Most of us take for granted that we will have safe, clean tap water coming out of our faucets and think nothing of the dangers presented by not filtering and/or purifying our water prior to use.

• Cryptosporidium, a gastrointestinal parasite, contaminated the municipal drinking water of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1993 and caused one hundred deaths. ( source )

• A deadly strain of e.coli bacteria found its way into the municipal water supply of Walkerton, Canada in 2000 causing hundreds of residents ill and eventually taking the lives of seven people. ( source )

It sounds shocking that such horrible water quality tragedies could happen in modern times given the frequency of municipal water testing, but two very important facts stand out if you take the time to think about the way in which municipal water systems operate:

1. Municipal water systems test for a set number of water quality parameters and sometimes rare, unusual, and often not-tested-for water vermin like Cryptosporidium can easily slip past even the most stringent water testing programs. Example: Milwaukee, WI in 1993.

2. Municipal water systems test water at the point of distribution, not use. This means the water leaves water treatment facilities fully tested and approved for consumption… but keep in mind that the water must travel through many miles of piping and plumbing with literally thousands of joints and welds where harmful contaminants could find their way into the water if only one of those places has cracked or otherwise become deficient.

So as you can see, even the best water treatment plants in the world with the best records for drinking water quality cannot issue a 100% guarantee that your tap water will contain no unwanted contaminants. Once water leaves their grounds its quality can change for innumerable reasons and in innumerable ways… so ultimate responsibility for making sure you have safe, clean tap water falls on… your shoulders.

Installing the correct point-of-use water filtration and/or purification system (i.e. countertop, undersink, whole house, shower, etc.) can negate pretty much all the possible risks associated with water contamination between the distribution point and your favorite glass.

Take the time to learn about the different point-of-use water treatment options you have available and, of course, don’t forget to test your drinking water periodically, even after installing a filtration/purification system, to make sure it continues to function properly!

We recently read that the Federal Government has decided to investigate the severity and cause elevated nitrate and bacteria levels in well water out in the State of Washington.

From the sounds of things, the situation has gone on for quite some time… and residents in rural Lower Yakima Valley may have had elevated nitrate and bacteria for quite some time now w/o anyone really looking into where the contaminants came from.

Stories like this one ought to make EVERY private well owner seriously consider having their water tested by a certified water testing laboratory and performing routine checks themselves with at-home well water test kits — because the responsibility for the safety of private well water rests solely with well owners.

YAKIMA, Wash. — An effort to address polluted groundwater consumed by many rural Lower Yakima Valley residents was formally launched Thursday as local, state and federal officials pledged to tackle a stubborn problem that’s been decades in the making.

“It’s going to be a big challenge. It’s a difficult problem,” said Tom Tebb, regional director for the state Department of Ecology in Yakima.

“But it matters because we have people drinking water contaminated by nitrate and bacteria and at unsafe levels in some cases,” Tebb said at a news conference to announce the effort.

Five agencies released the final version of a report on groundwater quality that is a wide-ranging compilation of historical data about the contamination, health effects, regulatory responsibilities and recommendations for action.

…

Of some 30,000 private wells in the Lower Valley, 20 percent have elevated levels of nitrate and bacteria.

This week, federal regulators began their own testing program on 150 wells to try and determine the source of the nitrates and bacteria.

To make sure the samples are tested in a timely fashion, a mobile laboratory has been driven to Yakima from Manchester, Wash., on the Kitsap Peninsula, home of the regional lab for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Two microbiologists will test for coliform bacteria, fecal coliform and e. coli and conduct “microbial source tracking” to determine if the bacteria are human or ruminant. Cattle are ruminants, and manure from dairy and feedlots is one suspected source of both nitrate and bacterial contamination.

Another round of testing in April will help the agency determine the link between elevated levels of nitrate and sources of nitrate, which can come from manure, chemical fertilizer or septic systems.

