We recently received an email from Emma in North Carolina and she wrote,

We’re building a new house right on the edge of where the local water plant stops delivering water and want to know if we will be better off hooking up to the water line or having well put in. Some people say we’re lucky to have a choice, but really it’s just one more decision we have to make and we already have so many! Can you help? Thanks!

Emma

As Emma implied, sometimes having a choice makes for a lot more work – if you choose to research the options properly.

Hooking up to city water offers the security of knowing that the city has to test its water routinely before distribution and must inform you if it has experienced any ‘incidents’ which may put you in danger. On the flip-side, though, you will receive a bill each month to cover the expense of testing, monitoring, filtering and purifying the water going into your new home.

Investing in a well for your new home will rid you of that pesky water bill each month, but it will also make you 100% responsible for the quality and safety of water it produces once it passes an initial test done by the well drilling company.

We honestly do not have an answer, Emma, because some well water comes up cleaner and more pure than any water company could ever distribute… and other well water comes up nastier than backwoods swamp water and/or containing potentially dangerous chemical compounds whose origin even the best scientists in the World have trouble locating.

Pretty much all city water contains some form of disinfectant which can create unpleasant tastes and odors in drinking water. It can also irritate skin, bleach clothing, etc. and some water systems contain obnoxious (and smelly) levels of chlorine which can make water taste absolutely wretched.

While on the topic of chlorine, the most widely used disinfectant for public water systems, produces trihalomethanes (THM’s), a potentially carcinogenic disinfection byproduct, when chlorine molecules attack organic contaminants in water.

Getting back to the well water, commonly occurring events in the environment can change the quality of well water on a daily basis. Heavy rains, a lack of rain, temperature and even air pressure can radically alter the nature of water pulled from well – and let us not forget about pollution from industry which can seep into the ground 100’s of miles away from a well and still, somehow, make its way into that water that well produces at some point.

So, Emma, in the end, and if you want to make the best possible decision regarding where you will get your drinking water, we suggest you have a sample of water drawn from the aquifer your proposed well will access and have it tested by a certified water testing laboratory such as National Testing Laboratories. Contact the well drilling company you think you may use to drill, if you go that route, and ask them for advice on getting sampling and testing done. Do make sure they submit the sample to a certified water lab, though, and not do the testing themselves!

Then contact the local water company and ask for a copy of their latest water quality report, usually referred to as a Consumer Confidence Report and abbreviated as CCR.

With both reports in hand, weigh the pros and cons of each and remember that no matter which option you choose, you may STILL want to consider having a Whole House Water Filter System installed and/or purchasing point-of-use water filter devices for the shower, faucet and countertop.

Yes, you read that right. We recently came across a short article on a news channel’s site in the Bethesda, MD area which stated that a local pizzeria used a water filtration system — and that some people believe its pizza tasted more like pizza from New York because of the purified water.

Some say its the water that makes New York pizza taste so good. Flippin’ Pizza uses a water filtration systems to make our local water taste more like New York’s. ( source )

So if we read that right, locals in Bethesda, MD believe one of the secrets to making great New York style pizza involves filtering their own water so that it more closely resembles that of New York’s. Kind of interesting, don’t you think?

Naturally the question on OUR minds sounds a lot like… “What kind of water filter do they use?”

We checked the pizza place’s web site ( www.flippinpizza.com ) to see if maybe they had leaked the brand and type of water filter they use, but no luck. We did, however find this statement that the proprietors made about their pizza:

A real, honest pie. An old-school, ‘I’m from Brooklyn and you’re not’ pizza. So welcome to Flippin’ Pizza. A New York original, since 2007. ( source )

Didn’t figure we’d get much info from New Yorkers, but hey… If you don’t try, you’ll never know. So fuhgettaboutit already!

Better water can make food taste better?

We figure, as you probably already have, that truly rotten water would ruin the taste of anything. But, since we do try to educate with more than just our opinions around here, we decided that we needed to find some scientific proof that our opinion had real merit.

In comparison to taste thresholds in spring water, the recognition thresholds are higher using tap water, and lower using deionized water. When using deionized water, sour was detected by all subjects at the lowest concentrations. Iron(II)sulfate could best be matched to metallic sensation in deionized water. Results indicate that taste sensitivity is influenced by water quality. ( source )

For those who don’t speak ’science talk’, the folks conducting the study discovered that participants in the study could more easily recognize distinct flavors in spring water and deionized water than in tap water.

