We recently received a rather interesting question from ‘Chmst411′ who asked, “Are your arsenic test kits dangerous? We want to do an experiment with the kids for a school project but fear the arsenic gas you say gets ‘liberated’ during testing. How dangerous IS that gas and what risk does that acid used pose?”

Having worked with the Arsenic Quick test kits for a number of years now we can honestly say that they do not pose much of a risk at all. To answer your questions more directly, though…

• Liberated Arsenic Gas – While true that this test procedure does generate a very small amount of gaseous arsenic, the volume created poses no risk to test personnel as long as the test gets performed in a normally ventilated room.

• Use of Tartaric Acid – All of the Arsenic Quick test procedures require the use of an acid, true, but the acid in question (tartaric acid) qualifies as a food grade acid rather than a more aggressive industrial grade acid like other test kits use. Use of tartaric acid in the Arsenic Quick test procedure poses no real danger to test personnel.

So… should you fear the Arsenic Quick Test Kits because they use an acid as a reagent and generate a small amount of arsenic gas? Not in our opinion — and as we said, we have used them many times in the past 7+ years.

Compared to the other methods available to the public for testing drinking or ground water for free, dissolved arsenic, the Arsenic Quick line of arsenic test kits have a shorter total test time, safer reagents and simpler instruction set. And yes, we have used other arsenic test kits manufactured by other companies, as well.

Today’s inquiry came to us from ‘Ira’ who asked, “I live small apt w/ really tiny kitchenspace that has terrible tasting water and wold like to get bottle less water cooler with the ro filter. All ive seen take too much space so do they make smaller ones for apartments? fast answer appreciated. thankyou.”

Most of our staff has lived in apartments for a good portion of our lives so trust us when we say that we FULLY UNDERSTAND the inconvenience of not having enough room to put all your stuff, let alone put a big, bulky water cooler in the corner someplace.

Previously we wrote about a countertop reverse osmosis system that takes up a lot less space than a traditional reverse osmosis system in an article called Do They Make Reverse Osmosis Filters for Apartments? and today we would like to discuss a bottleless water cooler made by Global Water that occupies 11″x18″x16″ worth of countertop space and comes with either a 2-stage or 3-stage filtration system: The G4 Countertop Water Cooler

For those who would like an additional level of water purification, FilterWater.Com will install a UV Water Sterilizer in the unit prior to shipping for an additional fee.

The G4 Countertop Water Cooler (G4CT) uses a reliable LG Compressor, qualifies as an Energy Star rated appliance, comes fully assembled with installation hardware included, and conforms to UL Standard 399 (for Drinking Water Coolers).

Why would I want a bottleless water cooler?

Putting it bluntly, your water tastes bad, you cannot install a water filter where you live, the thought of mounting 5-gallon jugs of water on a regular water cooler does not sound fun, and in the long run most people tend to make out better overall without the monthly water service bill.

What tests determine if I need a water filter?

We get this question all the time, and, as usual, we tell people to get their water tested by a certified water testing lab. National Testing Labs offers a reasonably priced drinking water test kit for around $155 that tests for 83 potential contaminants and a more sophisticated water test kit that tests for 97 potential drinking water contaminants including many chemical contaminants, such as pesticides, that occasionally turn up in well water.

What about at-home drinking water test kits?

After having your water analyzed professionally by a certified water testing lab it always makes sense to keep an eye on contaminants of concern and test kits like the SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit work well for the purpose — depending upon the water contaminants of concern.

Single-parameter water test kits that test for things like hydrogen sulfide, nitrates/nitrites, free chlorine, total chlorine, coliform bacteria, total hardness, etc. work well if you already know what water quality parameter typically strays out of an acceptable range at your home or office.

Got a question about home, school or office water quality testing?

Drop us a line on our Contact Us Page and we will do our best to answer your question(s).

As always, we thank you for visiting the Water Testing Blog!

A question we get all the time… got submitted to us again over the weekend. ‘TinaToes’ asked,

“The chlorine in our water from the city tastes and smells horrible. Can we put a simple filter in and how much would it cost? thx”

Well, Tina, or should we call you Miss Toes? Ha ha. Lots of companies make filters for chlorine (thankfully!) and each one has its advantages and disadvantages. Recently we came across two stainless steel countertop filters made by Paragon that we think deserve consideration if you want to get a quality filter that won’t break the bank.