If the test results allow regulators to identify obvious sources of pollution, enforcement action could follow, said Tom Eaton, director of the Washington operations office of the EPA in Seattle.

Results are expected sometime this summer. ( source )

If you own a private well and do not have your water tested on a regular basis you run the risk of exposure to an almost limitless number of contaminants that can get into the aquifer at any time and for a number of reasons. Natural disasters, changes in weather patterns, heavy demand from other well owners, etc. can all affect the quality of the water in your well.

Water Tests by a Certified Drinking Water Testing Lab

Short of having the Environmental Protection Agency come out and test your well and/or water, no better option exists than to have your water tested by a certified drinking water testing laboratory like National Testing Laboratories which offers three levels of testing:

Basic Test Kit — Tests for 27 Common Drinking Water Contaminants: Aluminum, Arsenic, Barium, Cadmium, Calcium, Chromium, Copper, Iron, Lead, Magnesium, Manganese, Mercury, Nickel, Selenium, Silver, Sodium, Zinc, Alkalinity, Chloride, Fluoride, Nitrate as N, Nitrite as N, Sulfate, Hardness, pH (Standard Units), Total Dissolved Solids, and Turbidity (Turbidity Units).

Most Popular Test Kit — Tests for 83 Drinking Water Contaminants: Bacteria (presence/absence for coliform and E.coli), (19) heavy metals and minerals, (6) other inorganic chemicals, (5) physical characteristics, (4) trihalomethanes and (47) volatile organic chemicals.

Most Popular + Pesticides — Tests for 83 Drinking Water Contaminants: Bacteria (presence/absence for coliform and E.coli), (19) heavy metals and minerals, (6) other inorganic chemicals, (5) physical characteristics, (4) trihalomethanes and (47) volatile organic chemicals plus an additional 20 tests for pesticides, herbicides and PCB’s.

Last Summer the Department of Natural Resources in Missouri allegedly delayed releasing the results of bacteria testing in Lake of the Ozarks to keep from having to shut down beaches and other popular waterfront vacation spots during a highly profitable time for the region. Needless to say that when news leaked out that some of the water test results indicated the presence of potentially harmful bacteria, people got upset — and the blame game began.

Two Missouri senators filed legislation on Thursday seeking to strip water quality testing authority away from the state Department of Natural Resources and give it to the Department of Health and Senior Services.

Sens. Brad Lager, R-Savannah, and Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, filed the bills the same day that Lager’s office released a draft Senate committee report on DNR’s decision to delay the release of water quality tests that showed high levels of bacteria at the Lake of the Ozarks last summer.

“I don’t have confidence that the department won’t mess it up again in the future,” said Lager, who headed the committee investigating the incident. “And the Department of Health and Senior Services is responsible for public health and safety.” ( source )

The more we hear about this situation, the more things that jump out at us and the more questions we have. As an example, why do people think that taking the water testing responsibilities away from one politically influenced group and handing it to another politically influenced group will make a difference?

Politics and profit run hand-in-hand and no matter WHO does the testing, when the choice between forcing business owners (local voters) to take a sizable loss in revenue or allowing (non-local) people to swim and spend money even though a slight chance exists that they may get sick from a little bacteria, well…. Which do YOU think people whose jobs depend upon political agendas will choose?

Doesn’t seem to matter WHICH agency you choose, the answer will always come out the same: Get that money.

So, in lieu of having incorruptible third party testing done, which would cost too much money and put a lot of people in government agencies out of work, the public must fend for itself if it wants to know the truth about water quality.

Personal Test Kits for Bacteria

• Coliform & E. Coli in Water Test Kit — Test kit confirms the presence/absence of coliform bacteria and, with a fluorescent light source, the presence/absence of E. Coli. Good for Drinking water applications.

• Coliform Bacteria in Water Test Kit — Test kit confirms the presence/absence of coliform bacteria in a water sample w/in 48 hours. Good for drinking water applications

• 18 Minute Bacteria Test Kit — Test kit detects E.coli, species of Salmonella, Shigella, Enterobacter, Klebsiella and many other coliform and non-coliform bacteria in 18 minutes. Excellent test for lakes, streams, ponds, rivers, etc.