We suppose that means when people try to add a hint of flavor to a soup or other dish using tap water, it takes them more seasoning to accomplish that task. Now if you consider that some seasonings, like salt, can harm a person if ingested in too great a quantity for too long a time, then that means tap water makes it easier for that harm to happen.

Getting back to the taste issue, though, if you consider that pretty much all municipalities add some form of disinfectant (often an oxidizer such as chlorine) to the water they distribute, it would make sense that the oxidizers would act on, and attempt to destroy, anything they encounter — including seasonings and natural flavors in foods.

Additionally, if water has too high or low a pH, it may act to oxidize or reduce naturally occurring chemicals in a food that would otherwise impart the food’s natural flavor into dish.

So, for all you aspiring chefs and cooks out there, as well as all the Ramen Noodle eating folks like so many of us at the Water Testing Blog, using filtered water may increase the flavor in your dishes and allow you to fully enjoy the flavors you work so hard to create.

Test your drinking water before choosing a drinking water filter

Having your water tested will give you the opportunity to select the perfect water filter for your water. Simple at-home drinking water test kits from WaterSafe and SenSafe can provide important information you will need when selecting the appropriate water filter for your home or business.

Note: Drinking water test kits from those companies only give you some of the information you will need to make an educated decision when choosing a water filter. Having your water tested by a certified water testing lab such as National Testing Laboratories will give you a lot more detail and make your water filter decision that much easier.

Most importantly, though, certified water testing labs like National Testing Laboratories will test for many dangerous chemicals and compounds that home drinking water test kits cannot.

We sites to research water filters

Over the years we have seen a lot of water filter web sites come and go and the ones we will list here have not only endured the test of time, but they have grown and adapted well to the public’s ever-changing water filtration demands.

We present these in no particular order.

WaterFilters.Net — www.WaterFilters.net

FilterWater.Com — www.FilterWater.com

FiltersFast.Com — www.FiltersFast.com

IsoPureWater.Com — www.IsoPureWater.com

Amy wrote in with a few questions about city water testing…

Hi ~ thanks for this blog! Do cities provide free water testing as a service?

How would I know if my apt building has lead pipes?

Thanks!

Amy

To our knowledge most cities and municipalities do not provide free water testing as a service, though we have read that some areas will offer deeply discounted testing rates through local laboratories, or their own labs, in response to localized events such as regional flooding.

You can, however, call your local water company and request a copy of its most recent Annual Drinking Water Quality Report. Some cities opt to post their reports online and you can check to see if your area water company posts its report online at the EPA’s Safewater Project Web Site.

With regard to your question regarding whether or not your apartment building contains lead pipes, first determine the approximate age of the building.

Older houses are more likely to have problems with lead than houses built since 1988. Before that time, lead piping and lead solder were widely used in household plumbing systems as well as in the service lines that connect houses to street water mains. In 1986, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned the use of lead pipes and lead solder in plumbing systems because lead is an insidious and dangerous poison. The EPA set an “action level” of .015 milligrams per liter of water for lead, stating that levels higher than that in water could pose a risk to human health. ( source )

In all honesty, though, even if your building does not have lead someplace in its water delivery system, lead can enter your drinking water other ways…

Lead rarely occurs naturally in drinking water. It’s far more common for lead contamination to occur at some point in the water delivery system. It isn’t well known, but household plumbing is usually the culprit when it comes to high levels of lead and copper in drinking water. Lead and/or copper pipes, fittings and other components are commonly found in many plumbing systems. Metallic alloys such as brass and bronze often contain lead, so brass faucets or plumbing fittings may also release lead into home water systems. ( source )

With so many ways for potentially harmful levels of metals such as lead and copper to enter one’s drinking water, the only way to know for sure if you have lead in your water (which is what REALLY matters) involves testing your water.

Now of COURSE we suggest using a certified water testing lab such as Suburban Water Testing Laboratories, or another similarly qualified water testing service, but that does not mean you cannot test your own water from time to time for dangerous metals such as copper and lead.

