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.

A neighborhood in the Stamford, CT has wondered about the safety of a piece of property for a while. Now they have has serious reason to question all past actions taken to protect them from the toxins which they believe lie under its soil… and even more reason to plan for a way to deal with those toxins in the future — since they have turned up in a number of local homeowners’ wells.

North Stamford Concerned Citizens for the Environment formed last fall when homeowners near Stamford’s Scofieldtown Park learned their well water was tainted with banned pesticides. The same toxins had been found in the soil of the park, which was built on a former industrial landfill. Many in the area believed commercial waste from the site had leached into the ground water, and they decided to act.

…

Though the EPA had been monitoring the park since 1996 and locals had been complaining about it for a good 10 years prior, Lauricella discovered little had been done.” The reports I was able to unearth showed that the city, state and federal government all let this inquiry fall through the cracks,” she says.

“Over time, there were people who raised various issues,” states Ben Barnes, Stamford’s former Director of Operations. “I don’t think the city ignored them particularly.” Barnes himself spent the waning months of the Dannel Malloy administration dealing directly with the well contamination and investigating the history of Scofieldtown.

Barnes explains the former landfill is subject to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (better known as Superfund), and that prompted testing by the EPA. But the agency’s findings placed Scofieldtown in a nebulous area between an ecological disaster that qualified for a massive amount of federal intervention and an old, abandoned dump that was determined to be “clean enough.” ( source )

If the term ‘clean enough’ used in reference to a potentially hazardous site where hazardous chemicals more than likely found their final(?) resting place does not scare you, then what will? At least in this case the government has decided to step in, as the article mentions later on, but what about all the years before when children played in that park and those chemicals may have found their way into local wells unnoticed?

Something to think about: Even the best intentions of the most honest water quality inspectors go to waste when politics and budgets get involved… and the same goes for the intentions of most homeowners when the subject of decreasing property values comes up.

Testing for Pesticides in Well and Drinking Water…

Most of your traditional at-home drinking water test kits and well water test kits will not contain a test for pesticides for a number of reasons including keeping costs down and the fact that a kit would have to contain way too many different, and often times complicated, testing supplies one would need to test for the 1,000’s of commonly (and uncommonly) used pesticides in the world.

While you can test for two VERY commonly used pesticides, atrazine and simazine, using an at-home pesticides test kit, having your water tested by a certified water testing laboratory like National Testing Labs will provide you with a much better picture of your water’s safety by letting you know if it contains 20 different pesticides, herbicides and PCB’s.

Who would have ever thought that an international water tasting event would take place… in West Virginia? Certainly not anyone here at Water Testing Blog, but then again, we never claimed to know everything… and we never will.

February 27, 2010 – A municipal water from the Ohio was named Best Municipal Water in the World during the 20th annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting.

Tap water from Hamilton, OH, beat out 43 global competitors to win first place. Last year Hamilton’s water was named best in the United States.

Waters were tasted in four separate flights over two days. 12 judges spent Saturday afternoon and evening tasting finalists in four categories: municipal, bottled, sparkling and purified drinking water.

About 200 people attended Saturday evening’s competition at Berkeley Springs’ The Country Inn. Audience members voted on which waters had the best packaging.

Best Municipal Water 2010

• Best in the World — Hamilton, Ohio
• 2nd place – Beaver Falls, British Columbia
• 3rd – Greenwood, British Columbia
• 4th – Lansing, MI
• 5th – Daytona Beach, FL (gold medal winner in 2005)

Best Bottled Water 2010

• 1st–Ecoviva, Roscommon, MI
• 2nd – Eldorado Natural Spring Water, Eldorado Springs, CO
• 3rd — Almost Heaven, Manassas,VA bottling Berkeley Springs water
• 4th – Denton Spring Water, North East, MD bottling Berkeley Springs water
• 5th – Real Water, Las Vegas, NV

Best Sparkling — 2010

• 1st– Dobra Voda Sparkling, Kratovo, Macedonia
• 2nd — Canadian Gold, Marchand, Manitoba, Canada
• 3rd – Touch Sparkling Spring Water, Marchand, Manitoba
• 4th – Antipodes, Whakatane, New Zealand
• 5th – Pian della Mussa, Village Baime, Italy

Purified Drinking Water — 2010

• 1st – Kittiwake Pure Water, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 2nd – Crystal Mountain Water, Huntsville, Alabama
• 3rd — Berkeley Springs Purified Water, Berkeley Springs, WV
• 4th — Claire Baie, Oak Creek, WI
• 5th – Ultra Pure Reverse Osmosis Purified Water, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Best Packaging — 2010

• 1st – Bling H2O, Los Angeles, CA
• 2nd – Deep Origin, Whakatane, New Zealand
• 3rd – Climax Spring Water, Huntsville, Alabama
• 4th – Ecoviva, Roscommon, MI (a 100% biodegradable bottle and winner gold medal as best bottled water in the world.)
• 5th – Callaway Blue Spring Water, Hamilton, Georgia

( source )

For those of us not able to find products from the aforementioned winning companies in our local grocery stores, and/or people who refuse to support the bottled water industry, other ways to get safe, clean drinking water exist.

