Many have asked the difference between the different types of drinking water filters they could use in their homes, at work, or at school.

Activated Carbon Filter:

• Positively charged and highly absorbent carbon media in the filter attracts and traps many drinking water impurities.
• You will typically find these drinking water filter systems on countertops, as point-of-use faucet filters, and under the sink.
• A good system for eliminating bad tastes and odors and a well-rated activated carbon filter will filter out many hazardous contaminants such as heavy metals, disinfection byproducts (i.e. haloacetic acids and trihalomethanes to name a few), chlorine, radon, volatile organic chemicals, parasites, and pesticides.

Why Install a Reverse Osmosis Water Filter?

Many of our readers have asked questions about reverse osmosis drinking water filtration systems and want to know more about them. Hence the purpose and reason for this deviation from the normal subject matter in this Water Testing Blog entry.

“Today, people are increasingly concerned about the quality of the water that they consume. Under the best of conditions, it’s possible that water may contain hazardous contaminants, ranging from dissolved organic and inorganic materials, to suspended particles and microorganisms. If you live in a home with older pipes, you may also be exposed to lead in your water. Even the chemicals, like chlorine and fluoride, that many municipalities add to water to kill bacteria or to fight tooth decay may be harmful to humans. If such chemicals are not used, your water could be harboring deadly parasites. If you suspect your water may contain microorganisms, lead, or other contaminants, have your water tested.

To decrease their exposure to possible contaminants, many people drink and cook with bottled water or put distillers or disposable cartridge filters on their water supply lines and faucets. However, bottled water may not be any purer than the water taken from your faucet, distilled water requires boiling and tastes flat, and although charcoal filters improve the taste and remove odors from water, they do little to remove chemical contaminants and microorganisms. If you find your water is contaminated, choose the correct water filtration system to correct the problem.

Reverse osmosis (RO) is generally recognized as the best system for purifying water while retaining good taste. The EPA recommends reverse osmosis filters for microbiologically safe water. Yet, an RO system alone will still allow certain waterborne germs to pass through. To knock out these types of contaminates, most RO systems incorporate some additional type of filtering, usually a replaceable carbon post filter. ( source )”

For those looking to purchase a good quality reverse osmosis drinking water filtration system, please take a look at the reverse osmosis units offered by FilterWater.Com, the Water Filter SuperStore

If You Can Visually Detect Problems With Well Water…

• Scale or ’scum line’ from too many from calcium or magnesium salts in water. total hardness test kit
• Unclear, murky or turbid water caused by suspended solids such as dirt, clay salts, silt or rust in water. tds test kit | tds meter
• Green stains forming on sinks or faucets as a result of high acidity. pH test kit
• Brown-red stains forming on sinks and fixtures, in the dishwasher, or on washed clothes may indicate the presence of dissolved iron in water. total iron test kit
• Initially cloudy water that clears up completely if allowed to sit undisturbed for a few minutes may have had fine/small air bubbles injected in it by a poorly working pump or because of a problem with filters.

If an Unusual or New Taste is Detected in Well Water…

• A salty or brackish taste in the water typically results from a high sodium content. chloride test kit
• Presence of an alkali/soapy taste may come from dissolved alkaline minerals in water.
• Acidity or a high iron content may result in a metallic taste. pH test kit | total iron test kit
• Chemical tastes are known to come from industrial chemicals or pesticides. pesticides test kit

If an Unusual or New Odor is Detected in Well Water…

• A rotten egg odor may be the result of dissolved hydrogen sulfide gas or certain types of bacteria in your water. Note, though, that if you only notice the smell coming from hot water, it is more than likely coming from a part in your hot water heater. hydrogen sulfide test kit
• You may notice a detergent odor and/or foaming water of seepage from septic tanks has gotten into your well.
• A gasoline or oil smell indicates (obviously) that some form of fuel oil or gasoline has found its way from a tank into the water supply.
• Decaying organic matter can result in a methane gas or musty/earthy smell coming from the water.
• Excessive chlorination of a well, or not waiting long enough after shocking a well with chlorine (obviously) results in a chlorine smell coming from the water. free chlorine test kit | total chlorine test kit

As always, if you suspect that your well has gotten contaminated in any way, always consult with a trained water professional. Do-it-yourself home water test kits like Well Water Check, COMPLETE Water Test Kit and the Drinking Water Test Kit serve as excellent screening tools but they do NOT have the same amount of accuracy as the results you can get from a certified water testing laboratory. It’s your well, your water, and ultimately — your life.

