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.

While the debate over public water system fluoridation rages on,

    – Arsenic and Fluoride Still a Problem

    – Fluoride Exposure Linked to Sperm Damage

    – Fluoride in Drinking Water Facts

    – More Information on Fluoride in Drinking Water

… more and more people install filters to remove fluoride in their homes, offices and places of business.

While some fluoride removal systems use replaceable filter cartridges and/or reverse osmosis membranes, larger units and whole house systems use special filtration media that must get replaced every so often.

A good quality fluoride removal water filter media will work using both adsorption and chemical reaction and not rely exclusively on an ion exchange reaction only.

The newest fluoride removal water filter media carried by FilterWater.Com contains a synthetic aluminum oxide adsorbent media, a resin designed specifically to have a high affinity for Fluoride, Lead and Arsenic.

Do they make a test kit consumers can use to test fluoride levels in drinking water?

Once again we find ourselves drawn back to the eXact Micro 7+ Water Testing Meter which tests for up to 36 different water parameters… including fluoride.

With regard to detection levels of fluoride, the eXact Micro 7+ Meter detects as low as 0.1 ppm fluoride and as high as 1.1 ppm fluoride. The USEPA has set the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for fluoride at 4.0 ppm.

Chemistry method used: “SPADNS”

For water containing levels in excess of 1.1 parts per million the manufacturer of the meter suggests diluting the sample with distilled or deionized water.

Also, please note that the basic eXact Micro 7+ Meter Kit does not include the reagent required for fluoride testing. You can find that available on the manufacturer’s web site

I have well water so I’m safe, right?

Even your water comes from a well, fluoride may still show up in your water supply because it can erode from natural deposits in the Earth and it may also enter the environment as discharge from fertilizer and aluminum factories.

Going to the tap on the front of the refrigerator instead of the using the faucet may not do you any favors when it comes to filling your glass with better, safer drinking water. The water line running to the tap on your refrigerator typically comes straight from the wall… so the quality of the water coming from the refrigerator will match the quality of the water coming out of any other faucet in your home.

While some newer refrigerators do come with inline filters for water and ice cubes, some do not. Check your manual to see if your refrigerator came with some sort of inline refrigerator water filtration unit. If it did, and you have not changed the filter in a long time — or perhaps ever — you may want to consider doing that real soon.

Some filters do not simply clog up when they become full. Instead, some clogged water filters allow unfiltered water to bypass their filtration media. That unfiltered water winds up floating in your iced tea and/or crystallized in your ice cubes. Not a very appetizing thought, right?

As always, before toy invest in a water filtration system of ANY kind, make sure you get your water tested by a certified water testing laboratory such as Suburban Water Testing Labs, Inc. and perform routine at-home water quality tests to make sure the filtration system you purchased continues to do its job correctly.

Some people believe they have to sacrifice creature comforts such as a ‘cool’ showerhead that gives the sensation of standing in the rain if they want to install a shower filter that will reduce chlorine taste, chlorine odor and water harness. Those people clearly have not done their research!

After only a short web search we located a rain simulating showerhead manufactured by Paragon Water that has a built-in (replaceable) filter good for 10,000 gallons of shower water.

The filter uses a mixture of KDF and proprietary media to filter out impurities in the water. KDF stands for ‘Kinetic Degradation Fluxion’ and contains a high-purity copper-zinc formulation which uses a chemical process known as redox (oxidation/reduction) to reduce chlorine, lead, mercury, iron, and hydrogen sulfide levels in water.

For folks who may have other water quality issues, health officials and water professionals suggest using KDF shower or other point-of-use KDF filters in conjunction with other water purification methods since KDF filters alone will not remove potentially harmful contaminants such as bacteria, viruses, fluoride, and nitrates.

Despite USEPA rulings that municipal (city) water systems must keep fluoride levels in drinking water under 4 ppm (parts per million) and arsenic levels in drinking water under 10 ppm some smaller communities have not yet come into compliance.

As an example,

Newdale is facing drinking water quality issues because of arsenic and fluoride levels in the water supply that do not meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency water quality standards.

…

Testing over the past several years showed average arsenic levels at 10.8 parts per billion, and the level has been as high as 15 parts per billion.

The city’s level of fluoride in the water supply has consistently averaged about 4.8 parts per million over the last several years.

The state DEQ has ranked Newdale as the first priority in the state for drinking water improvements. ( source )

Efforts to remedy the solution have begun in Newdale and many other areas but the fact remains that many people still consume levels of fluoride and arsenic considered dangerous by health officials.

People living in smaller communities served by older water systems and well ought to consider testing their water periodically for things such as bacteria, arsenic and other critical water parameters. Smaller towns have smaller budgets and remediation for arsenic costs a lot of money. Sometimes a lot more money than a small town can afford.

Thankfully, though, State and Federal agencies across the country have recognized smaller communities’ needs for assistance when it comes to cleaning up their drinking water and made funding available for that purpose.

To take advantage of an offer of loan money from the state of Idaho with federal stimulus funds, the Newdale City Council voted on June 24 to see if the project could be approved through judicial confirmation, a quicker process than a bond election.