While very critical to monitor water quality parameters such as pH, what happens when one group’s tests indicate that a body of water has a ‘problem’ with its pH level and another group’s readings indicate the exact opposite?

People in Gastonia, NC will get the chance to live out that exact scenario in the coming weeks.

Gastonia’s resident water treatment guru is questioning a state study that has added Mountain Island Lake to a list of “impaired” waterways.

The N.C. Division of Water Quality recently identified 21 lakes and streams that have undesirable pH levels. Mountain Island Lake — the main water source for Gastonia and Charlotte — was one of eight sections of the Catawba River to make the list.

State officials took 34 water samples in the lake between 2006 and 2008, and four of those showed the water was slightly acidic. Acidic water isn’t harmful to drink, though it threatens fish and other aquatic life.

But Ed Cross, Gastonia’s division manager of water treatment, said the state’s findings stand in stark contrast to what local readings have shown for more than a decade.

“I was kind of stunned by it myself,” Cross said Wednesday. “We’ve got a summary of 12 years worth of testing data, and there’s no indication of this anywhere.”

The federal Clean Water Act requires that states evaluate public waterways every two years to ensure they are safe for boating and swimming, drinking or other uses. That spurred the study from 2006 to 2008, said Susan Massengale of the Division of Water Quality.

Scientists determine whether water is acidic or basic using pH readings. Pure water is neutral, with a pH of 7. Levels above that are alkaline, while readings below it are acidic.

Of the 34 samples taken from Mountain Island Lake, four came back with a pH level slightly below 6, with the lowest at 5.7. By federal law, if 10 percent or more of the samples are outside the desired threshold, the waterway is deemed “impaired,” Massengale said.

Four out of 34 equates to 11 percent, meaning Mountain Island Lake barely made the impaired list, she said.

“So that’s when we start looking at possible sources of impairment,” said Massengale. “At this point, we’re seeing these acidic results in other mountainous areas of North Carolina.”

Acid rain and increased runoff from construction and development may have caused the higher acidity in some areas, she said. The recent, regional drought may have also been to blame.

But the findings still perplex Cross. Gastonia takes a minimum of three water samples a day from the lake, which has amounted to several thousand samples over the last 12 years, he said. All of the samples are tested by a certified laboratory with standardized, calibrated instruments, he said.

Based on those readings, the lake’s average pH level has ranged between 7.1 and 7.5 — slightly alkaline.

“I don’t know, if you hold 34 samples in your left hand and 10,000 in your right hand, whether you judge them equally,” Cross said.

Officials with Charlotte’s water treatment division could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But Cross said he plans to make sure state leaders know of the discrepancy in testing data, before the recent figures are accepted as fact.

“I can assure you we will file our data and comments,” he said.

Massengale said she can only vouch for what the state found. While the levels don’t indicate an immediate health risk, officials will continue trying to determine the cause, she said.

“All I know is we’ve got 34 data points and four of them show the pH was low,” she said. “Barely low by the standard, but low.

“We need to pay attention to that.” ( source )

So… two knowledgeable groups have conflicting data about the waterway’s pH levels. Now what? We predict that a number of meetings will take place and in the end that no one on either side will come out smelling like roses.

The waterway, on the other hand, will most likely not receive any of the attention needed to figure out WHY pH levels came up differently for the two groups.

In the end, and as usual, ultimate responsibility for monitoring the quality of the water people drink, bathe in, swim in, and use for many other purposes falls on the end users.

If we had a dollar for every time we got asked the first question below, we’d all drive expensive cars and dine on lobster for lunch… instead of taking the bus and eating Ramen Noodles every day.

T_RadioMan in Clifton Park, NY asked…

Why do I always get staining in my sinks? Is my well water polluted? Is it dangerous?

Slow down, killer. Slow down. One question about the quality of your water at a time, OK?

Staining… of fixtures often happens when water contains dissolved metals. Have you tested your water for metals?