People often ask about iron in drinking water.  It has the abilty to stain fixtures, clog certain types of filters, stain clothes, ruin the taste of food and beverages, cause water to have an unpleasant taste, etc.  It does not, however, at least according to the current Primary and Secondary Drinking Water Standards set forth by the USEPA, pose a health risk. 

Note: The USEPA has set the Maximum Contaminant Level for iron in drinking water at 0.3 ppm in their Secondary Drinking Water Standards, which deal more with aesthetic properties of water than with health-related issues.

Its presence in drinking and process water does annoy people, though, so knowing what types of iron may exist in a water supply has a bit of relevance. Below please find four types of iron commonly found in public and private water supplies:

• Ferrous — This form of iron results in the most complaints and reasons for examination of water for iron content.  If allowed to remain in a state with little oxygen present, this type of iron remains in solution and the water will appear colorless.  However, in the case of tap water allowed to remain in service lines coming from a well or other source, rust colored iron particles may begin to precipitate out of solution.  These particles obviously ruin water clarity and give the impression of unsafe drinking water.  Additionally, they clog certain types of water filtration systems and cause the owners of those water filtration systems to replace them well in advance of their expected replacement dates.  Water professionals often refer to this type of iron in water as ‘clear iron’.
• Ferric — This form of iron creates sediments ranging in color from riddish-brown all the way to black and the precipitates formed will not go back into solution.  Therefore they pose a great problem for water filtration systems.  Water professionals often refer to this form of iron in water as ‘red iron’.
• Iron Bacteria — While this form of bacteria does have the word ‘bacteria’ in it, it has no pathogenic properties and exists more as a nuisance than anything else.  You can expect to find this form of bacteria in drinking water showing up in soil, ground water, and surface water.  In a household environment you may encounter this form of bacteria lingering around the metal parts of plumbing fixtures and/or in dark areas such as spaces hidden under the toilet lid tank.  Appearance-wise this form of iron in drinking water can look like a slimy or gelatinous substance hanging in the water.  With regard to color, the substance will typically appear brown, red or sometimes even white.
• Organic Iron — This form of iron exists in a complexed form with a wide variety of different organic materials.  It typically has a yellow or brown appearance and shows up mainly in shallow wells and surface water.

If you want to test for iron, keep in mind that a lot of home water test kits will not detect total iron (Fe+2 and Fe+3).  Also keep in mind that even the total iron test kits do not detect iron bacteria or organic iron.  Therefore, when attempting to diagnose your water’s potential iron problems, make sure that you choose the proper test kit and/or certified laboratory testing service for your individual water testing needs.

What do we suggest as options for water testing when it comes to detecting iron in drinking water?  Companies such as National Testing Laboratories and MWH Laboratories offer nice packages of comprehensive water testing services which you may want to explore.

If you have only ferrous and ferric iron as your main concerns, then a simple home test kit for total iron (Fe+2/Fe+3) such as the new WaterWorks Total Iron visual test kit may work quite well.

Keep in mind, though, that nothing takes the place of a qualified laboratory analysis of your drinking water when/if you you feel your family’s safety is on the line.

Industrial Test Systems, Inc. (ITS), located in Rock Hill, SC, recently announce the release of its new WaterWorks^TM Total Iron visual test which detects ferric (Fe+3) as well as ferrous (Fe+2) forms of iron. They developed this test to make accurate total iron testing easier and possible without the use of a meter. Test times range around 3 minutes or less and require a very simple test procedure. See below:

WaterWorks^TM Total Iron

TEST PROCEDURE:

1. Add contents of one iron powder pillow to the supplied vial.
2. Fill the vial with water sample to top line.
3. Close the vial with the screw cap and shake for 20 seconds.
4. Wait 3 minutes for the color to develop.
5. Remove the cap.
6. Place vial in white circles and look down into the vial to match to the nearest color block, on the reverse side, to determine the iron concentration.

National Secondary Drinking Water Regulations, as set forth by the USEPA, recommend an iron level of no more than 0.3 ppm. Detection levels for the WaterWorks^TM Total Iron visual test are 0, 0.3, 0.5, 1, 3, 5 mg/L (ppm). The test kit contains 50 individually wrapped foil powder pillows, a test vial with cap, and a color chart card — everything you need to detect total iron in drinking water.

Interested in purchasing the WaterWorks^TM Total Iron visual test kit? Click here.

