In the past we wrote about water quality issues in Stamford, CT possibly resulting from contaminants buried beneath a local field. Suspected contaminants include pesticides and volatile organic contaminants.

Hundreds of Stamford residents have registered for the health department’s new water testing program scheduled to launch early next month, leaving about a third of the tests budgeted for this fiscal year available.

Officials are encouraging Stamford homeowners to sign up for the public service, which is mandated under a new city ordinance the Board of Representatives approved late last year. The Health Department will share the data it gathers with state health and environmental agencies in an effort to better understand the scope of water contamination in the area of Scofieldtown Park.

The park is the site of a former landfill and had been thought for years to be the source of potentially cancer-causing chemicals discovered in nearby wells in 2009.

…

Premier Laboratory in Dayville won a competitive bid to perform the testing at a rate of $89.50 per test, Murray said. Homeowners will be charged a flat $100 fee, which will cover the cost of the test itself as well as mailing, printing and logistical expenses associated with the program. Murray said the public service is a good deal for Stamford residents, who would likely pay between $200 and $300 to have their well water tested privately. ( source )

Granted the testing will still cost residents $100, but one has to admit that the fee definitely ranks as a pretty decent bargain considering the alternative: full price. Local officials encourage residents to take advantage of this water testing deal and so do we.

A problem with well water clearly exists in that area and only a properly implemented (thorough) testing of well water in the region surrounding the suspected contamination site will allow officials to get a real good look at the scope and magnitude of the problem.

Removing and/or reducing VOC’s in drinking water?

Naturally the question that follows the discovery of contaminants in one’s drinking water has to do with how to remove or reduce them to ‘safe’ levels. In the article one family had a carbon block filter of some sort installed. Below you will find an example of a carbon block filter hooked up to the Pentek RO-3500 currently offered by numerous online water filter systems vendors like WaterFilters.Net and FiltersFast.Com.

Today’s question came to us from ‘Malli’ who asked, “tell me simple method to find out the flourine percentage .Thanque”

For the sake of this article, and because it would make his/her inquiry make more sense, we will assume that Malli intended to ask for a method of testing for FLUORIDE levels in water.

Regretfully we have not heard of any ‘new’ methods a person can use to detect fluoride levels in drinking water since we last addressed this topic. Therefore we will continue to suggest using a meter such as the eXact Micro 7+ Water Testing Meter that uses Fluoride (SPADNS) Reagent to detect fluoride levels in water as low as 0.1 ppm and as high as 1.1 ppm.

One could also use the mail-in fluoride testing services of a company called National Testing Laboratories to determine how much, if any fluoride their drinking water contains.

So, Malli, once you determine if your water contains fluoride, next you will need to decide if you wish to remove or reduce that fluoride level… assuming you have fluoride in your water to begin with.

Removing/Reducing Fluoride Levels in Drinking Water?

When it comes to finding an effective means of reducing fluoride levels in drinking water, thus far our ‘research’ always points us down the same path… towards reverse osmosis water filters. The unit you see on the right, the Pentek RO-3500, has gone through testing and gotten certified by NSF/ANSI to Standard 58 for the reduction of Pentavalent Arsenic, Barium, Cadmium, Copper, Hexavalent & Trivalent Chromium, Cyst, Fluoride, Lead, Nitrate/Nitrite, Radium 226/228, Selenium, TDS and Turbidity.

Though definitely NOT the most expensive unit on the market, this filter has successfully passed third party testing, can produce nearly 8 gallons of crystal clear, filtered drinking water per day, and does so while reducing fluoride levels by more than 90%.

Moral of the story?

You will never know exactly how much fluoride, iron, copper, manganese, chlorine, salt, or other unwanted contaminants your water contains until you perform the appropriate tests on your water. Then, and only then, will you have the ability to make an educated decision regarding water treatment options.

Today’s inquiry came to us from ‘Mike L’ who asked about ways to soften his water without having to use a salt-based softening system.

I live in a small twin (3 bed/1.5 bath) that I lease. When we moved in, we noticed the water was particularly hard (10 GPG) and it was causing dry skin after showers and other issues. We don’t use a lot of water and we don’t have much space (1,300 sq. ft.). I also don’t much prefer the saltiness of “softened” water. My landlord gave me the OK to install a simple filtration system. I’m looking for something cheap, compact and simple. I don’t need 0gpg either, if I can lower down to a 3-4 GPG I would be happy.