Water Metals Test Kit

Water Quality Test Kit

Lead in Water Test Kit

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).

LaShonda from Mississippi asked…

Recently our community had some problems with several water mains and we lost water for a while. The water came back on but we have not heard from the health dept that we can use the water without boiling it first, etc. Should we wait for the health department to tell things are OK or can we use the water now since the pressure is back up?

Thnk you.

You have asked a very good question, LaShonda.

While the fact that your water pressure has come back up does mean that your local water company has made progress in repairing the water mains, it does NOT guarantee that you can safely drink the water coming out of your faucet.

Whenever a water main breaks, develops a leak, or requires some form of maintenance that could allow the introduction of outside elements (air, dirt, sand, environmental water, etc.) into the water line, the line must undergo a period of purging before health officials will consider the water safe for consumption.

During that period of water line flushing the water department monitors the quality of the water with rigorous testing. The water MUST pass all testing before the water department will announce to the media outlets (newspaper, television, radio, etc.) that people can resume normal usage of the water safely.

If you have any questions about the safety of your water after learning of a ‘boil water order’ or warning not to use your tap water until further notice, WAIT FOR THE NOTICE.

Do not assume that the return of water pressure to your faucet means you have safe water. In the event you have any questions or doubts, pick up the phone and call your local water department for the latest update on your particular water quality situation.

Emergency Water Filtration and/or Purification:

A recent report by the Environmental Working Group, often abbreviated as EWG, stated that after reviewing millions of records from state water officials across the country they believe nearly 54 million Americans have ‘polluted’ drinking water coming from their taps.

After examining the water quality in a selection of 100 cities, each containing more than 250k residents, the EWG put together a list of the Best and Worst Water Systems. Below you will find the highlights and low points from that list:

Cities w/ 3 Best Water Systems:

• Arlington Water Utilities in Arlington, Texas
• Providence Water in Providence, Rhode Island
• Fort Worth Water Department in Fort Worth, Texas

Cities w/ 3 Worst Water Systems:

• Emerald Coast Water Utility in Pensacola, Florida
• City of Riverside Public Utilities in Riverside, California
• Las Vegas Valley Water District in Las Vegas, NV

Didn’t see your city’s water system on the list? Don’t worry. You can view the full list of citeies surveyed here.

The EWG published another handy tool for determining the relative safety and purity of your drinking water:

• EWG Drinking Water Quality Database

In that document you will find the EWG’s findings on the quality of drinking water in more than 45,000 communities across the country.

Why Should You Test Your Own Water?

Even if your local water department makes the top of EWG’s or any other organization’s list the possibility still exists that human error, human negligence, or pure chance could result in the accidental contamination of your drinking water.

Events such as water mains developing leaks and/or breaking, someone performing water testing at the water treatment facility with outdated reagents, and someone simply ‘fudging’ test reports because of laziness, budget cuts, or maybe because that person has a massive hangover, could all very easily result in unwanted contaminants getting into your drinking water.

We suggest that people test their tap water periodically for chlorine levels (free & total), pH, metals (lead, copper, etc.), and coliform bacteria — just in case.

Many people believe that the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act by Congress a while back guarantees the safety and purity of drinking water for everyone in the United States. WRONG!

• The Safe Drinking Water Act contains regulations governing the levels of specific contaminants in drinking water but not ALL of the potential contaminants that could find their way into drinking water.

• The Safe Drinking Water Act contains rules and regulations which municipalities should follow if some municipalities cannot afford the equipment to bring their water into compliance with those rules and regulations then they get fined… and the out-of-compliance water continues to flow to customers’ faucets.

• Water can leave a drinking water treatment facility in full compliance with all the guidelines specified in the Safe Drinking Water Act and pick up contaminants between the facility and your faucet because of water line breaks, old plumbing, etc.

So what does all of that mean? Simply put, while the Safe Drinking Water Act does give municipalities incentive to ‘do the right thing’ when it comes to making sure the water they distribute does not contain harmful contaminants, a definite possibility still exists that the water coming out of your faucet may not comply with the provisions set forth by the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Just as in the case of well owners, individuals on a public water systems should perform periodic checks on the quality of their drinking water, too. Having a certified water testing laboratory check the quality of your water every once in a while and performing occasional water tests for critical parameters (i.e. metals, bacteria, chlorine, nitrate/nitrites, etc.) between laboratory tests yourself using an at-home drinking water test kit will provide you with peace of mind when it comes to the quality of your drinking water.