• Pool & Spa Bacteria Test — Test kit detects seudomonas, Aeromonas, E.coli, species of Salmonella, Shigella, Enterobacter, Klebsiella and many other Coliform and non-Coliform bacteria in 20 minutes. Excellent test for pools & spas.

Interested in other articles related to this topic?

• Heavy Rains and Runoff Responsible for Elevated E. Coli Levels
• Dangerous Bacteria Level Cover Up?
• Water Testing Costs Money, But States Don’t Have Any!

Over the past 2 years we have mentioned test strips for commonly tested water parameters such as chlorine, pH, water hardness, bacteria, and heavy metals on a regular basis. Recently someone asked us if we knew of test strips for other, less commonly tested water parameters.

Without knowing exactly WHICH unusual water parameters to look for we just started searching for odd water contaminants and came up with the following:

It always pleases us to see companies thinking outside the box when it comes to coming up with new and efficient ways to produce safe, clean drinking water. In this case, a company called Puralytics has developed a chemical-free solar powered water purification system that creates no waste stream.

By combining the work of five photochemical processes at once, Puralytics water purification systems break down or remove contaminants from water by actually destroying contaminants rather than capturing them and creating a hazardous waste disposal problem.

1. Photocatalytic Oxidation — Previously unobtainable, selected wavelengths of UV light generate unprecedented levels of hydroxyl radicals (OH-) without any chemical additives.

2. Photocatalytic Reduction — Reduces toxic species such as mercury (Hg II), silver (Ag I), arsenic (As V, and chromium (Cr VI) to more readily adsorbed materials.

3. Photolysis — Direct disassociation of contaminants by high intensity UV light, including atrazine, amoxicillin, DEET, and all estrogenic chemicals.

4. Photoadsorption — The catalyst strongly adsorbs heavy metals including mercury, lead, selenium, and arsenic, permanganate, and other compounds.

5. Photo Disinfection — Multiple wavelengths and high intensity UV disinfect pathogens more effectively than standard UV germicidal.

Below you will find the Press Release issued by Puralytics on January 14th, 2010 from their Beaverton, Oregon office:

Puralytics, an emerging leader in advanced water purification technology, announced it has been selected as a finalist in the first Imagine H2O prize. This year’s prize focuses on water efficiency, and Puralytics is able to remove contaminants from water without water loss and without generating a waste stream, which is common with other technologies.

Imagine H2O is a non-profit organization founded in 2007 by a team of leading venture capital firms and financiers, water technology leaders and academics from Harvard Business School. The Imagine H2O Prize Competition highlights new technology that can address critical water challenges. Puralytics was selected as a finalist because of their unique, chemical-free purification capability, and water savings of thousands of gallons per day.

Puralytics has developed a new photo purification technology for water which uses precise wavelength LEDs in conjunction with a fixed photocatalyst to effectively remove organic compounds, heavy metals, and pathogens from water. For more information on the Puralytics technology and products, please visit: www.puralytics.com. The Shield 500 is available for industrial and commercial applications, and the sunlight powered SolarBag for developing world and disaster relief applications will be available in early 2010.

About Puralytics

Puralytics is an early stage company in Beaverton, Oregon, developing water purification products that effectively remove all of the emerging contaminants such as petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, eliminate heavy metals like arsenic, lead, and mercury, and provide disinfection of bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens. These products have wide applicability for ultrapure and laboratory processes, well water purification, waste and grey water processing, and remote drinking water purification. Puralytics was also chosen by The Artemis Project as a Top 50 Global Water Technology Company competition winner, announced on Earth Day 2009.

