The Courts in Illinois will play host to a series of lawsuits alleging that a Rohm & Haas facility allowed a carcinogenic compound known as vinyl chloride to escape into the environment and contaminate the aquifer from which local residents pull their drinking water.

Wikipedia.org has this to say about vinyl chloride: “This colorless compound is an important industrial chemical chiefly used to produce the polymer polyvinyl chloride (PVC). At ambient pressure and temperature, vinyl chloride is a gas with a sickly sweet odor. It is highly toxic, flammable and carcinogenic.” ( source )

More than 300 McCullom Lake residents have signed up to get their wells tested for carcinogenic vinyl chloride at Rohm and Haas’ expense.

Of 515 surveys sent out last month by village government, 325 came back wanting the free test, while only 11 responded no, Village President Terry Counley said. Rohm and Haas offered in August to pay for it, more than four years into a series of lawsuits blaming pollution from its Ringwood plant for causing a brain cancer cluster.

“I’d say it’s a very good sign. We’re all in this boat together over here, and we need the answers,” Counley said.

Counley must select a water testing company from a list of firms accredited by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Only people who signed up will get their wells tested, and Counley said he would like to get it done before winter.

Three former village next-door neighbors diagnosed with brain cancer filed the first lawsuits in April 2006, alleging that decades of seepage from a closed 8-acre waste pit fouled their air and groundwater with vinyl chloride and other chemicals.

Thirty-two lawsuits as of today blame the pollution for brain and pituitary tumors in McCullom Lake and the Lakeland Park subdivision in McHenry. ( source )

Thankfully the residents of that region in Illinois have banded together and taken a stand on the matter of well water pollution. With any hope these folks will find some answers from the testing… and after that we hope other communities will band together and investigate possible sources of suspected well water contamination.

Can the average person test their own well water?

While the task of testing well or ground water for the presence of compounds such as vinyl chloride will remain in the hands of certified water testing experts such as National Testing Laboratories, the average person CAN test for other, more common drinking water contaminants.

Companies such as SenSafe and WaterSafe make easy-to-use, accurate at-home water test kits for a number of critical drinking water parameters such as arsenic in water, lead in water, bacteria in water, and heavy metals in water, etc.

Consumers have the option of purchasing drinking water test kits for individual parameters or in multi-parameter test kits such as the Water Quality Test Kit from SenSafe and the All in One test Kit from WaterSafe.

Now that school has started many students and parents have realized that a science fair looms in the near future… and the SMART ones have started looking for ideas already. The rest will wait until the last minute and wind up putting a bunch of ants in a jar and say they started an ant farm.

We recently received an email from a parent whose son and friend want to perform arsenic testing on a number of water samples in their area and chart the results.

My question: My son and a co-student are wanting to do a science fair project on arsenic in the ground water. We wanted to check many samples. However, the cost of the kits are prohibitive. Is there a way that the cost of the kits may be reduced for such an endeavor?? (we wanted to use the 100 sample kit.) We would love to use your product and have it on display for the project. Please let us know if this is a possibility.. thank you so very much.

It pleases us to hear that some youngsters have taken an interest in doing a lot of ground water testing for arsenic using an Arsenic Quick Test Kit… but to tell the truth, we don’t actually MAKE that test kit OR physically sell it. The kit gets manufactured by a company called Industrial Test Systems, Inc. ( www.sensafe.com/home.php ).

Having spoken with members of that company’s staff on numerous occasions, we can assure you that other people have successfully used versions of their field-ready arsenic test kit in science fairs in the past and done quite well.

As for whether or not they will cut you a special deal, we cannot say. Last we heard they did have special pricing available for educators so it may prove useful to give them a call and see what they say: (800) 861-9712

Don’t forget to tell them Water Testing Blog sent ya’!

Miniature arsenic test kits for spot testing?

In addition to full-sized arsenic test kits, Arsenic Quick also has a line of smaller test kits that come with either 2 or 5 tests.