The P3060 Tested and Certified by NSF International to NSF/ANSI Standard 42 for the aesthetic reduction of Chlorine and the P3200 Tested and Certified to NSF/ANSI Std. 42 for the aesthetic reduction of Chlorine, Taste and Odor, Chloramines and Nominal Particulate Class I and to Std. 53 for the reduction of Lead, Cyst, Mercury, VOC, MTBE and Turbidity.

Another thing we REALLY like: Both units come with price tags well under $150!

So, Miss Toes, we hope you get a chance review the specs on both these units and that we have hopefully at least given you a starting point for your quest to rid your water of its pool-like chlorine nature.

Oh, and in case you would also like to get the chlorine smell out of your shower water, Paragon makes a really compact and convenient shower wand that has a built-in filter that “Tested and Certified by NSF International to NSF/ANSI Standard 177 for the reduction of free available Chlorine.”

The HSF handheld shower filter has an expected 10,000 gallon life expectancy, 5-function massage head, reduces free (available) chlorine by more than 98%, helps to cut down on calcium/soap/shower scum in the tub, may help with certain itchy skin conditions, installs without the need for tools, and has an easily replaced NSF Certified filter cartridge that costs around $20.

From what we have heard, this unit has made appearances on several daytime talk shows and gotten rave reviews from health experts, consumer product testing groups, and its users.

Recently we got asked who should consider installing a commercial water filter. The person who asked the question, Sylvan, owns for a restaurant whose tap water routinely tastes and smells like bleach water. Needless to say ice from their ice maker has a hideous taste and smell.

For the past few years Sylvan lugged 5 gallon bottles of water around and paid a ton of money each week just so that his customers didn’t have to eat food cooked in chlorine and drink water that he currently refers to as ‘pool water’.

Sylvan had his water tested by a local lab and also tested it himself (using SenSafe Free Chlorine & SenSafe Total Chlorine) and the results always showed that his water contained far less free and total chlorine than the MCL (Maximum Contaminant Level) set by the USEPA — but that certainly did nothing about the stench of chlorine in his water.

In a case like this where a whole KITCHEN in a restaurant needs better quality water we believe devices like inline filters for ice makers and undersink water filters will not get the job done.

For applications where multiple unwanted water contaminants need to get removed on a larger scale (i.e. for a restaurant’s kitchen), commercial water filters stand out as ideal filtration options.

Other places where commercial water filters make the most sense include large private residences (over 4000 sq.feet), businesses, manufacturing facilities, apartment buildings, retail establishments, and schools.

With the arrival of warmer comes… natural disasters such as flooding, hurricanes and tornadoes — each capable of leaving a family or entire community without safe, usable drinking water. We do not know if one of those terrible events caused ‘Rodney’ to write in, but he asked, “What is the best purification/filtration method to remove all nematodes and their eggs/larvae from water?”

We cannot say for sure that we know the best method to remove the items mentioned by Rodney, but we do know that agencies all over the world (i.e. UNICEF, Medicines Sans Frontiers, US and Foreign Embassies, Crown Agents, the IDA Foundation, Save the Children Fund, League of Red Cross, Green Crescent, etc.) rely on portable water filter systems made by Doulton to clean up water in Third World Nations and in Westernized Nations after natural disasters.

In the past we wrote about the Doulton SS2 Gravity Fed Water Filter and praised its effectiveness at removing as many impurities as it does without the use of gravity. Today we want to call your attention to another version of that filter, the Doulton LP-5 High Density Polyethylene Gravity Filter System which uses up to five of Doulton’s advanced ceramic filters (Imperial SuperSterasyl Ceramic Candles or Super Sterasyl Ceramic Candles) to produce safe, clean drinking water from municipal or natural water sources.

Made of food grade, high density polypropylene, the Doulton LP-5 Gravity Filter System has less weight than its stainless steel sibling, has an excellent reputation for durability, and also has a telescoping design that makes it easy to transport.

When used with SuperSterasyl candles that have a 0.2 micron thick layer of silver impregnated in their ceramic shells, the Doulton LP-5 Gravity Filter System effectively removes pathogenic bacteria such as E.coli, cholera, salmonella, shigella, typhoid etc with greater than 99.99% efficiency. It also removes 100% removal of pathogenic cysts such as cryptosporidium parvum, giardia lamblia, guinea worm, etc.

Inside the ceramic shell you will find a packed bed of coconut shell granular activated carbon (GAC) for the removal of chlorine, VOC’s (volatile organic compounds), industrial solvents, bad taste and odor, etc.

Moral of the story?