Thoughts of testing water for specific chemical parameters scares a lot of folks because they remember all the horrible nights they spent cramming for an upcoming Chemistry test in high school and/or college. Trust us when we say, “We feel your pain. Been there and done that.”

You should also trust us, though, when we say you don’t need complicated chemistry sets or highly specialized training to find out if your tap water contains dangerous levels of things like:

Worried about the quality of the drinking water in your home, office or school? Inexpensive, easy-to-use home water test kits are just a click or a phone call (800-861-9712) away!

Now, of course, should the results of your home water testing for key water parameters yield results above expected and/or acceptable limits, you will most certainly want to have a certified water professional perform more advanced tests on your drinking water and at no time should you rely on home water quality test kits if you have serious reason to suspect that your water contains know carcinogens or other life threatening contaminants. Leave that sort of testing up to the Water Testing Professionals in your area.

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.

For the longest time pool and spa owners had to rely on the chemical testing skills and expertise of their local pool and spa professionals but those days have passed. Now homeowners can test their own pool and spa water for metals — without having to take a year’s worth of chemistry courses!

* The Pool Check^TM Copper test strips offer fast, accurate test results for copper, pH and alkalinity at a reasonable cost.

* The Pool Check^TM Pro Metals test strips offer fast, accurate semiquantitative test results for ‘all’ metals at once. It does not specify which metal(s) it detects, but it does give pool owners a better idea of how much staining potential their pool water has.

* The eXact^R EZ pool and spa testing meter tests for many parameters including iron and copper.

* Other testing methods include using ‘wet’ chemistry kits from companies like Lamotte and Taylor, but they typically involve slightly more advanced testing techniques such as titrations. Wet kits also make use of messy liquids, difficult to dissolve tablets, and awkward powder pillows.

For those who suspect that their source water contains metals, the SenSafe^TM Metals Check test strip will work quite well. It detects the metals commonly found in tap water and well water and provides accurate metals testing results in under 3 minutes.

Can Metals Stains in Pools be Removed?

For the most part, yes. The task will take effort, though, in some cases.

Vinyl liners typically resist staining quite well but the stains that do set in will not come off without a fight. Pool owners must use sequestering compounds and/or chelating compounds which attach themselves to the metal stains/deposits and more or less pull them back into solution.

Owners of concrete and gunite pools suffer even worse fates when it comes to metals staining. Typically they must wash the stains away using diluted muriatic acid — and in some cases that means draining the pool completely before they can begin.

Due to the annoyance, expense and inconvenience associated with the removal of metals stains from pool liners and plastic fixtures, swimming pool professionals recommend testing for metals on a regular basis if the pool has a heater, uses a copper or silver ionizer, or has recently had water added to it that may have contained dissolved metals.

In most places a well must get ‘approved for use’ by a certified laboratory before a home or business owner may begin drawing water from it. Also, in a lot of places, a property cannot change hands w/o a certified test proving that the well intended to provide the property with water does not contain coliform bacteria or other harmful things.

But, did you know that in many states, once a well recieves the official ‘OK’ from a certified lab, they do not have to get check again — possibly EVER? Most states do NOT require well owners to have their water tested once it passes an initial test and all responsibility for illness, death or disease caused by the consumption of water from that well falls on the shoulders of the well owner.

As a general rule, Health Officials and Water Quality Professionals ’suggest’ that well owners test their own well water (or have it tested) at least once a year.

Why do health officials and organizations suggest well water testing on a yearly basis?

The level of water in the aquifer where a well draws its water from changes frequently with large amounts of rainfall or extended periods of drought. As it changes it possibly picks up new contaminants that form when certain types of rock either get exposed to oxygen or, in some cases, water for the first time in a long time.

As an example, Free Dissolved Arsenic can enter an aquifer after igneous (volcanic) rock gets covered back up by water after exposure to oxygen during a previous period of drought. A well owner would not know of a potentially harmful arsenic level in their well water unless they tested for arsenic periodically.

Can Well Owners Test Their Own Well Water Accurately and Easily?

Absolutely! Innovations in test strip technology from companies like Industrial Test Systems, Inc. have made at-home well water testing as simple as dipping a strip in a sample of the well water, removing it, waiting a few seconds for colors to develop, and then comparing the color(s) of the test pad(s)/area(s) on a provided color chart.