Seems simple right? I was thinking maybe a 400GPD RO system but they all come with faucets which makes me think they may not be usable to throw in-line on the water system.

Do you know of anything (under $1,000) I can do to clean up my water and make it just a little softer?

Good news, Mike! Recent developments in the water softener industry include water softeners that do not use salt as the primary treating agent. Reasons for the salt-free water softeners range from States like California putting a ban on them for environmental reasons to people (like yourself) simply not enjoying the taste and/or texture of the water produced by salt-based water softeners.

Eagle A1000AS Anti-Scale Saltless Water Conditioner

To the left you will see an example of a water softener that uses a special filtration media to remove calcium and magnesium from source water instead of salt. The unit also comes equipped with a sediment filter, solid carbon block filter for VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) and an Ultrafiltration Filter good for removing particles as small as .01 microns.

Mike, you mentioned reverse osmosis as a possible option and based upon what you said you wanted from the water treatment system, we don’t think that will work out as well as you’d like, though we do agree that reverse osmosis water filter do an excellent job of filtering water.

Reverse osmosis units do not connect up as inline filters as neatly and tidily as it sounds like you’d prefer. They require drains for ‘waste water’ that gets rejected by the membranes and flushed out during backwashing. Also, reverse osmosis water filters require power which means running a power line to the unit.

The Eagle A1000AS Anti-Scale Saltless Water Conditioner uses no power, requires no drain, uses no salt or environmentally harmful chemicals, and supposedly will help to remove existing calcium and magnesium deposits already clogging water lines.

Moral of the story?

Mike, we suggest having your water tested by a certified laboratory in your area or having a mail order service such as National Testing Laboratories perform a thorough analysis of your water. From the sounds of things, your faucets could possibly have more than just calcium and/or magnesium coming out of them and you will not know for sure until you test.

A recent study has found a possible link between increased risk of prostate cancer in areas where more women use specific types of birth control — but as usual other recent studies did not find the same correlation.

We feel the importance of the study lies more in how some experts believe people have become overly exposed to estrogen.

Rather than simply stating that the increased estrogen levels come directly from ingestion of birth control medications, the study implied that people re-ingested estrogen that had worked its way out of women on the pill via normal waste channels, wound its way through (or in some cases around) waste water treatment facilities, entered the environment, and finally gotten consumed or absorbed by plants and animals that people then ate as part of their everyday fare.

Removing estrogen from drinking water?

We wish we had better news on this topic, but we must sadly report that we have yet to hear definitively that any one type of water filtration unit does a good job of removing estrogen from drinking water — nor possibly a number of other pharmaceutical byproducts currently entering our water supply every day.

We have, however, seen that some companies tout reverse osmosis as an effective way to remove MANY of those pharmaceutical byproducts, but NOT all — and we would certainly suggest that anyone considering the purchase of a reverse osmosis for the purpose of removing pharmaceutical residuals review the specifications carefully before making an investment.

Moral of the story?

Experts tell us our water supply keeps getting tainted by new things, or possibly by things we could not test for until recently, and the majority of us just sit idly by and say, “Oh well. The government (or someone else) will take care of it.”

Listen folks: The contaminants already exist and just like with soooooo many other ‘newly detected risks’ the responsibility to safeguard one’s self and loved ones will fall squarely on the shoulders of the individual… until those in power agree which bill will do the most good w/o ruining careers of friends, family, etc.

All of us here at Water Testing Blog would love to know if folks in power and/or in big business already have water filtration units installed their homes and offices and/or have their water trucked in from suspected safe sources. How many, if any, will answer that question?

For more specifics on the study, take a look at this page ( Prostate Cancer May be Linked to Birth Control Pills in Water Supply ); one of several we found while doing a search on the topic.

With so many people in the world out to make a dollar — usually at the expensive of others — it comes as no surprise that a number of companies have tried to find fault with reverse osmosis systems… because they do such a good job of removing contaminants from drinking water.

