asked about the DPD tablets for chlorine testing that we have shown on our site and as far as we know all of the DPD products we have shown on our site work for 10 mL samples — except for the eXact Micro DPD products which work in smaller samples.

Two 10-mL Tablets/Strips/Powders for a 20-mL Sample?

While in theory that would work, definitely check your approved testing method to see if it expressly forbids that sort of thing and/or if it specifically calls for a brand or type of chlorine reagent delivery method. In the past we have seen where testing protocols have gotten so granular that they call out not only the type of DPD used, but also the brand of the test meter and DPD used for chlorine testing.

As if having your entire town turned upside down, both literally and figuratively, did not do enough damage, now residents in Joplin, Missouri have a new problem to contend with: Higher than normal levels of lead showing up during environmental sampling.

In tests of 44 properties in Jasper County, 19 showed high levels of lead, prompting the city’s mayor to ask the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for help in testing for, and cleaning up, the element, according to the Los Angeles Times.

For more than 100 years, beginning in the mid-19th century, Jasper County was at the worldwide forefront of lead and zinc mining. The area included town names like Leadville Hollow and Minersville.

According to Dan Pekarek, director of the Joplin Health Department, a waste product from lead mining called “chat” was dumped in several spots around the city of Joplin, and simply covered with soil. Those sites we likely exposed when the F-5 tornado ripped through the city. ( source )

So… What does that mean for the residents of Joplin in terms of water quality and drinking water safety? It means they will more than likely begin regular testing for lead and other potentially dangerous metals in their drinking water!

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has determined that consuming food and drink containing levels of lead at or above 15ppb (parts per billion) can cause serious health problems.

Why did companies dump ‘chat’ all over the place?

At the time no one probably knew the dangers posed by the material so government did not really care where the material ended up. Hence the reason the article mentioned how people used it as fill material under houses, in yards, etc.

Now, however, science and the medical profession both agree that material containing such high levels of lead pose quite a threat, mining companies would need piles and piles of permits before they could dispose of a substance like ‘chat’ and they would more than likely remain on the hook for the safety of surrounding areas for many years.

Testing for lead in water? Soil?

Can the average person test for the presence of lead in their water and soil? Absolutely! SenSafe makes several affordable products that work well for field testing.

Right now (11/09/11) TestProducts.Com has SenSafe’s Lead in Water Test Kit available at a discounted rate of around 18 dollars for two tests and you can use the kit to test for the presence of lead in either soil or water.

A company called WaterSafe also manufactures a Lead in Water Test Kit, but that kit does not include instructions for determining lead levels in soil.