It seems that after years of complaining and the outcry for action seen on one man’s Facebook page, local authorities in Malverne finally found a way to force Long Island American Water Company’s hand — by having samples of water pulled from random homes in the area and tested by an outside, independent water testing laboratory.

We will let the article tell you the rest…

The results are in!

In response to the overwhelming amount of complaints from residents about the brown water coming from their tap, the Malverne Civic Association (ar)ranged for a handful of homes to go under the microscope.

Water samples were taken from five houses located on Oak Street, Scarcliffe Drive, Walker Street, Rider Avenue, and Nassau Boulevard in Malverne and sent to an H2M, an independent lab in Melville for testing.

Earlier this month Bill Varley, president of Long Island American Water, the utility that provides water to homes in Malverne and surrounding areas, announced that the results were in. (Days later, the company also finally put its $7.5 million iron treatment facility in Malverne into service.)

As promised, Varley shared the results with the Civic, including Tom Grech, the Malverne man who was instrumental in rallying residents to speak out about the issue using a Facebook page he created called “I Love Malverne…but hate the brown water (From LI Water).”

Residents were mostly concerned with the levels of naturally-occurring iron in their tap water. While the Nassau Count Department of Health does not recognize iron has a health hazard it does set standards for aesthetic reasons, since the iron can turn the water brown and even stain laundry.

The Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for total iron in cold water states that it should be less than 1.50 mg/L. None of the samples taken from homes in the village came close to hitting this limit. The highest level, 1.15 mg/L, was taken from a kitchen faucet in a home on Walker Street.

The samples also fell within the acceptable water color standards. None of them met the criteria for being considered “discolored” or odorous, and were within the pH range of 7.5 to 8.5 units that the health department recommends.

As for oxidized iron levels, there were a couple of samples that came back higher than the standards, but these are guidelines set forth by Long Island American Water itself and not any health agency.

…

While some residents reported having “very brown water” two days after the plant when into service, Varley said that homeowners could see the water look worse before it gets better. This is the result of reverse air flow that got into the system when they put the plant on line and is only temporarily. The company has been flushing hydrants around the neighborhood to counteract this.

It appears that some residents are now starting to see the benefits of the plant, reporting noticeable improvements in the color of their water.

One resident, commenting on the Facebook page, wrote, “I have run several baths for my kids over the last few days and the water has been the clearest I have ever seen it.”

Another added, “Mine too – not totally clear, but much clearer than I have seen in years!” ( source )

There you have it. Concerned citizens just like you decided they wanted change and through their diligent efforts they got it. When it comes to the safety of your drinking water, you, too have a say and your opinion DOES matter — but only if you speak up and don’t take ‘no’ for an answer.

Testing for iron in drinking water

First of all, not every iron in drinking water test kit does the same job. Some only test for ‘free dissolved iron‘ while others test for ‘total iron‘. Clearly we suggest testing for total iron, but in some instances testing for only dissolved iron does actually make sense.

If only one person used and owned the well tainted with arsenic, the responsibility for periodic testing for arsenic in drinking water and remediation of the well water (if needed) would fall on the shoulders of the well owner. Open and shut case.

What happens, though, when a small collection of users share the well and a third party owns the well?

Situations just like that happen all the time and recently some State lawmakers in California have decided to see what they can do to get safe drinking water into the homes of people currently in those situations.

Riverside County Supervisor John Benoit and state Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez toured mobile home parks across the eastern Coachella Valley Saturday, to better grasp the widespread problem of arsenic-contaminated groundwater there.

“We’re here to work together to try to solve these problems,” Pérez told about 40 residents at the 80-unit Sunbird park in Thermal. Thousands of east valley residents live in areas that potentially contain hazardous levels of arsenic in their groundwater, a recent Desert Sun report found.

“It’s just a matter of the political will” to provide those residents with safe drinking water, Pérez said.

The strategy likely will involve a mix of short- and long-term water fixes, officials said.

At the 96-unit St. Anthony’s mobile home park in Mecca, officials showed Benoit and Pérez a “reverse-osmosis” filter — resembling a more advanced kind of tap-water purifier — that could be installed at each trailer to remove the arsenic.