Part Number: 481297-2 <2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 24, 30, 40, 45 & >50ppb 2 Tests	Part Number: 481396-2 0, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 & >500 ppb 2 Tests
Part Number: 481303-5 <1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 20, 25, 30, 40, >50, >80, >120, >160 ppb 5 Tests	Part Number: 481300-5 0, 0.3, 0.7, 1.0, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 20 & >20 ppb 5 Tests
Part Number: 481396-5 0, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 & >500 ppb 5 Tests	Part Number: 481301-5 <0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, >20, >30, >50 ppb 5 Tests

If memory serves us right, a student won some sort of National Award using an Arsenic Quick test kit.

Other water test kits for science fair projects?

Not all students have access to well water or surface water… but that does NOT mean they can’t use water testing as the basis of their science project. Why? Because even tap water varies from place to place and in some places its quality may vary on a daily basis.

As the title stated, routine testing of well water yielded startling results… near an Elementary School in Durham, Connecticut.

Testing of water from several wells showed higher than ‘normal’ amounts of sodium, sulfates, hardness and… dissolved arsenic.

DURHAM — Traces of arsenic in some of the town’s wells have prompted the Department of Health to encouraging residents to test their water, according to a press release posted on the department’s website.

People who live or work around Brewster Elementary School are advised to have their water tested within the next three to six weeks. The department is also asking residents to fill out and submit a report — also on the department’s website — so officials can determine the extent of contamination.

Arsenic, which causes health problems like skin discoloration (melanosis), hardening of the skin (keratosis) and cancer, can contaminate groundwater naturally and through human activities such as mining. It can also come from pesticides and fertilizers that contain arsenic. ( source )

Health officials went on to say that although certain area wells did show elevated levels of arsenic contamination, people do not need to get alarmed just yet. They do not have enough test data to reach any firm conclusions and would like the private well owners to lend a hand and by conducting testing and reporting the results via a form currently available on the Durham Department of Health web site.

For those not aware of the dangers arsenic in drinking water may pose, take a look at some of the prior articles posted on this site:

• What is Arsenic and Can It Harm You?
• Study: Arsenic in Water and Diabetes
• Study: Exposure to Low Levels of Arsenic Lowers Influenza Resistance

Can the general public perform arsenic testing on its own safely?

Absolutely. The Arsenic Quick™ line of arsenic in water test kits offers allows users to quickly and accurately test for dissolved arsenic (As3 & As5) in drinking water in as little as 12 minutes.

Below you will find links to the Arsenic Quick™ test kits offered by (3) three different
online merchants: Filters Fast, Filter Water and Test Products.

• Arsenic Quick™ Test Kits at FilterWater.Com
• Arsenic Quick™ Test Kits at FiltersFast.Com
• Arsenic Quick™ Test Kits at TestProducts.Com

   Arsenic Quick™ at FilterWater.Com

Arsenic Quick™ Test Kit 100 Tests

Arsenic Quick™ Test Mini-Kit 2 Tests

   Arsenic Quick™ at FiltersFast.Com

   Arsenic Quick™ at TestProducts.Com

Part Number: 481297-2 Arsenic Quick — 2 Tests	Part Number: 481298 Arsenic Quick — 300 Tests	Part Number: 481300 Arsenic Quick — 5 Tests
Part Number: 481396-2 Arsenic Quick — 2 Tests	Part Number: 481396-5 Arsenic Quick — 5 Tests	Part Number: 481301-5 Arsenic Quick — 5 Tests
Part Number: 481303 Arsenic Quick — 50 Tests	Part Number: 481303-5 Arsenic Quick — 5 Tests	Part Number: 481297-I Arsenic Quick — 50 Tests

For more information on arsenic test kits, take a look at the following web sites: Arsenic-Test-Kit.Com and ArsenicQuick.Com.

Earlier this year we wrote about a residential neighborhood called the Acreage in Florida because of the unusually high incident rate of cancer and tumors in children living in the area.

At one point residents and officials suspected that radon may have played a part in making people ill (Radon a Suspect in Florida Tumor and Cancer Cases). Outcry in the community prompted the State of Florida to launch an investigation (State of Florida Agrees to Environmental Testing in Acreage Homes Area).