• Iron in Water — may leave brown, yellow and/or orange stains in sinks and on fixtures

• Manganese in Water — may leave dark brown, black or deep purple stains in sinks and on fixtures

• Copper in Water — may leave blue, green or dark stains in sinks and on fixtures

Polluted… drinking water may not ever show any signs of contamination. Only testing the water will tell you if your water contains dangerous contaminants and if you know nothing about the quality of the water, it definitely makes sense to opt for a thorough water quality analysis conducted by a qualified laboratory such as National Testing Laboratories or a local laboratory w/ similar qualifications.

National Testing Laboratories offers three levels of certified drinking water testing and their customers get test results within two weeks.

• WaterTest Basic tests for 27 water quality parameters

• WaterCheck test for 83 water quality parameters

• WaterCheck w/ Pesticides tests for 97 water quality parameters

Dangerous… water also may not show any obvious signs of it malignant nature so having testing performed by a qualified laboratory to find out if the water contains harmful contaminants or a dangerously low/high pH makes sense if you know nothing about the water and have ‘problems’ with it such as skin irritation, staining of fixtures, foul odor, nasty taste, or unexplainable recurring gastrointestinal troubles.

To conclude, T_RadioMan, you really won’t ever know the cause of your water woes until you get that water of yours checked out by a certified water testing laboratory.

Recently the North Carolina State Department of Environment and Natural Resources discovered it may have reason to test groundwater near a gas station whose tanks, they suspected, may have started leaking. While they didn’t find the chemicals they expected, they certainly did find chemicals in the water.

They found tetrachloroethylene in a family’s well water in Randolph County, North Carolina.

Staley, NC — When the North Carolina State Department of Environment and Natural Resources tested neighborhood well water in Randolph County, they were looking for petroleum leaks from a run down gas station, but they didn’t find any. What they did stumble upon was another dangerous chemical. A chemical used for either dry cleaning or cleaning grease off of auto parts.

“Every time I go to wash my hands, I just think, what more damage is that going to do to my body?” says Andrea Falk. The dangerous chemical, tetrachloroethylene, was found her homes well water weeks ago. She says ever since she got her letter from the state about her bad water, she’s been paranoid, “It said that there was a dangerous amount of the tetrachloroethylene. It said don’t use it for any household uses including dishwashing, clothes washing, bathing yourself, drinking, brushing teeth and flushing the toilet. I mean you can’t use it at all. There is no usable water in this house.”

Wayne Jones, the environmental health supervisor for Randolph County said the state notified him of the chemical and this week a second test confirmed the contamination of the dangerous substance, ” It’s a very nasty chemical, but it takes a long time to be classified as a known carcinogen and there has just not been that much testing. But it is a pretty nasty chemical that is suspected to be a carcinogen.”

But Falk has been using it the past four years, and now she’s beginning to question her change in skin and hair. “You kind of wonder, is it the house? Is it the water?,” she says, “We are a small little community here. We’re out in the middle of nowhere. There might be 20, 40 families right in this area. Who knows how far it could be affected.”

The Randolph County Health Department is working with state agencies to investigate this contamination because they don’t know where the source of the chemical is or how far it’s reach extends.

July 1, 2008 is the first time North Carolina started it’s state-wide well water testing. If your well was tested before this date, the Randolph County Health Department says it isn’t likely the water was tested for this chemical. ( source )

What is Tetrachloroethylene?

According to Wikipedia, “Tetrachloroethylene is an excellent solvent for organic materials. Otherwise it is volatile, highly stable, and nonflammable. For these reasons, it is widely used in dry cleaning. Usually as a mixture with other chlorocarbons, it is also used to degrease metal parts in the automotive and other metalworking industries. It appears in a few consumer products including paint strippers and spot removers.” ( source )

If you suspect that your well water may contain unwanted contaminants like tetrachloroethylene, at-home drinking water test kits such as the WaterSafe All-In-One and the SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit will not test for anything beyond the basic water quality parameters. You will need to seek assistance from a certified water testing laboratory such as National Testing Laboratories.

As a general rule, the Unites States Environmental Protection Agency sets guidelines and tells individual States that they may not set their own guidelines in a less stringent manner. States may, however, establish and enforce more restrictive guidelines when it comes to environmental issues.

In this case, however, it appears as though the USEPA has deemed Florida’s environmental laws pertaining to the disposal of compounds containing nitrogen and phosphorous too lax and not enforced heavily enough.

TALLAHASSEE — In a move cheered by environmental groups, the federal government on Friday proposed stringent limits on “nutrient” pollution allowed to foul Florida’s waterways.

The ruling — which will cost industries and governments more than a billion dollars to comply — marks the first time the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has intervened to set a state’s water-quality standards.