Contact:
Dave Moser
Vice President of Business Development
Puralytics, Inc.
15250 NW Greenbrier Parkway
Beaverton, OR 97006-5764
USA
Ph: +1 503 913-5194
dave.moser@puralytics.com
www.puralytics.com (source )

So you may now wonder what exactly this company has created that has gotten them all this attention. Stay tuned for future Water Testing Blog entries on the topic of Puralytics Water Treatment Devices.

This morning one of our readers sent us a link to an article related to a topic we discussed earlier this year: Government Officials Cover Up Dangerous Levels of Bacteria. Apparently the fallout from that debacle has not finished falling and as a result, new and interesting fact about the quality of water in Missouri has come to light.

Just before Memorial Day last year, tests showed high E. coli levels at Lake of the Ozarks. Those results weren’t made public until after a second round of testing showed bacteria levels had dropped.

The fallout for tourism and health was limited. Not so the political consequences for Gov. Jay Nixon.

Since last fall, a state Senate committee chaired by Sen. Brad Lager, R-Savannah, has held hearings into the testing failure.

It has produced useful information, most notably news that other tests showed hexavalent chromium, a heavy metal linked to cancer, in drinking water in Hannibal and Louisiana.

But the committee — indeed, the entire Legislature — is avoiding a much larger and more difficult issue: Clean water.

Missouri’s system for ensuring water quality and safety is broken and about to go bankrupt.

It’s not broken only at Lake of the Ozarks, Hannibal and Louisiana; it’s broken everywhere. ( source )

Sounds like some serious work needs to get done in that state, but where will the money come from? Clearly it sounds like a time when those responsible for polluting the water in that state (and others) step up and pay for the damage they have done in the form of fines, financial penalties and and so forth.

Yep. That SOUNDS like a good idea, but…

Each year, the state Department of Natural Resources tests water at about 350 sites; many are tested more than once.

Most of the money for those tests comes from fees on permits taken out by companies that discharge pollutants into lakes and rivers.

The fees haven’t been raised in a decade, but the cost of testing continues to rise. In 2005, lawmakers established a task force to make recommendations about the issue. It never met.

In 2007, with fees scheduled to expire, lawmakers set up another task force.

It recommended a 35 percent fee increase, with future hikes for inflation. But nothing happened until last year, when the fees were extended at their old rate for another year.

Most observers expect lawmakers to extend the fees without hiking them in the current session.

That means polluters still won’t pay their fair share of the cost for testing, and citizens still won’t be adequately protected.

If lawmakers fail to act, the testing program will be broke by July and gone entirely next year. ( source )

Ouch. So the burden to testing the water in Missouri will fall onto the shoulders of… the taxpayers, and ironically, the same people affected by the polluted water. This assumes, of course, that lawmakers will not allow the water quality testing program to (pardon the pun) wash away entirely.

Articles like this do nothing if not reinforce the notion that when it comes to guaranteeing the quality and safety of the water you drink, bathe in, swim in and use for other everyday purposes including watering your lawn and making sure the family dog or cat has something cool to drink, no one has your best interests at heart… unless you take an interest in the quality of the water yourself.

Sorry, but the days of someone else making sure your tap and well water won’t make you sick ended a long time ago. So we all pretty much have only one option right now: pay qualified water testing professionals to perform a full battery of tests every once in a while AND perform simpler drinking water tests ourselves between laboratory tests.

Otherwise we run the risk of falling through the cracks of an outdated, undermanned, soon to be bankrupt water management system.

Think we’re kidding? Just ask everyone living south of the Mason-Dixon line that has had to put up with a lot more days of below freezing temperatures than they have seen in many years. Then for a more personal look at the damage done by all the cold weather, go and ask the residents of Jackson, Mississippi what the cold weather has done to their town’s water system.

Unusually cold temperatures caused more than 70 city water mains to break over the past week in Jackson, Miss., prompting Gov. Haley Barbour to declare a state of emergency and close state offices on Monday.

Residents of Jackson, the state capital, endured trickling faucets and, in some cases, no running water. Construction crews disrupted traffic to make emergency repairs.