…

In his finding of fact and conclusions of law Moeller wrote: “The Idaho Supreme Court has held that the impact of a proposed expenditure on public safety is fundamental to the determination of whether a project is necessary. … If the expense is necessary to protect the health and safety of the inhabitants of the municipality, it is both ‘ordinary and necessary.’” ( source )

As usual, we suggest that anyone suspecting life-threatening drinking water contamination have their water tested by a certifed water testing laboratory. For routine testing, though, one can use at-home drinking water test kits such as the Water Quality Test Kit or the WaterSafe All-In-One Test Kit.

For people interested in testing their drinking water for arsenic, we suggest using one of the Arsenic Quick Test Kits. Below we have listed some of their smaller, more affordable field arsenic test kits.

Arsenic in Water Test Kit <1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 20, 25, 30, 40, >50, >80, >120, >160 ppb (481303-5) Perform 5 Tests, Results in 14 Minutes	481303-5
Arsenic in Water Test Kit 0, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 & >500 ppb (481396-5) Perform 5 Tests, Results in 12 Minutes	481396-5
Arsenic in Water Test Kit 0, 0.3, 0.7, 1.0, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 20 & >20 ppb (481300-5) Perform 5 Tests, Results in 12 Minutes	481300-5
Arsenic in Water Test Kit 0, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 & >500 ppb (481396-2) Perform 2 Tests, Results in 12 Minutes	481396-2

More on Arsenic and Testing for Arsenic:

• Arsenic in Upstate NY Wells
• Testing Arsenic in Salt/Brackish Water
• Arsenic Exposure Linked to Lower Influenza Resistance
• Testing for Arsenic in Wood and on Playgrounds
• Possible Link Between Arsenic Exposure and Diabetes

More on Fluoride and Fluoride Testing:

• Fluoride Exposure Linked to Sperm Damage
• Removing Fluoride From Drinking Water
• Why Test for Fluoride in Drinking Water
• Fluoride in Drinking Water Facts
• Filters to Remove Fluoride From Drinking Water

As usual, we begin looking into a water quality topic and we uncover all sorts of interesting information… such as studies linking exposure to fluoride and damage to sperm, reduced sperm count, etc.

High doses of fluoride have repeatedly been found to interfere with the reproductive system of animals. Commonly observed effects in fluoride-exposed animals include: oxidative stress, damaged sperm, reduced sperm count, and reduced fertility. ( source )

Yes, the author of that quote did say ‘high doses’. After reading the article we naturally wanted to know if low doses of fluoride exposure could have detrimental effects as well. Thankfully some other folks also had the same question.

When given at high doses, fluoride has been found to damage virtually any tissue in the body, whether it be the thyroid, the brain, or the reproductive system. On this, there is now little debate. What is still disputed, however, is whether low levels of fluoride can also cause harm. Towards this end, it will be important for researchers conducting animal studies in the future to put greater focus on low-level effects than has heretofore been the case. In 2007, two research teams did this, in separate investigations of how fluoride ingestion may affect sperm function.

The two studies examined the effect of water fluoride concentrations ranging from 1 to 10 ppm. Since rats and mice are significantly more tolerant to fluoride than humans, 1 to 10 ppm represents a notably low level of fluoride for these animals. It has been estimated, for example, that rats are 5 times less sensitive to fluoride than humans (Turner 1996), and thus a 4.5 ppm concentration would be roughly equivalent to 1 ppm for humans, while 10 ppm fluoride would be roughly equivalent to 2 ppm. It is striking, therefore, that these 2 studies found damaging effects of fluoride on sperm at these levels. ( source )

What does this mean to couples struggling to have a baby? Get your water tested for fluoride and if your results come back positive, you may want to consider installing a fluoride removal system in your home.

While the experts may disagree on the benefits and health issues offered by fluoridated drinking water, the fact remains that lots of people do not want fluoride in their drinking water and want to know how to remove it and other potentially dangerous contaminants.

The following information (text) comes from the About.Com Chemistry Section.

Ways to Remove Fluoride from Water:

Reverse Osmosis Filtration — This is used to purify several types of bottled water (not all), so some bottled waters are unfluoridated. Reverse osmosis systems are generally unaffordable for personal use.

Activated Alumina Defluoridation Filter — These filters are used in locales where fluorosis is prevalent. They are relatively expensive (lowest price I saw was $30/filter) and require frequent replacement, but do offer an option for home water filtration.

Distillation Filtration — There are commercially available distillation filters that can be purchased to remove fluoride from water. On a related note: When looking at bottled water, keep in mind that ‘distilled water’ does not imply that a product is suitable for drinking water and other undesirable impurities may be present.

These Methods Do NOT Remove Fluoride:

Brita, Pur, and most other filters — Some websites about fluoride removal state otherwise, but I checked the product descriptions on the companies’ websites to confirm that fluoride is left in the water.

Boiling Water — This will concentrate the fluoride rather than reduce it.

Freezing Water — Freezing water does not affect the concentration of fluoride.

