Although one would normally only find bacteria strains such as Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium in surface waters such as rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, etc., they can contaminate a well during a flood.

• Symptoms shown by a person afflicted by Giardia include, but may not be limited to, diarrhea, fatigue, and cramps.
• Symptoms shown by a person afflicted by Cryptosporidium include, but may not be limited to, diarrhea, nausea and stomach cramps. Additionally, this type of bacteria resists many common disinfection methods quite well.

note: Individuals with suppressed or compromised immune systems may exhibit worse symptoms for longer periods of time than peole with ‘healthy’ or ‘normal’ immune systems.

The best way to guarantee the safety of your water after a flood means getting the water tested by certified water professionals. Home water test kits for bacteria serve as excellent maintenance tools for checking the bacteria levels of well water, but in the event of an actual ‘incident’ such as a flood, which may have caused the contamination of your drinking water, always seek the advice and assistance of Water Quality Experts in your area.

Locating Certified Drinking Water Laboratories

The United States Environmental Protection Agency suggests you contact the State Certification Officer for Drinking Water Laboratories for your state.

Click here to access a list of contact phone numbers, email addresses and physical addresses for State Certification Officer for Drinking Water Laboratories on the United States Environmental Protection Agency web site.

The majority of people in the United States already know that our country sends a lot of aid to foreign countries in the form of water purifiers and water quality test kits in the wake of heavy rains or other natural disasters which result in massive flooding… and now we must turn our attention to the plight of millions of Americans whose homes, neighborhoods, schools and places of business have fallen victim to the mighty power of the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

As flood waters begin to recede back towards the river banks which once held them in place, the returning residents of recently flooded areas face seemingly endless hours of cleaning, millions of dollars in property damages… and uncertainty as to what sort of contaminants the flood waters have left on their lawns, on their roads, and in their wells.

The same millions of gallons of river water which burst through levees also tore through landfills, soaked up runoff/drainage from septic systems, picked up debris from swere systems, scrapped up trash from the streets, and carried the carcasses of countless animals and bugs whose lives it claimed.

Large amounts of that ‘dirty’ water may have found its way down into aquifers through open wells and other means so now the water getting pulled from wells could contain any number of natural and/or manmade chemicals.

Individuals and companies looking to perform multiple tests on numerous water sources may want to consider picking up a water testing kit like the Well Drillers’ Master Kit, as it contains a good number of tests for items which can have and adverse effect on human health:

Well Drillers’ Master Water Test Kit

Each Well Drillers’ Master Water Testing Kit contains:

• 50 Free Chlorine Test Strips
• 50 Ultra Low Total Chlorine Test Strips
• 50 Hydrogen Sulfide Test Strips
• 50 Total Hardness Test Strips
• 50 Nitrate/Nitrite Test Strips
• 50 pH Test Strips
• 24 Manganese Tests
• 50 Water Metals Test Strips
• 10 Arsenic Test Strips
• 50 Iron Tests
• 50 Copper Test Strips
• 2 Lead in Water Tests
• 2 Pesticide Tests
• 1 bottle of Bacteria Test

Full kits, refills, and extra tests for each parameter can be ordered independently and in small quantities through the Industrial Test Systems, Inc. web site.

If you live near a mining facility you may want to check your well water for cyanide.  Why?  Because cyanide can enter your water from the runoff of a mining facility.  Cyanide works quite well as a dissolving agent for certain highly desired metals like gold (reference).  Granted federal regulations require all mining facilities in the United States to appropriately recycle the cyanide used in their process, but as we all know, accidents can happen.

Cyanide may also show up in the runoff or discharge of a metal plating facility because. . .

“Cyanide compounds are used in plating baths because they accomodate a wide range of electrical current, remove tarnish or other undesirable films from surfaces to be plated, and cause an even metal deposit to form that has lower sensitivity to impurities present in the the bath. Metals coatings of cadmium, iron, gold, and zinc often use cyanide compounds. Cyanide is typically found complexed with plating metals, or as sodium cyanide or potassium cyanide, which is added to the bath.” (source)

How can the average consumer make sure the water in their well has not fallen victim to an (un)announced industrial accident or poor enforcement of cyanide discharge laws from local industry? 

Recently a company came out with a presence/absence test for cyanide that has a sensitivity as low as 0.2ppm and as high as 1,700ppm for free dissolved cyanide:

* Cyanide Emergency Test Kit – This kit utilizes EPA/ETV Test Verified chemistry and makes testing for the presence of cyanide in drinking water as simple as dipping two strips in a vial and seeing if the second strip turns colors.  A change in color on the test area of the second strip indicates the presence of cyanide in the sample.

* eXact^® Strip Cyanide – For those who need more precise numbers when testing for the presence of cyanide in water, the makers of the above kit also offer a cyanide detection kit designed to accurately determine cyanide concentrations in effluents and surface waters.  The eXact^® Strip Cyanide Kit requires as little as two minutes for cyanide colorimetric analysis and has a detection range of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 5, >10, >20, <200 ppm (mg/L).

Both kits use the same laboratory tested chemistry and yield reliable, repeatable results.  If you worry about, or suspect, the possible introduction of cyanide into your drinking or well water by local industry, then these kits will help you to quickly and easily put those fears to bed or determine that you might want to investigate further using a certified laboratory’s more advanced testing methods.

Most people hear and about cyanide and think of the toxic gas used in gas chambers, but few know just how easily they could locate cyanide in their everyday life if they looked a bit closer.

Cigarette smoke acts as a common source of cyanide that most of us encounter on a daily basis. The cores of peach pits also contain a measurable quantity of cyanide. Want proof? Pick up a Cyanide Science Fair Kit and see for yourself.

For those of you with more lofty and/or scientific cyanide testing objectives, take a look at Cyanide ReagentStrip^TM test kit. Common uses for this kit include testing runoff water leaving metal plating companies and testing the output water from wastewater treatment plants.

Does quick and dirty cyanide testing exist?

Terrorist actions worldwide have spawned fears of chemical attacks and the spiking of public water supplies with cyanide. As a result of these fears, the demand for a fast, reliable presence/absence cyanide test arose.

Soldiers, environmental protection groups, water system operators, emergency responders, healthcare professionals, and others now rely upon fast, accurate presence-absence water testing kits such as the Cyanide Emergency Test Kit to warn them instantly if water in their presence contains between 0.2 ppm to 1700 ppm free cyanide.

For more information on this product, please visit www.sensafe.com or call Industrial Test Systems, Inc. at 800-861-9712 for more details.