The filters, priced around $135 to $300 apiece, could serve as short-term solutions in large parks like St. Anthony’s while valley officials consider a proposed pipeline that will serve many east valley parks roughly from Vista Santa Rosa to Mecca, estimated to cost $22 million.

Such a pipeline is years away, though, given the economic recession and budget deficits, officials said.

The reverse osmosis filters could be a permanent fix for the arsenic woes at smaller, remote parks to the southeast, where it’s not feasible to connect to the Coachella Valley Water District’s water supply, said Sergio Carranza, a longtime advocate for east valley water issues.

…

The local lawmakers also toured Desert Mobile Home Park, known as “Duroville,” where several thousand residents still drink water from wells testing at 26 parts per billion arsenic levels, officials there said. State and federal officials say water testing above 10 parts per billion is unsafe if ingested regularly over decades.

…

After the tour, Benoit and Pérez agreed that to solve the east valley’s arsenic problem, valley officials and water agencies first must unite under a regional water quality board.

That would give the area access to more grants and funding, to help ensure thousands of east valley residents have clean, arsenic-free drinking water, they said.

St. Anthony’s resident Francisco Mendez said he’s lived at the park for about 25 years, and he worries how the park’s arsenic-contaminated water might affect his four children, ages 5 months to 12 years.

Mendez said he was encouraged by the lawmakers’ visit and that safe conditions at the park are long overdue.

“We’re people who work in the fields, in construction,” Mendez said. “We pay taxes. We have rights.” ( source )

It may take a while for programs to get set up for those people and others like them but at least someone with a little political power has taken an interest in their situation. Hopefully the necessary changes in policy (and enforcement) won’t take too long and become a reality.

Testing Your Well Water for Arsenic

we cannot emphasize enough that the responsibility for the quality of the water coming from a private well rests solely with the well’s owner and that public policy set forth by the USEPA in no way, shape or form applies to private wells. In other words, if your well water has arsenic concentrations greater than 10ppb, no one from the government will send you a warning letter telling you about the problem.

The USEPA, health officials, and well water organizations all suggest that well owners have their water tested annually for contaminants — including arsenic.

Options for Arsenic in Well Water Testing

As usual we will tell you that no form of drinking water testing can, or should ever, take the place of drinking water testing performed by a certified water testing laboratory if you have good reason to suspect that dangerous levels of contaminants may have gotten into your water supply.

For all other times though, a simple at-home drinking water test kit from the Arsenic Quick line of field-ready arsenic test kits may work just fine.

Arsenic Quick test kits claim to have the shortest testing time on the market, an independently verified testing procedure, the simplest test instructions, and the safest reagents.

You can find more information about Arsenic Quick test kits on the following web sites:

• www.ArsenicQuick.com
• www.Arsenic-Test-Kit.com

Some people live in older homes where the plumbing may still contain copper and/or lead pipes. If the water entering those residences has a low pH value, meaning the water is acidic, the possibility definitely exists that the water may corrode the piping and pull dissolved and potentially dangerous amounts of metals into itself.

Maximum Contaminant Levels

For copper, the USEPA suggests that people ingest drinking water containing no more than 1.3ppm (mg/L) of free dissolved copper. Health officials have determined that short term exposure to high levels of dissolved copper in drinking water can cause gastrointestinal distress and that long term exposure can result in liver and/or kidney damage.

When it comes to maximum contaminant level for lead in drinking water, the USEPA set the limit at 15ppb. Routinely ingesting higher quantities of lead in water may result in delays in physical or mental development and in infants and children. Problems with attention span have also resulted. In the case of adults ingesting higher than acceptable amounts of lead in drinking water, kidney problems and high blood pressure have resulted.

Acidic Water Causes Other Problems

Not treating, or correcting the pH of, acidic water can result in costly corrosion problems in plumbing and it may also drastically shorten the life expectancies equipment that uses water such as dishwashers, washing machines, hot water heaters, etc.

Treating Acidic Water

If you have acidic water and wish to treat it, installing a device such as a Whole House Acid Neutralizing Water Filter will help to keep your water’s pH level in an acceptable range.

The Acid Neutralizing Water Filter works by slowly dissolving calcium carbonate into water with a pH level below 6.8. The dissolved calcium carbonate acts as a pH increaser.