Before purchasing ANY water filter, make certain it will remove the things you need removed. In Rodney’s case we suggest finding out the sizes of the unwanted contaminants and making certain they have sizes larger than 1 micron since filters like the Doulton LP-5 Gravity Filter System can take out 98% of contaminants in the .02 .03 micron range and 99.999% of contaminants .9 microns or larger.

Doulton LP-5 Gravity Filter System

Note: A quick search on nematodes turned revealed that they have lengths of around 2.5mm (2,500 microns) or less.

We continually find articles these days that report about well water test samples containing unwanted heavy metal contaminants such as Chromium-6… and yet many private well owners still won’t get their own water tested on a regular basis.

Today’s Chromium-6 well water finding comes to us from the Coachella Valley region of California known and the detected levels of Chromium-6 in the water greatly exceed California’s public health goal.

Hexavalent chromium, a potentially cancer-causing heavy metal made famous by activist Erin Brockovich, is found in drinking water supplies throughout most of the Coachella Valley at 150 to more than 1,000 times above California’s public health goal, a Desert Sun review of local water agencies’ well-testing results found.

The National Toxicology Program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concluded in 2008 that hexavalent chromium, or chromium-6, in drinking water shows “clear evidence” of causing cancer in laboratory animals. And a 2010 draft toxicological review by the EPA found the contaminant in tap water is “likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”

But scientific study on chromium-6 is ongoing, and some recent findings call into question at what levels and under what circumstances ingesting the metal may cause cancer.

California’s public health goal for chromium-6 levels is not a regulatory standard, only a step in the process of establishing one. State and federal regulators have yet to set a maximum allowable drinking water contaminant level for the metal, but work toward one is under way. ( source )

Regardless of whether or not California or the USEPA has established an official safety limit (i.e. Maximum Contaminant Level) for Chromium-6 in drinking water, none of us here at Water Testing Blog would want to drink water that contained that high a concentration of Chromium-6.

Testing for Chromium-6 in water?

You may pick up an easy-to-use test kit for chromium made by SenSafe/WaterWorks in our online water testing store.

As an alternative, yo can use a test called Heavy Metals Water Check Test Strip, a product also manufactured by SenSafe. It detects Chromium-6 but the product will not differentiate between Chromium-6 and the other metals it can detect. But, in all honesty, any heavy metals detected in one’s drinking water should make a person want to take action.

Removing or reducing Chromium-6?

A company called ZeroWater manufactures point-of-use water filters & water pitchers using NSF Certified (NSF 42 & NSF 53) technology that supposedly reduce the number of Total Dissolved Solids in drinking water to zero.

For those who in search of a water filter system capable of producing quality drinking water out of the tap rather than a pitcher or dispenser, the NSF 58 Certified Goldline Reverse Osmosis System which carries the WQA Gold Seal installs under the sink (i.e. out of sight) and produces just under 11.5 gallons of purified drinking water per day.

NSF 58 Certified RO System for the Reduction of Barium, Chromium III & VI, Fluoride,
Lead, Nitrate, Nitrite, Radium, Selenium, and TDS Levels

Many people have asked us about the recent study that found higher than expected — and desirable — levels of arsenic in popular brands of juice… but not very many people have asked the question that weighs heavily in OUR minds: Where did the arsenic COME from?

Arsenic Test Kit -- 2 Tests

Thus far we suspect that either water used to irrigate the apple orchards contained trace elements of arsenic or the arsenic came from residuals of pesticides that contained arsenic. While laws currently prohibit the use of pesticides that contain arsenic now, no such laws existed 10 or 20 years ago and the possibility that residuals from those pesticides still may linger in some of the trees and soil around the trees certainly exists.

Testing ground water for arsenic?

Well water experts and health officials suggest having one’s well water tested for basic drinking water quality parameters — including arsenic — at least once a year.

As environmental conditions change (i.e. seasons change, heavy amounts of rainfall, low amounts of rainfall, etc.) the aquifer levels change, as well. Those level changes can result in previously undisturbed pockets of arsenic buried deep in the ground finding their way into the water supply.

One can have a certified laboratory like National Testing Labs analyze their water for a wide range of potential well water contaminants (including arsenic), have a local lab come out and grab a sample for testing, or use one of the Arsenic Quick Water Test Kits.

Removing and/or reducing arsenic levels in water?

The average person can install a water filter in their home or business that can remove or reduce arsenic levels in their source water. Typically one can install a counter top, under sink or whole house system but make certain the model you select will work for your specific water quality situation before making a purchase.