“I’m thrilled,” said Linda Young, director of the Clean Water Network, an advocacy group. “It is something that will ultimately start restoring Florida’s waters.”

The agency issued the proposed regulations after reaching a settlement in August with five environmental groups that sued the federal government in 2008 for not enforcing the Clean Water Act in Florida.

The caps on phosphorus and nitrogen levels in Florida’s lakes, rivers, streams, springs and canals would replace the state’s vague “narrative” approach to monitoring the effects of waste and fertilizer runoff, which the EPA deemed insufficient. The proposed rule includes provisions giving the EPA oversight authority to enforce the standards. ( source )

As one would expect, though, not everyone applauds the EPA’s involvement…

But a coalition of agriculture and industry groups – which formed two months ago to oppose the EPA rules – responded quickly by calling the proposed limits a “water tax.”

“This terrible regulation is not needed because Florida nutrient standards are perfectly adequate,” said Jim Alves, a lobbyist who represents power companies and wastewater utilities. “The science isn’t there to do this regulation.”

Barney Bishop, the president of Associated Industries of Florida, said the cost – which his group estimates at more than $50 billion – would hurt business recruitment and job creation.

“It’s onerous, stupid, ridiculous and idiotic,” he said.

Ever since the lawsuit settlement, political officials and special interests have waded into the debate. Gov. Charlie Crist, Attorney General Bill McCollum and Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Bronson previously voiced strong objections and suggested the state might sue the EPA.

The issue is expected to generate intense political debate ahead of three public hearings throughout the state in February. The final rule takes effect in October. ( source )

No matter whose side you agree with and/or side with, the fact remains that large amounts of agricultural runoff containing phosphorous, nitrates, nitrites and other compounds capable of damaging Florida’s waterways will continue until the State of Florida tightens up its enforcement or the EPA steps in and attempts to tighten up enforcement in a different, probably less friendly manner.

In the meantime, individuals can check the quality of their own water using simple, at-home drinking water test kits. Granted these drinking water test kits will not take the place of water tests conducted by certified water testing laboratories, but they will do a great job of helping people keep an eye on some critical water quality parameters.

Well Driller Master Test Kit

Each Well Driller Master Test Kit includes the following tests:

• 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 Test Strips
• 50 Copper Test Strips
• 2 Lead in Water Tests
• 2 Pesticide Tests
• 1 bottle of Bacteria Test

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.

Over the past few years we have published a number of articles on the topic of arsenic in drinking water, well water, groundwater, etc. Today we learned that a site dedicated to various arsenic test kits from the Arsenic Quick™ brand has gone ‘live’. You can view it here at www.ArsenicQuick.com.

Below you will find links locations on www.ArsenicQuick.com which contain information about and links to Arsenic Quick™ test kits offered by (3) three different
online merchants: Filters Fast, Filter Water and Test Products.

• Arsenic Quick™ at FilterWater.Com
• Arsenic Quick™ at FiltersFast.Com
• Arsenic Quick™ 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

No one likes to hear the words ‘cancer’ or ‘tumor’… especially when discussing the health of children. Unfortunately for the residents of a Florida community, those words and children have gone together way too often.

Health officials now suspect that elevated levels of radon in the area’s drinking water may have played a part in causing at least a dozen cases of brain cancer or brain tumors and have started testing water from area wells, interviewing residents, and conducting in-depth environmental testing.

THE ACREAGE — Health officials will roll out more environmental tests to determine whether a common factor — radon — could be the cause of a suspected cancer cluster in The Acreage.

The Palm Beach County Health Department plans to screen for the radioactive gas in the homes of a dozen families whose children were diagnosed with brain tumors or brain cancer in recent years.

…

Investigators would complete the radon tests within the next few weeks, after health officials wrap up a month of exhaustive interviews with families of the dozen Acreage children who were diagnosed with brain tumors or brain cancer from 1993 to 2008.

Radium produces radon — a radioactive gas, known to cause lung cancer — when it decays in rocks, soil and water. If elevated levels of radon are found in a home, that could indicate that sources of excessive radiation exist.

Based on samples they took randomly from 50 Acreage homes last year, state environmental officials concluded that some homes in The Acreage have wells with elevated levels of radium and other radioactive substances, which could be from natural causes. ( source )

Below you will find links to other articles on the topic of radon in the air, radon in the water, ways to test for radon and ways to get rid of radon:

• Radon Gas Can Kill Whole Families… Slowly
• Test Kits for Radon in Water and Radon in Air
• Radon Test Kits (for New Jersey)
• Radon Removal Systems