Now, after meeting with residents in the area, going over their histories, testing their water and testing their soil… the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida Department of Health has concluded that living in the Acreage has nothing to do with the unusually high number of brain and central nervous system cancer cases in the area.

In a nutshell, the State of Florida can’t find anything to explain the rash of illnesses.

ACREAGE – The State Health Department’s cancer cluster investigation in the Acreage is coming to an end, with no answers for the hundreds of residents desperate to know why their area is experiencing a higher than usual rate of cancer.

A report released today indicates testing on water and soil samples is over.

Following countless hours of review and concurrence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida Department of Health officials say there’s nothing they can definitively point to as a source of the pediatric brain and central nervous system cancers in the community.

They also determined that having a longer residency in the Acreage posed no higher risk for brain tumors among its children.

Health experts analyzed the history and lifestyle of 13 Acreage families, whose children and teenagers have been diagnosed with cancer.

The group formed to keep an eye on the suspected cancer cluster disbanded just last week. ( source )

So what does Water Testing Blog think about the situation in Acreage? Quite frankly it SCARES us in ways we cannot explain.

Not to sound like the Twilight Zone, but imagine, if you will, that your children and your neighbors’ children have all developed serious and potentially life threatening conditions… and no one can figure out why.

Hopefully someone will figure out why those poor people have gotten sick because in all honesty, if such a ‘random and unexplainable’ spike in cancer can occur there, what would stop it from happening where WE or YOU live?

Plan of action for the rest of us?

In all honesty, we can never truly test for every possible contaminant that could find its way into our drinking water. We can only test for the things most likely to show up on a regular or semi-regular basis and have a ‘full’ analysis performed by a certified water testing lab at set intervals.

The average person has a number of options when it comes to testing their own water. The easiest way, aside from having someone else do the testing, usually involves the use of a test kit from companies like SenSafe and WaterSafe.

You will find several examples of popular home water testing kits from each manufacturer below:

Water Quality Test Kit from SenSafe

Water Metals Test Kit from SenSafe

Arsenic Quick Test Mini-Kit from SenSafe

In the end, though, and as we ALWAYS suggest, if you have serious reason to suspect your well water or municipal/public water supply may have become contaminated, seek the expertise of a certified water testing laboratory such as National Testing Laboratories.

While the jury has not come back with a decision on whether or not fluoride in drinking water poses a serious health risk to people who drink water spiked with it, if you don’t want it in your water Crystal Quest has recently come out with a convenient, easily installed countertop water filter for fluoride — and many other unwanted potential drinking water contaminants.

Crystal Quest manufactures a product called the Countertop Disposable Single Fluoride Multi PLUS Water Filter System which installs in seconds and effectively removes fluoride AND hundreds of drinking water contaminants — if present in the water to begin with.

Water travels through a series of seven filtration stages in this unit. You will find detailed information on those stages below:

Pre and Post One-Micron Filter Pads: Used in stages 1 and 7, this filtration method removes suspended particles including silt, sediment, cyst (Giardia, Cryptosporidium), sand, rust, dirt, and other undissolved solid matter.

Fluoride Removal Cartridge: Used as the second stage of filtration, water flows through a fine mesh synthetic aluminum oxide absorbent media which has an extremely high affinity for fluoride, lead and arsenic. Through a combination of adsorption and chemical reaction the media effectively removes metals over a wide pH range.

How much fluoride can the filter hold before it needs servicing? The filter will reduce 10ppm feeds to 0.2ppm for a total of 6,000ppm fluoride removed.

KDF Media Bed: The third and fifth stages of filtration feature proprietary blends of high-purity KDF resins (KDF-55D and KDF-85D) which work using electrochemical and spontaneous oxidation-reduction (REDOX) principles. In these stages compounds such as chlorine get neutralized. Laboratory testing has shown that combination KDF/GAC cartridges can remove more than 99% of chlorine from greater than 20,000 gallons of water.

During these stages iron and hydrogen sulfide also get oxidized and become an insoluble substance that attaches to the surface of the media. Additionally, heavy metals such as lead, mercury, copper, nickel, chromium, cadmium, aluminum, and other dissolved metals get removed from the water by an electrochemical process at this point.