A great example of such a simple, do-it-yourself, at-home well water test kit goes by the name of Well Water Check Home Test Kit and it contains (2) tests for Iron, (2) tests for Total Hardness, (2) tests for pH, and (2) tests for Nitrogen/Nitrite as Nitrogen. (see below)

Well Water Check Home Test Kit

For those who want to dig a little deeper into the quality of their well water, the WaterWorks^TM 9-Way Test Kit quickly and accurately reports results for pH, Total Alkalinity, Nitrate/Nitrite as Nitrogen, Total Hardness, Free Chlorine, Total Chlorine, Iron, and Copper. (see below)

WaterWorks^TM 9-Way Home Well Water Test Kit

Still looking to test a few more parameters? The COMPLETE Water Test Kit offers well owners the ability to quickly and accurately test for Bacteria, Nitrates, Nitrites, Hydrogen Sulfide, Total Hardness, Total Alkalinity, Total Chlorine, Free Chlorine, Chloride, Copper, Sulfate, Iron, and pH. COMPLETE Water Test Kit gives its users rapid, comprehensive water test results at an affordable cost — MSRP of around $25 USD. (see below)

COMPLETE Home Well Water Test Kit

And finally, for the well water testing fanatic who wants to test their own well water as thoroughly as possible without having to buy electronic meters and/or send their well water out for certified laboratory analysis, you have the recently released Water Quality Test Kit. It may have a simple name, but it packs a powerful well water testing punch: 2) tests for Iron, (2) tests for Copper, (2) tests for Chloride, (2) tests for Nitrate/Nitrite as Nitrogen, (2) tests for Total Chlorine, (2) tests for Total Hardness, (2) tests for Free Chlorine, (2) tests for Sulfate, (2) tests for pH, (2) tests for Total Alkalinity, (2) tests for Hydrogen Sulfide, (1) Pesticide in Water test, (1) Lead in Water test, and (1) 48 Hour Presence/Absence test for Coliform Bacteria. If you’re looking for a do-it-all, do-it-yourself home water test that won’t break the bank, you should definitely take a long look at the aptly named Water Quality Test Kit — MSRP of around $40 USD.

Home Well Water Quality Test Kit

So there you have it, folks. . . Several fast, accurate and easy ways to test the quality of your water that won’t break the bank or require you to break out your old high school Chemistry books or borrow one of your children’s Chemistry books.

As usual, we suggest you visit the United States Environmental Protection Agency Safe Drinking Water for a detailed list of acceptable contaminant levels in potable water.

Everyone knows that water has the potential to carry a great number of things that can make us sick.  Water makes its way around the world picking up bacteria, man-made chemicals and other nasty things. . . but did you know that it also picks up and transfers metals that can cause birth defects, premature birth of babies, life-threatening conditions in adults, and other problems?

What metals could do all that?  Scientists debate that question quite often, but the point of the matter is that you don’t want ANY of the metals, debated or otherwise, in your water.

Sources of Metal Contamination in Drinking Water:

Metals find their way into your water supply in a number of ways.  While the water may have left its source (well, city reservoir, etc.) w/o metals in it, the instant it touched ANY metal it automatically picked up some ions — especially if you have an alkaline or acidic water condition.

Even if you think your house has all (new) PVC fittings and piping, keep in mind that your water provider does not use PVC piping to run the water from itself to your doorstep.  Oh, and those metal fittings called ‘faucets’ and the screens inside them contain metal as well. (reference)

So as you can see, consumers ought to consider doing a general test for metal ions their drinking water.  Critters such as aluminum, lead, cadmium and so forth can pop up from a number of sources and according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Health Professionals worldwide, people need to limit the amounts of metals they ingest.

Simple Test for Metals in Water:

Just a few short years ago consumers had to rely upon the ‘wisdom’ and ‘training’ of water system consultants (salesmen!) to tell them if they had metals in their drinking water. . . or they could shell out some serious dough and send their water off to a local lab for a complete and thorough analysis — which would tell them more information than they needed, yet wouldn’t tell them anything they could use to decide if they had problems with their water.

Thankfully those days have come to an end.  Consumers now have the option of testing their own drinking water for metals at a cost they can afford, and with an amount of ease they can tolerate.  Industrial Test Systems, Inc. offers a simple dip-n-read test strip for metals in water that detects levels as low as 10 ppb (typically RO water is at this level or lower) and as high as 1,000 ppb (1 ppm).

While SenSafe(TM) Water Metals Check will not tell you what metals you have, it does let you know that you may have a reason to have your water looked at by a water industry professional.