Public schools and many businesses closed after their toilets and sinks stopped working. Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. urged residents to conserve and boil water, but he could not say when the pipes would be fixed.

“We’ve had 70-plus hours of below-freezing temperatures,” said Chris Mims, a spokesman for the city. “That hasn’t happened in almost 30 years.” ( source )

Residents all over the Southeatern United States had endured temperatures far colder than usual for this time of year and as a result, many people have woken up to busted water lines in their homes. Many dwellings lack the proper amount of insulation required to keep their water pipes from freezing and bursting.

While people cannot do anything about the cold weather, they can do something to try and minimize the damage a broken water line can cause by installing a flood alarm neaar the location where water lines enter their homes. Hearing the alarm go off will give people a chance to keep an already bad situation from getting much, much worse.

Yes, water damage will occur in a situation like this and nothing will stop that from happening. How MUCH damage occurs will depend entirely on how quickly someone shuts off the water coming into the building.

Prevent costly water damage by installing a wireless flood alarm system sensor anywhere water might collect as a result of a mechanical failure such as a washing machine overflowing, accidental flooding caused by pipes freezing and bursting, or a natural disaster such as heavy rains causing the water table to rise and begin seeping into your basement.

A simple and relatively inexpensive investment in a wireless flood alarm system can save you thousands of dollars in the long run.

Note: The base unit of the alarm shown also has the ability to work with other types of sensors designed to detect motion and/or the opening of a window, door, or garage door.

After the Pipes Get Fixed…

Although every situation will vary, pretty much every busted pipes situation will require a purging of water lines in the dwelling after the pipes get fixed and yes, we suggest tesating the water after the purging for things like bacteria, metals, and chlorine levels (if on city water).

Tragedy struck in a senior citizens’ community in Ulster County, New York this week when two residents of the Golden Hill Helath Care Center fell ill as a result of unexplained exposure to Legionnaires’ Disease, a condition caused by a bacteria which spreads freely in water vapor.

Officials have not, yet, figured out how the patients became infected or where the bacteria came from.

KINGSTON — Health officials on Thursday tested the water and the residents at the Golden Hill Health Care Center in trying to determine how two residents of the nursing home, including one who died, contracted Legionnaires’ disease, according to Ulster County’s public health director.

Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck said the source of the bacteria had not been determined as of Thursday evening,

The two residents, women ages 88 and 91, were hospitalized with pneumonia recently and later were diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease, a water-borne respiratory condition that usually is contracted by inhaling a mist or vapor contaminated with the Legionella bacteria.

The 91-year-old, who had underlying chronic medical conditions, died on Tuesday. The 88-year-old was treated successfully and was “doing well” on Thursday, Hasbrouck said. Neither woman has been identified.

Hasbrouck said the two cases at Golden Hill — which is owned an operated by the county — are “not an outbreak per se,” and he stressed that health officials have not determined if the two women even were infected at the nursing home. No other residents of Golden Hill have contracted Legionnaires’ disease, according to county officials.

Hasbrouck said the two affected women lived on different floors of the Golden Hill building and used different showers, which, he said, could lead one to hypothesize they were “two sporadic infections.”

The Legionella bacteria can be found in shower vapors or in air conditioning units, though Golden Hill does not have the kind of air conditioning that emits vapors, county officials have said.

Legionnaires’ disease — which gets its name from a 1976 outbreak at an American Legion convention in a Philadelphia hotel that killed 34 people — cannot be transmitted from person to person.

Hasbrouck said that, for the time being, Golden Hill residents are taking precautions against contracting Legionnaires’ disease, including bathing instead of showering. They also are not drinking the building’s water, he said, even though the disease cannot be contracted that way.

No residents are being moved out of the nursing home, and visitors still are allowed.

Golden Hill gets its water from the city of Kingston, but it passes through a pumping station on the Golden Hill property before entering the building. Hasbrouck said health officials have confined the testing to the nursing home’s water system and are not recommending city residents take any special precautions with their water.