According to the manufacturer of this unit, Crystal Quest, the calcium carbonate media in the tank will last approximately 2 to 3 years and the system has a backwash feature to help prevent compaction which would impede the flow of water through the system.

For more information on the Whole House Acid Neutralizing Water Filter manufactured by Crystal Quest, visit the FilterWater.Com web site.

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

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™ Test Kit 2 Tests

Arsenic Quick™ Test Kit 100 Tests

   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

]]> http://watertestingblog.com/2010/01/14/arsenic-quick-web-site-launched-www-arsenicquick-com/feed/ 0 http://watertestingblog.com/2009/12/08/question-free-water-testing-for-mercury-in-indiana/ http://watertestingblog.com/2009/12/08/question-free-water-testing-for-mercury-in-indiana/#respond Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:33:14 +0000 http://watertestingblog.com/?p=792 Kris has a question for us…

My son lives in Indiana and has well water. He has heard that there might be high levels of mercury in his water-who would he call or what can he do to get this tested? Is there usually someone in the county or state you live in that offers free testing, such as the EPA? Thank you.

Thank you for your question, Kris. We first suggest you take a look at the EPA web page dedicated to listing the contact information for State Agencies in Indiana responsible for drinking water, ground water, etc.

• http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo/in.htm

If you cannot find the information you seek by contact one of those agencies, try having your son contact the Board of Health in his area. They will often know of current government-funded water testing programs if they exist.

Note that we said government-funded. Use caution when dealing with water testing programs sponsored by a company that coincidentally has an interest in selling water treatment systems. Snake oil salesmen still exist in this world…

In the event your son’s local officials cannot provide him with a free water testing option and the links on the EPA’s web page also prove ineffective, you may want to consider using a simple test strip designed to detect levels of dissolved mercury in water as low as .002 ppm (parts per million).

EPA Maximum Contaminant Level for Mercury in Drinking Water: 0.002 ppm

While test strips such as Boris’ Mercury Check from Industrial Test Systems, Inc. work well as screening tools, they should serve only as screening tools.

Positive or questionable results obtained from at-home drinking water test kits (test strips, liquid kits, meters, etc.) give users an indication that they may want to have their water tested by a certified water testing laboratory in their area.

• List of State Certified Laboratories

When it comes to your water, remember this: It’s your water, your health… and your life

“In school we recently learned that chlorine added to drinking water by water treatment facilities reacts with organic contaminants in the water and forms harmful compounds called trihalomethanes. Does the EPA have a guidleine which limits the amount of trihalomethanes are considered safe?” — Trinity in Washington

First of all, we want to clarify something in Trinity’s question: Not all forms of chlorine added by water treatment facilities will cause trihalomethanes to form. Adding ‘free chlorine’ to water containing organinc contaminants will result in the formation of thrihalomethanes while adding ‘combined chlorine’, also referred to as chloramines, to water containing organic contaminants will not.

Unsure of the difference between free chlorine and total chlorine? The following Water Testing Blog postings will help:

• Free Chlorine, Combined Chlorine, Total Chlorine
• Free, Combined and Total Chlorine Re-Visited
• Testing Chlorine Levels — Drinking Water vs. Pool Water

Getting back to Trinity’s question, though, prior to 2004 the EPA set the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for trihalomethanes in drinking water at 100 parts per billion (ppb). In 2004 the EPA lowered the MCl for trihalomethanes in drinking water to 80 ppb. ( source )

While hydrogen sulfide in water creates a giant nuisance with its stench, arsenic poses some real danger to humans and should not exist in drinking water. The USEPA set the maximum contaminant level for (inorganic) arsenic in drinking water at 10ppb, or 10 parts per billion.

Before you can effectively remove either of the compounds you must first learn how much of one or both contaminants you have. The test kits below will provide on-the-spot testing results for screening purposes only. As always, though, we suggest having your water professionally tested by a certified water analysis laboratory before making any final decisions regarding which treatment system to purchase or deciding whether or not you actualll need a water treatment system.