Before investing in a fluoride removal system, or any other water filtration system, you will want to have your water tested to see what contaminants your water contains. We always suggest using a certified water testing laboratory for this sort of thing but for those wishing to do water quality testing on their own, we suggest using a Water Testing Meter such as the eXact Micro 7+ which can test for many different critical water quality parameters and not just fluoride.

Technicians in a water testing laboratory use a chemical testing technique with the anacronym SPADNS to measure the fluoride content of a water sample. Traditionally this test involved the use of labware and chemicals not typically found outside of the laboratory. Therefore pretty much all fluoride in water testing took place in a laboratory setting.

Thanks to a recent breakthrough by the research and development team of Industrial Test Systems, Inc., laboratory technicians have an easier way to test using the SPADNS method — AND the average person can now test for the presence of fluoride in drinking water w/o having to send their water out to a laboratory.

Reasons to Care About Fluoride Levels in Drinking Water:

(1) Your Child’s Teeth — “A little fluoride is a good thing for your child’s teeth, but swallowing too much of it over time can lead to a condition called fluorosis that can cause white spots to show up on his adult teeth.” ( source )

(2) Experts Disagree — “There is a lot of information available about fluoride but the information is also sometimes conflicting. Some leads us to believe fluoride in drinking water is a good thing; and some says just the opposite! Even information in clear opposition claims to have solid scientific backing – how can this be? This situation led us to ask: How can a person make an informed decision about whether fluoride is good or bad when everything they hear is so conflicting?” ( source )

(3) Potential (Accidental) Over Exposure — “Even those who aren’t convinced of the toxicity of fluoride should be concerned about the level of fluoride added to the water supply. The optimum level was set in the 1940s at approximately 1 ppm (equal to 1 mg/l). This was based on assumptions that the total intake of fluoride would be 1 mg/day, assuming 4 glasses of water were drunk per day. However, current intake of fluoride comes not just from the water supply. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Iowa and reported in the November issue of the Journal of American Dental Association found that 71% of more than 300 soft drinks contained 0.60 ppm fluoride. Toothpaste, beverages, processed food, fresh fruits and vegetables, vitamins and mineral supplements all contribute to the intake of fluoride. It is now estimated that the total amount of fluoride ingested per day is 8 mg/day, eight times the optimum levels.” ( source )

Many more reasons exist, but for now just understand that experts disagree about the health effects of fluoride in drinking water, too much fluoride can and will damage teeth, and the possibility exists that we may currently get exposed to a lot more fluoride on a daily basis than we ought to.

With that in mind, anyone bothered that information ought to either get their water tested for fluoride content or consider taking advantage of the fluoride testing capabilities of the versatile eXact Micro 7+ Water Testing Meter.

No one in their right mind would argue that testing water for drinking, use in a pool, watering crops, etc. has to happen. One might, however, argue that using test strips and liquid test kits which require the user to match colors can lead to approximations and assumptions regarding critical water parameters such as pH, chlorine/bromine/sanitizer levels, alkalinity, total hardness, heavy metals, etc.

We all know what assumptions can lead to: Making an a## out of you and me.

No one wants to get sick from dirty or polluted water so when accuracy matters most, you may want to put down the test strips and liquid test kits and opt for a verstile water testing meter such as the eXact Micro 7+ which tests for NINE critical water parameters using direct read measurements and an additional TWENTY-SEVEN other important water parameters with the use of a conversion chart.

Features of the eXact Micro 7+ Water Testing Meter:

• Tests for 36 parameters in total

• Nine direct read parameters — Total Alkalinity, Bromine, Calcium Hardness, Free Chlorine, Total Chlorine, Copper, Ozone, Permanganate, and pH

• Twenty-Seven parameters using a conversion chart: Ammonia, Chloride (as NaCl), Chlorine Dioxide (DPD-1), Chromium Hexavalent, Cyanuric Acid, Fluoride, Hydrazine, Hydrogen Peroxide (Low, Mid and High Range), Iodine (DPD-1), Iron (Fe+2), Total Iron (Fe+2/Fe+3), LR Total Hardness (as CaCO3), Magnesium, Manganese, Nitrate (as NO3), Nitrite (as NO2), pH (Acid and Alkali), Potassium, Protein (as BSA), Sulfate, Sulfide, and Turbidity

• USEPA Compliant meter for Free & Total Chlorine — 0.01 ppm (mg/L) precision

• Built-in, permanent cell — no loose glass or plastic cells to lose

• Easy fill testing — Simply fill or dip meter into water

• Automatic countdown timer for accurate timing of testing

• 140 test memory — saves 20 tests per menu item

• Incorporates eXact® Strip technology — safe & reliable reagent dispersion

• No-slip grip housing — ideal for wet testing conditions

• Lightweight — weighs only 6 ounces w/ batteries installed

• Waterproof — IP-67 Rated and meter will float if dropped into water

• Easy-to-read LCD display — no color matching required

• Environmentally friendly — recyclable parts & uses 60% less reagents than 10mL sample tests

• Proprietary optics — allows for accurate testing without cap

• CE certification

Interested in learning how this device works? Check out the image below as it takes you through the steps of how to test w/ the eXact Micro 7+ Water Testing Meter.