Ion Exchange Resin: The fourth stage of filtration uses an ion exchange to further reduce/remove heavy metals such as lead, copper and aluminum. This stage also acts a water softener by reducing calcium and magnesium levels (aka: total hardness) in the water.

Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC): The sixth stage of filtration makes use of granulated activated carbon, a material universally accepted as a highly effective means of eliminating a wide range of unwanted contaminants such as chlorine, potential carcinogens (i.e. THM’s, benzene, etc.), pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), PCB’s, MTBE’s and many more chemical contaminants that may show up in water. Many of these compounds create a ‘bad’ color, taste and/or odor in drinking water, but not all.

Important note regarding carbon filters… Some manufacturers use a lesser grade of carbon, but this filter uses a highly porous, and therefore more useful, carbon derived from coconut shells.

How do I know if I need a water filter like this one?

If you have concerns regarding fluoride in your drinking water, contact your local water department and ask for a copy of the most recent drinking water report. Some water districts have made their annual reports available online so you may want to look on your water district’s web site first.

If your concerns deal with potential water contaminants that may have entered your water supply after it left the water treatment plant — bacteria, lead, heavy metals, etc. — then at-home drinking water test kits like the following may work just fine for you.

Keep in mind, though, that if you have serious reason to suspect drinking water contamination, you should seek the assistance and expertise of a certified water testing laboratory.

Blue baby syndrome. A very good reason to test the water coming up from your well for nitrates.

Blue baby syndrome can also be caused by Methemoglobinemia. It is believed to be caused by high nitrate contamination in ground water resulting in decreased oxygen carrying capacity of hemoglobin in babies leading to death. The groundwater is thought to be contaminated by leaching of nitrate generated from fertilizer used in agricultural lands and waste dumps [4]. It may also be related to some pesticides (DDT, PCBs etc), which cause ecotoxicological problems in the food chains of living organisms, increasing BOD, which kills aquatic animals. ( source )

So… elevated nitrate levels in drinking water can lead to ‘methemoglobinemia’, but what does that word MEAN?

The disorder methemoglobinemia typically means the blood contains elevated levels of methemoglobin (metHb), a form of hemoglobin that really and truly likes to attach itself to oxygen molecules — and if present in too great a quantity it will latch onto enough oxygen molecules to cause living tissue to die as a result of oxygen-deprivation.

Where does the ‘blue’ part of blue baby syndrome come from?

Without proper oxygenation of red blood cells a condition known as cyanosis occurs. Note: The term has nothing to do with cyanide, though cyanide poisoning can definitely result in skin turning a shade of blue due to oxygen deprivation.

But, since the topic of cyanide has come up, if you believe you may have someone out to get you, maybe you should consider testing your water for cyanide. It will let you test cyanide levels from 0.05ppm up to 200ppm.

Getting back to the topic of nitrates, though, health officials and water quality professionals agree that owners of wells should, at the very least, periodically test their well water for the presence of nitrates & nitrites, coliform bacteria, lead, copper, total iron, total hardness, pH and commonly used pesticides/herbicides.

Moral of the story?

In the end, if you have a private well, the responsibility for making sure the quality of the water coming out of that well falls squarely on… your shoulders. Therefore, test your well water at least once a year. It’s your well, your water, and ultimately your LIFE.

We often get asked if people who have city/town water ought to test their drinking water from time to time. If you live in the city of Edgewood, Iowa, you no longer have to ask that question.

While the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says they do not believe any dangerous water safety issues avoided detection, the fact that a city employee responsible for testing the city’s public drinking water supply on a regular basis purchased only enough supplies for 100 tests — despite claiming to have performed 3,889 water tests between January 2006 and July 2009 — would make just about anyone curious.

A former Edgewood city employee has been sentenced to probation after he admitted that he failed to test the town’s water supply and submitted false reports to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

…

Harris, 43, pleaded guilty in April to one count of making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency.

In the plea agreement, Harris admitted he sent false monthly reports to the DNR from February 2008 and July 2009. He falsely claimed testing for fluoride, chlorine and manganese. DNR tests showed less chlorine in the water than the 1.5 milligrams per liter required by state law to kill bacteria.