Some water filters for arsenic (and many other water contaminants) may have performance problems if certain other water quality parameters like pH, alkalinity, total hardness, iron, copper, manganese, chlorine, etc. have strayed too far out of expected ranges.

Many people believe well water cannot become tainted by contaminants because it typically comes from locations far beneath the surface. Water Testing Blog strongly suggests that you DO NOT BUY INTO THAT LINE OF THOUGHT.

We ‘yelled’ that last bit for a reason. Unwanted and potentially harmful contaminants can find their way into well water regardless of how far below the surface it comes from.

Hence the reason why well water professionals and health officials suggest having one’s well water tested yearly.

Today’s story about well water contamination came from Kansas where residents of Butler County have had to all but abandon the use of their drinking water wells because of an unpleasant chemical smell.

Specifically, the water coming out of the private wells has a gasoline like odor to it.

A bad odor and taste in the well water has some residents in a neighborhood east of Andover concerned. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and a water testing lab are working to find the source of the problem, but residents in the area are becoming frustrated.

Eric and Brittney Hauck say the well water at their house in Butler County smells terrible and they fear it could be unsafe.

“There was the smell of gasoline, kind of a paint-thinner kind of smell,” said Brittney Hauck.

The Haucks immediately stopped drinking the water and contacted the KDHE. Ash Creek Associates out of Portland, Oregon came out to their house and tested the water.

Last week, the Haucks received the results which showed elevated levels of benzene and other contaminants. The testing company gave the Haucks bottled water and installed a charcoal filter at no charge.

A week later, the family and many other neighborhood residents are still waiting for answers from the KDHE about what’s causing their water to become contaminated. KAKE News attempted to contact both the testing company and KDHE but could not get a response because the offices were closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Some residents suspect the contamination may be coming from a petroleum pipeline that runs through their neighborhood. Until they can get some definitive answers about the safety of their well water, residents say they’ll continue to use bottled water for drinking, cooking and bathing. ( source )

We feel very bad for the Haucks and all the other folks in that area affected by the suspected contamination of the aquifer from which they draw their well water. Hopefully the KDHE will determine the source of the well water contamination quickly and make it so the Haucks and their neighbors can once again perform simple tasks like cooking and bathing with their well water.

Testing for benzene in drinking water?

The average person cannot obtain an off-the-shelf test kit capable of testing for the presence of benzene in drinking, tap or well water. That sort of testing must get done in a laboratory using advanced analytical techniques and equipment.

AS usual at this point we suggest contacting your local water department or board of health to see if they can provide you with a list of certified water testing laboratories. For those wishing to use a mail-in water testing service, you may want to take a look at the 83 water quality parameter test package offered by National Testing Laboratories.

Can you get orange hair from tap (or well) water? Some residents in the Boulder Hill area of Illinois have presented their local water department with evidence that it can happen… and have water test results documenting the presence of three times the normal level of iron in their tap water.

Last week, residents complained about the water quality at a Village Board meeting and brought pictures of children with orange hair, damaged pipes and water sample results that documented the iron content was some three times the normal level.

This week, after action taken by the village, residents say things are looking up.

“It is looking better, this is good news,” Karol Armbruster, one of the residents affected by the rusty water, said Tuesday.

Her daughter has had to visit a hair salon on two occasions due to the rust in the water, she said. “It was turning orange and a had a little green tint,” she said,

“It doesn’t seem to be as bad,” said Debbie Way, another resident.

The water problems began Nov. 19 when the motor that runs Well 14 broke. At that time, village officials began sending water to the area from other wells.

The rust is the result of a change in direction of the water flow in the pipes.

“The cause of the rust was a build-up of iron deposits inside the pipes for some 50 years,” said Michael Pubentz, Montgomery public works director. ( source )

For these folks water conditions will improve once the new well pump comes online, according to the article, but what about YOUR water? Do you know how much iron or other metals it contains? While some metals (like iron) usually pose more of an aesthetic problem, other metals such as lead, mercury, chromium, etc. can have lasting detrimental health effects.

Moral of the story?

If you notice sudden changes in water quality could mean problems with the safety of your water and only testing the water for its purity will let you know for sure if the changes mean action needs to get taken by your water company or, if your water comes have a private well, you need to take action.