Hydrogen Sulfide in Water Test Strips 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80 ppm (IT-481197-1) Contains 50 Test Strips, Result in 31 Seconds $13.55 $12.75

Arsenic in Water Test Kit <2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 24, 30, 40, 45 & >50 ppb (481297-I) 50 Tests, Results in 12 Minutes $179.99 $129.00

Ann Arbor, Michigan, September 21, 2009 — Adeona Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX: AEN), a specialty pharmaceutical company dedicated to the awareness, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of zinc deficiency and chronic copper toxicity in the mature population, today announced that for World Alzheimer’s Day it is providing 10,000 tap water copper test cards free of any charge. ( source )

Medical and health professionals agree that excessive exposure to heavy metals such as copper, mercury, lead, chromium, and manganese causes irreparable damage to the human body.

In the case of copper, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has established the upper limit for copper in drinking water at 1.3 mg/L (or parts per million). Other metals have higher or lower maximum contaminant levels depending upon their suspected toxicity levels.

Chronic exposure to copper from drinking water has been shown to promote Alzheimer’s-like pathology and memory deficits in animals at less than 1/10th of the current E.P.A. limit of 1.3 mg/L. In a study involving over 3,700 residents of Chicago over age 65, copper intake was linked to increased rates of cognitive decline. Copper plumbing is used in approximately 90% of homes in the U.S. and thus 90% of the adult U.S. population is at risk for the health effects of chronic soluble copper exposure. ( source )

All of us connected to Water Testing Blog applaud Adeona’s generous offer of free copper test cards. We wish more companies would take similar initiative when it comes to educating the public.

Easy Test Method for Detecting Copper in Drinking Water:

We have not yet seen the copper test card offered by Adeona but we did note their claim of having an easier and more sensitive test kit than other commercially available copper test kits. Their test kit supposedly has an accurate lower detection limit of 0.010 ppm and takes a full 24 hours to complete.

Unlike most commercially available copper test kits, the tap water copper test card developed by Adeona and offered through Adeona’s HealthMine subsidiary is an at-home test that combines high sensitivity with ease of use. ( source )

Providing their testing method works as well as they claim, we commend their copper test card’s ability to detect copper in water at that low a level — even if it does take a full 24 hours to complete the testing.

For those who would like to perform faster copper in water testing, without having to mess around with tablets or messy drop kits, we suggest looking into the John’s Copper Test Strips which have a lower detection level of 0.050 ppm and provide relaible results in under a minute.

Other Information on Copper in Water Testing:

• Contaminated Drinking Water in Schools Across the Country
• Copper in Pool Water: Where Did It Come From?
• Copper in Drinking Water Information
• Metals in Water: Is Boiling a Solution?
• Copper in Pool Water

Once again we have stumbled across information about the dangers of lead exposure. While not specifically related to lead in drinking water, a common source of lead exposure, the information did catch our attention and we think all parents and care providers for children should know about.

Lead levels below the ‘accepted safe’ limit of 10 µg/dl in the blood of children may have damaging effects on their intellectual and emotional development. ( source )

Back in the early 1990’s the United States Center for Disease Control set the action-level for lead levels in blood at 10 µg/dl and since then evidence has come to light that levels a lot lower may cause irreversible damage to children’s nervous system.

A recent study showed that children with lead in blood levels between 5 µg/dl and 10 µg/dl performed worse on standardized tests than children with lead in blood levels below 5 µg/dl.

For more detailed and specific information on the matters just discussed, please refer to Medical News Today.

The more we read about the dangers of lead exposure the more strongly we feel about making sure the water we drink and serve our children contains as few contaminants (like lead) as possible. We also think it very wise to test the paint on (older) children’s toys and on surfaces in the home.

Why? Simple: The United States Center for Disease Control and the United States Environmental Protection Agency have not always viewed lead as a toxic compound and at one time it existed in many forms and in many places in our everyday lives. Not all of those lead-containing items have found their way to facilities for proper disposal yet. others have already found ways to pollute our drinking water sources w/ their toxins as a result of improper disposal in landfills or illegal dump sites.

Recent advances in the field of heavy metals testing have made it possible for the average person to test for lead in paint, lead in water, and even lead in themselves quite easily, conveniently, and without spending hundreds of dollars.

Oh, and you don’t have to have a degree in chemistry, either!

lead in water test kit	mercury in water test kit	lead in paint visual test kit
heavy metals in water test kit	chromium in water test strips	copper in water test strips
iron in water visual test kit	reagents for leadtrak pocket colorimeter II

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