The review found lower-than-acceptable levels of fluoride, which reduces tooth decay, and manganese oxide, which helps remove cancer-causing radium from the water. Residents in the eastern Iowa town were not exposed to any short- or long-term health risks, a DNR officer said.

The DNR originally alleged that Harris claimed to have done 3,889 water tests between January 2006 and July 2009, but bought enough material for only 100 tests. Harris resigned in August 2009.

The investigation began after some residents complained about declining water quality. ( source )

OK, now having read that, does the statement, “DNR tests showed less chlorine in the water than the 1.5 milligrams per liter required by state law to kill bacteria.” make you feel… safe?

How about “The investigation began after some residents complained about declining water quality.” Does that give you any sense of security?

Can individuals test their city/town/tap water?

Of course they can! While only certified water testing laboratories can give the absolute last word on the safety and potability of drinking water, at-home drinking water test kits from companies like SenSafe and WaterSafe allow the average homeowner to test critical water parameters on their own, whenever they want, and for little money.

What water parameters should homeowners test?

Given the number of possible drinking water contaminants, the average homeowner would find it difficult (and expensive!) to test for them all… but as a general rule, if typically makes sense for people on city/town/tap water to test for water parameters such as:

• free chlorine residual
• total chlorine residual
• lead in water
• copper in water
• iron in water
• total hardness
• bacteria in water
• hydrogen sulfide

Should homeowners with city water test for other things? That all depends on where their water company gets its water. As an example, if the water comes from a well, other potentially harmful water contaminants such as pesticides and arsenic could find their way into the water supply and an ill-equipped water treatment facility may not have the proper technology installed to remove them.

As always, though, if you have serious reason to suspect that your tap water has ‘issues’, seek advice from certified water quality experts. Home water test kits serve as great field tests, but the final word regarding a water supply’s potability should come from a certified water testing laboratory.

We have all heard the stories about people having date rape drugs slipped into their drinks while out at bars and nightclubs, but how many have heard of THIS? A male co-worker put his own…. ‘seed’…. into a female co-worker’s water bottle. Twice.

Just… Wow. What a flippin’ disgusting individual!

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) — A 31-year-old Fullerton man was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly ejaculating twice into a co-worker’s water bottle.

Authorities said Michael Kevin Lallana was linked through DNA to the crimes.

Lallana allegedly entered the victim’s office and deposited his ejaculation into a water bottle that was on her desk in January. Police said the unsuspecting victim later drank the water, which made her feel sick, so she threw it away.

In April, investigators said Lallana did the same thing, but this time, the victim saved the water bottle and sent it to a private lab for testing. She then reported the results to the Orange Police Department.

Lallana is charged with two misdemeanor counts each of releasing an offensive material in a public place and assault, with sentencing allegations for committing a crime for sexual gratification.

If convicted, Lallana faces a maximum of three years in jail with mandatory sex offender registration. He is free on $500 bond and will be arraigned next month. ( source )

If this little bit of news does not make you want to take proper precautions to guard your water, whether in the bottle you leave on your desk at the office or as the drinking water that comes up from the aquifer and into your home, then perhaps nothing will.

Do you have control over the quality of the water in the aquifer supplying your well? Most likely not, but you always have the chance and opportunity to test the quality of water for unwanted contaminants. Periodic use of a well water test kit helps to ensure that no changes in the quality of your well water have taken place.

What sort of well water testing should well owners consider? At the very least we suggest they test for naturally occurring contaminants such as bacteria, nitrates/nitrates, heavy metals like mercury and lead, arsenic, etc.

Huh? Test for arsenic? Why? Is someone trying to poison us? Most likely not, but we have good reasons to suggest well owners test their water for arsenic. If you want to know why arsenic testing for well owners makes sense, take a look at Arsenic-Test-Kit.Com and ArsenicQuick.Com.

Getting back to the topic of well water testing, the United States Environmental Protection Agency as well as public health officials on State and Local levels urge private well owners to have their well water tested by a certified water testing laboratory annually. Qualified water testing labs like National Testing Laboratories typically provide reliable test results in under two weeks.