In this case the water district had a pump fail and needed to redirect water through different lines that had not seen a lot of use in a long time and years of corrosion got pumped to people’s homes. We believe that local residents’ seeking testing and banding together to lobby for prompt action on the part of the water company resulted in the situation getting cleared up a lot faster than may have happened if residents had not presented test results along with their complaints.

Certified water testing data gets results. So, as we like to say, “It’s your water, your health… and ultimately your LIFE.”

Take an interest in the quality of your water and perform spot checks from time to time — especially if you notice a ‘change’ in the color, taste or smell of your water. Doing so could, in some cases, possibly save your life or the life of a loved one.

Interested in removing iron from drinking water? Whether you need a replacement 10″ iron filter cartridge, replacement 20″ iron filter cartridge or a whole house iron removal system, we believe FilterWater.Com may have the perfect solution for your water quality situation.

A plethora of water quality improvement products exists and sometimes the choices seem overwhelming — even to folks with more than a little knowledge on the topics of water quality and water quality improvement.

Today’s inquiry came to us from ‘Ric C’ who asked a very wise question about a water filtration unit he may wish to purchase (HomePure AP-0930):

Hi
Am dealing with a product that has an NSF certification, and below is the address;

http://www.nsf.com/Certified/DWTU/Listings.asp?TradeName=homepure&Standard=&ProductType=&PlantState=&PlantCountry=&PlantRegion=&submit3=SEARCH&hdModlStd=ModlStd

Does this mean the product is good?

Quite honestly, we have never seen the HomePure AP-0930 before but as we said previously, the marketplace has a ton of water filtration units out there and we seriously doubt that anyone could know the in’s and out’s of every single water filtration unit currently available for purchase.

With that said, we looked at the NSF credentials supplied by Ric and saw that this unit has tested and certified to NSF/ANSI STANDARD 042 (Drinking Water Treatment Units – Aesthetic Effects) for the reduction of chlorine taste and odor as well as NSF/ANSI STANDARD 053 (Drinking Water Treatment Units – Health Effects) for the reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOC’s).

While having NSF Certification does give the HomePure AP-0930 a bit of credibility, please keep in mind that not every water filter will work in every application — even with NSF, WQA, etc. certifications to back up its capabilities.

Think of it this way: A high quality hammer won’t do you a bit of good when you need to turn a screw.

Testing your water first?

Yes! Do it! Test your drinking water before spending money on a water filter!

Before investing in a water filter for your home or office make sure you test your water for as wide a range of potential contaminants as possible. Doing so could save you the expense and aggravation associated with installing a filter that addresses the wrong water quality issues.

Anything specific about the HomePure AP-0930 catch your eye?

We like the fact that the HomePure AP-0930 has NSF certifications. As we said before, it means the unit certainly has some credibility.

One thing we did not like about the unit dealt w/ it inability to filter out heavy metals such as lead, copper, iron, chromium, etc. In our opinion a well-rounded, general purpose water filter would also have the ability to remove/reduce levels of heavy metals in drinking water.

Older homes most likely contain metal piping and the majority of public water systems contain metal pipes, as well. “But, we live a newly constructed home.” Does not matter (in our opinion). Newer homes, while mostly containing PVC or some other type of plastic piping, still get connected to public water systems that contain miles and miles of metal pipes.

Depending upon the quality of the water when it leaves the water treatment plant, it has the opportunity to pick up anywhere from traces of metals to noticeable levels of metals as it travels through those miles of metal pipes to homes and offices on the water system.

Interesting fact: The literature for the HomePure AP-0930 water filter system did mention metals and say that metals in water may cause problems, but the HomePure AP-0930 does not remove/reduce metals.

Replacement filters for the HomePure AP-0930?

According to the NSF web site, the HomePure AP-0930 uses a replacement filter element with model number “AP-0931″. A quick search of three popular online water filter web sites (FilterWater.Com, FiltersFast.Com and WaterFilters.Net) and a google search yielded no locations where a person could purchase replacement filters.

Not a particularly good sign! What happens in 3 months or a year when the original filter kicks the bucket?

Moral of the story?

Not all water filter systems are created equal and even though some bear seals of certification and/or endorsement from well-known, reputable organizations such as NSF or WQA, not every one of those ‘certified’ products will clean up every possible water quality condition.

So, test your water to see what problems/issues it may have and THEN set about the task of locating the correct water quality improvement device for your water.

Look for products that bear the NSF and/or WQA logos, but do not assume the logo automatically means that a particular device will do what you need it to do.

Oh, and one last thing: Check to make sure you can easily acquire replacement filters for any water filter you consider buying.