Kingston Water Superintendent Judith Hansen said her department is in compliance with all local, state and federal water standards and that parts of the city’s water system are tested daily. She said Golden Hill’s water system — which the city operates for the county — is tested weekly.

Hansen said the Kingston Water Department is required to test the city’s water 27 times per month for coliform bacteria — which acts as a “surrogate” for other types of bacteria, and its presence is used as an indicator of contamination — but usually conducts such tests 10 times as often.

Hansen said she has seen “no indication of any bacterial compromise” of either the city’s or Golden Hill’s water supply but that she will defer to the testing being conducted by state health officials. She said the state Health Department had asked her to provide water samples from the past year for Golden Hill’s system but not the city’s.

Hansen also said Golden Hill’s water supply is disinfected more aggressively than the city’s because it sits in the nursing home’s tank longer than Kingston’s water normally is dormant.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 8,000 and 18,000 Americans are hospitalized with Legionnaires’ disease each year, and the condition can be fatal percent in 5 to 30 percent of patients.

Symptoms usually surface two to 14 days after exposure to the bacteria, the CDC says, and most cases can be treated successfully with antibiotics.( source )

Now that we’ve scared the pants off of some people, which always happens when some folks read a story about the unexplained appearance of a mysterious ailment, we will leave you with some facts about Legionnaires’ Disease from Health.HowStuffWorks.Com which some of you may find interesting:

• The Legionella pneumophila bacterium causes Legionnaires’ disease, an “atypical,” but serious, form of pneumonia.
• People who are most susceptible are the elderly and those who smoke, have lung disease, or have impaired immune systems.
• Taking steps to kill the bacteria before it has a chance to contaminate the water is essential. L. pneumophila thrives and grows in stagnant water.
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends twice-yearly cleanings of large (heating/cooling) systems.
• Smokers are more likely to get lung infections such as Legionnaires’ disease.

So how does all this relate to water testing? Simple: Legionella pneumophila bacterium cannot live in propery disinfected water. Therefore regularly scheduled water testing can work very well as a way of keeping Legionella pneumophila bacterium from making their home in your building’s water system.

Other Postings Mentioning Legionnaires’ Disease:

• Legionnaires’ Disease Can Spread Through the Air
• Bacteria and Microorganisms in Water
• Sources of Bacteria and Microorganisms in Drinking Water

Though not directly related to water testing or water quality, we felt this article deserved a little airtime on our site.

According to a recent study conducted in the Roanoke Valley, VA area we may get a lot more than we bargain for when we fill up our cups at the soda fountain.

Those soda fountain machines found in restaurants and fast food joints may be squirting out liquids contaminated with fecal bacteria, a small study found.

Whether it was self-serve or behind the counter, nearly half of all sodas dispensed from a sample of 30 machines in the Roanoke Valley in Virginia had coliform bacteria — a group of bacteria banned in drinking water by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because it indicates the possibility of fecal contamination.

“We can’t have that in our drinking supply. But they’re coming out of these soda fountain machines,” she said.

The soda machines had turned into a bacteria metropolis with Escherichia coli (E. coli), species of Klebsiella, Staphylococcus, Stenotrophomonas, Candida, and Serratia. Most of the bacteria were resistant to the 11 antibiotics Godard tested on her samples.

“About 70 percent of the beverages had bacteria and 48 percent of them had coliform bacteria,” said Godard.

However, only 20 percent of the sodas sampled had coliform bacteria that exceeded the EPA limit for drinking water.

Since the tap water and ice from the machines didn’t test positive for bacteria, Godard and her team ruled out the possibility of a valley-wide contamination of the water supply.

Various brands of soft drinks and various types — sugared, diet or even water — were contaminated, leading Godard to think that it wasn’t the soda, but the machine that was growing bacteria.