Oh, and before we forget, you paranoid folks out there may want to invest in a Cyanide in Water Test Kit… ‘cuz you never know. Maybe your neighbors really ARE out to get you!

This multi-stage (six) inline filter does a lot more than just remove arsenic from water at a rate of up to 1 gallon per minute, a rate perfect for use with water fountains, bottleless water coolers, commercial coffeemakers, and ice machines. It uses all six of its filtration layers to effectively remove a number of drinking water contaminants.

• In stages 1 and 6 water flows through pre and post one – micron filters capable of removing suspended particles such as silt, sediment, cyst (Giardia, Cryptosporidium), sand, rust, dirt, and other types of unwanted matter.

• In stage 2 water flows through a specially engineered arsenic removal/reduction media.

• In stages 3 and 4 water flows through a media bed comprised of high purity KDF-55D ®, and KDF-85D ®, which operate using electrochemical and spontaneous oxidation/reduction (REDOX) principles. The combination of these two special media completely oxidizes any chlorine in the water.

  As an added bonus, heavy metals such as lead, mercury, copper, nickel, chromium, cadmium, aluminum, and other dissolved metals also get removed/reduced during this stage of filtration.

  While some KDF media beds can harbor unwanted bacteria, studies have shown that this particular unit reduces the likelihood of bacteria growth by as much as 90%, thus eliminating the need for silver, an element considered by some to pose health risks.

  Worried about the possible addition of copper or zinc to the water in any significant amount? On a sample of water containing 2.3 ppm chlorinated water, testing after filtration detected <0.05 mg/l copper and only 0.46 mg/l zinc. The EPA has set the aesthetic levels for copper at 1.0 mg/l and 5.0 mg/l for zinc. Additionally, the human body requires both zinc and copper for good health. The FDA recommends a daily intake of 15 mg of zinc and 2 mg of copper.

• In the fifth stage of filtration, water flows through granulated activated carbon (GAC) which adsorbs a wide variety of organic contaminants, such as any remaining chlorine (99.9%), chemicals linked to cancer such as Trihalomethanes and benzene, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), PCB’s, MTBE’s and a laundry list of other chemical contaminants that may exist in your source (i.e. tap or well) water.

What about replacement filters? Will I have difficulty finding them? Highly unlikely! The manufacturer of this inline arsenic filter, Crystal Quest has existed in one form or another in the commercial water purification industry for more than thirty years.

You can order replacement filters for the inline arsenic filter on FilterWater.Com, a leading online vendor of water quality improvement products from Crystal Quest and other manufacturers.

Of all the things a person should have to worry about affecting their drinking water, who in their right mind would think that torpedo testing would ever become an issue?

Not us, but folks in the San Gabriel Valley region of California have something to think about… unfortunately.

The San Gabriel Mountains may be an unlikely site for a U.S. Navy torpedo lab, but 17,000 cubic yards of soil contaminated by torpedo tests is going to be hauled away from a lake in a canyon above Azusa, according to reports.

The Navy tested torpedo engines and shapes in the lake behind Morris Dam beginning in World War II. After 50 years, it closed the facility but left behind bad chemical residue.

Perchlorates, a cancer-causing type of rocket propellant, arsenic and other dangerous compounds coat rocks on the 20-acre test site on a peninsula in the lake, which is a domestic drinking water supply for the San Gabriel Valley. ( source )

Yeah… Not too many people will ever have to deal with the residuals of torpedo testing winding up in their drinking water supply, but plenty of other folks — whether they know it or not — really ought to keep a close watch on the quality of their drinking water.

Sneaky contaminants like arsenic, which occurs naturally in the environment, can show up in well water unannounced. Something as simple as a change in the weather can result in increased arsenic levels in well water. Therefore owners of wells owe it to themselves and everyone their wells serve to test for arsenic on a regular basis.

Most health officials suggest that private well owners have a thorough water quality analysis performed at least once a year by a certified water testing laboratory. Whether done by a local lab or a company like National Testing Labs, owners of private wells owe it to themselves and their families to have their water tested on a regular basis.