As you make your list and check it twice this Holiday Season, please give some thought to the idea of stuffing the stockings with simple at-home water test kits. They don’t cost a whole lot and they might prove a lot more useful in the long run than ANOTHER pair of ugly socks or some inane gift that you can grab off the end cap of your local convenience store.

Drinking water test kits can save lives. Ugly socks typically cannot do that. They may keep feet warm, though, on those long cold nights.

Another town has received notification that their drinking water may contain levels of lead and copper higher than deemed acceptable by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

A few residents have experienced lead in their drinking water in recent weeks, prompting discussion of Belleville’s aging infrastructure and a warning to people about how to protect their health.

Township Manager Victor Canning said that “a couple of samples” of tap water tested positive for lead, and by law the township had to send notices to those residents. He said there is a bigger picture problem.

“This is something that has to be addressed in areas with older infrastructure,” Canning said.

For now, he has this advice: “People should let the water run for a couple of minutes to remove any lead or copper issues.”

The substances come from old underground water pipes that need replacing, an expensive proposition, he said.

“We are trying to address this, spending a couple of hundred thousand [dollars], but we’re talking millions and millions to fix it all,” Canning said. ( source )

As stated in the article, tearing up and replacing older copper water lines joined together with solder that contains lead costs a pretty penny and a lot of towns like Belleville simply cannot come up with the money. Therefore residents in these towns owe it to themselves to test their drinking water for dangerous heavy metals such as copper and lead on a regular basis.

Reports of a company using fake water testing techniques as part of their sales pitch for water purification systems has once again surfaced, this time in a community called Port Hope, Canada. Apparently the company’s sales representatives use chemical trickery to demonstrate how (usually elderly) homeowners’ water desperately needs remediation — in the form of a $3,500 water purification system.

Then, if the in-home water testing trick does not work, the sales representatives allegedly resort to good old fashioned bullying until the homeowners agree to buy a water purification system.

PORT HOPE – There appears to be a water scam happening in town again, says Ed Symons, Water Distribution Supervisor for the Municipality of Port Hope.

“We seem to have to deal with this issue every year lately,” he said.

He says elderly people are telephoned and told they should have their water tested, then set up appointments and try to convince them that their water is unsafe to drink. They use “very persuasive selling tactics” to pressure them to purchase a $3,500 water purifier from their company.

“These people are not licensed to test Municipal water supplies nor do they use accredited labs as we do,” he said. “They use an old trick by setting up an accelerated corrosion cell that would make you think your water is bad (it turns black) when actually they are causing a piece of metal to rapidly corrode causing the water to turn black.”

If you hear of anyone getting these calls please contact Ed Symons at 905-885-7461 or the Port Hope Police Service at 905-885-8123. ( source )

All of us here at Water Testing Blog hope law enforcement officials in that are catch up with the con artists responsible for these phony water testing sales techniques and throw them under the dirtiest, most wretched jail in the region… giving them only unfiltered, dirty sewer water to drink.

Arm Yourself Against Water Purification Con Artists:

First of all, make sure the company whose sales pitch you will entertain sells quality, reputable water purification systems. Whenever possible, see if the company sells water filters bearing NSF Mark and/or the WQA Gold Seal, as the technologies in those filtration systems will have passed third-party inspection by recognized organizations in the water quality community.

Next, never go into the meeting with a sales representative without first doing some homework on your water because the water filter company’s representative makes money based upon the size and dollar value of the water purification system you buy. Arming yourself with simple water quality knowledge can stop you from unknowingly buying too ‘large’ a system and spending money unnecessarily.

By simply testing your water with a do-it-yourself water test kit such as the WaterSafe All-in-One Water Quality Test Kit or the SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit before meeting with a sales rep you may have the ability to see through a water purification con artist’s game if they try to say your water contains things or has characteristics that you know it does not.

Complete Water Test Kit

WaterSafe Well Water Test Kit

WaterSafe All-in-One

An honest water purification system representative will not need to con you. The merits of their product line will speak for themselves and you will have the opportunity to purchase the correct system for your water quality situation.