From all her testing, Godard still isn’t sure where the bacteria came from. Few people observed in the restaurants touched the nozzles of the soda fountain machines and restaurant managers Godard interviewed reported cleaning the nozzles daily.

But only one restaurant manager reported rinsing the plastic tubing within the machines on a regular basis. ( source )

Needless to say the shock value of this made us gag and immediately swear off fountain drinks for life. Too bad we won’t have the ability to keep that promise. Whether we like it or not, dispensing systems like the ones mentioned in the article exist in many areas of our life: beer taps at the bar, water dispensers on the refrigerator, water coolers at the office, etc.

The good news in all of this deals with the fact that we can do something about bacteria growing in all of those machines: WE CAN CLEAN IT OUT.

Sounds stupid, but a little cleaning, or in this case flushing, goes a long way when it comes to keeping our sodas, beers and water bacteria-free. Check the owners manual for instructions on how to properly flush the lines in your machines today!

Concerned that your water cooler may have harmful bacteria in it? Try the WaterSafe Water Cooler Bacteria test kit!

Although the title of this blog posting sounds terribly bad, no one fell ill because of the bacteria found in a Connecticut school recently. Why? Because school officials perform routine water testing on the water.

GUILFORD — Administrators are promising to soon remedy an elementary school’s well water problem that may have been caused by the area’s past agricultural uses.

Tests of a well providing drinking water to part of Melissa Jones Elementary School, the only school in town using well water, showed a presence of more coliform bacteria, or E. coli, than standards allow. Coliform is a marker for potentially harmful bacteria, Principal Paula McCarthy wrote to parents in an e-mail alert Monday.

The well will be rechlorinated, and any sinks or water fountains currently closed will be open by the time students return from winter break Jan. 4, school board Chairman William Bloss said. So far no children or faculty have reported illnesses caused by drinking the water, he said, and there are other wells bringing clean, safe water to the rest of the building.

“I think the feeling is it’s from the historical agricultural use of the land in that area and fertilizer run-off, and waste run-off, because obviously in a well, you’re working with groundwater and eventually anything in there works way into ground water,” Bloss said.

Sinks and water fountains in the gym and upstairs hall have been closed and instant sanitizer pumps have been used for hand washing in those areas, according to the principal’s message.

Alan Meyers, a doctor and school board member, said more than 90 percent of E. coli strains are safe, but they are markers of contamination.

“It’s a normal constituent of feces. It could come from cows across the street or humans or anywhere,” Meyers said. “So far, no one has gotten sick, so it’s just good that it’s monitored.”

Dangerous strains of E. coli are sometimes found in hamburger meat and can cause serious illness, but that’s not what Melissa Jones Elementary School test results showed, Meyers explained.

Officials say they faced the same situation last spring and a few years ago, which is why the water is tested once per quarter.

“It’s not a question of the system being outdated. It’s because of the type of groundwater in north Guilford,” he said.

The cost to rechlorinate the well is “not prohibitive,” Bloss said, and it’s “very much secondary to making sure we are meeting all guidelines on water quality.”

The system flush will take two weeks and water will be retested, said Cliff Gurnham, director of operations and facilities.

He said school administrators have investigated piping water in and determined it would have to be piped from Abraham Baldwin Middle School, which also once relied on well water. However, high costs have ruled out that option, Gurnham said.

Susan Misur can be reached at “smisur ‘at’ hregister.com”. ( source )

As usual, the virtue of periodic well water testing for critical water parameters (like coliform bacteria) proved its worth. Had school officials not acted proactively, they might have wound up with an entire school full of sick students and faculty.

More importantly, in some people’s minds, the simple and relatively inexpensive quarterly checks for coliform bacteria probablysaved the school district hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and lawsuits.

So now the question most of us ought to ask ourselves naturally becomes, “When was the last time MY child’s school or daycare had ITS water tested for coliform bacteria?” — especially if the school draws its water from a well and resides in a former or current agricultural/farming region.