Apparently some folks believe that water lacking ANY minerals will somehow cause problems for people who consume it as drinking water, cook with it, bathe in it, etc. While somewhat true that water produced by reverse osmosis may have ‘aggressive’ tendencies in certain plumbing situations, we have found that the largest ‘problem’ people have with demineralized reverse osmosis water… is its flat, boring taste and not its lack of minerals.

Water’s ‘taste’ comes from its dissolved minerals content so it stands to reason that without any minerals would also have no ‘taste’ — a problem easily remedied by the use of a remineralizing cartridge after the reverse osmosis system.

Don’t we need minerals in our water for health?

To this day we have not personally found any solid evidence to support the notion that an appreciable amount of necessary dietary elements gets absorbed by the body from drinking water — unless, of course, the water got used to wash down a vitamin or supplement.

Humans obtain the bulk of nutrients required for healthy living from the foods they eat… EXCEPT when they eat mostly (and too much) fried stuff like this.

Moral of the Story?

Eat healthy and drink clean water… and don’t buy into every ‘health trend’ and health fad’ that flashes on your television screen or in banner ads that pop up on web sites you visit.

The water we drink needs to have unwanted impurities removed. End of story.

If given a choice, we’ll take flat-tasting water over water containing potentially dangerous and/or bothersome levels of dissolved heavy metals (i.e. lead, copper, iron, manganese, chromium, arsenic, etc.) and other junk any day of the week!

As the debate over fluoride in the public water supply rages on with no apparent end in sight, many people opposed to the idea of fluoridated drinking water have started installing specialized water filtration systems to remove and/or reduce fluoride levels in the water coming out of their faucets.

While attending a birthday party for a young child recently a fellow parent attending the party remarked how the restaurant’s water ‘tasted an awful lot like pool water’ and later ‘that it probably had a ton of fluoride in it, too.’

Several other parents chimed in about the quality of the water of the water at the restaurant and eventually the conversation worked its way around the table until finally some asked if we knew of an inexpensive filter that would remove fluoride and get rid of ‘that nasty chlorine taste’.

Apparently one of our other friends spilled the beans about our interest in water quality at some other gathering we couldn’t attend.

Not wanting to miss the opportunity to share a bit of water quality knowledge with an eager audience, we pulled out the laptop (since the restaurant DID have free wireless service… despite its lousy water!) and visited a few sites that we knew carried water filters to reduce fluoride in drinking water.

One noteworthy thing we noticed right away: Although genuinely interested in improving the taste of their water and having the option of whether or not their families consumed fluoride via tap water, few seemed willing to cross the $200 mark for a system. Whether a sign of economic hardship in average families or an indicator that people really don’t care THAT much about the quality of their water, we do not know and we dare not get too involved in topics like that.

At this point we would like to point out that we had more than enough parents in the restaurant watching the kids play in the ball pits, blast aliens on the video games, etc. that our small little group’s conversation did not in any way jeopardize the safety of any children OR result in the disruption of others’ peaceful enjoyment of the establishment.

So… With THAT declaration out of the way, our searches and discussions brought us to the doorsteps of two products that seemed to meet our audience’s needs: the Undersink Fluoride Filter Triple and Pentek RO-3500 Water Filter System.

Both water filter systems claimed to reduce fluoride levels — and on that note we want inform all of you that pretty much NO fluoride filter we came across totally removed fluoride from drinking water — and so we’ll flip a coin to decide which system we discuss first.

* flip * . . . . . Heads. The Crystal Quest Triple Under Sink Water Filter wins.

Cost: Ringing in at the cash register between $173 and $213 depending upon how long you want the multi-stage filter last. You have the option of 10,000, 20,000 or 30,000 gallons. Last time we checked, Filter Water had the unit available (with all three third cartridge options to choose from) with free shipping in the Continental United States.

Fluoride Reduction: In this unit’s second filter cartridge, water travels through fine-mesh ‘pre-resin media’ (SIR-900) to reduce fluoride below 0.5 ppm. At the same time, this filter also reduces arsenic levels if present.

Other Contaminants: In the first cartridge water passes through a carbon block which removes and/or removes volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), insecticides & pesticides (such as atrazine and simazine), and a number of industrial solvents commonly found in drinking water. Chlorine taste and odor also get reduced in this stage.

Our ‘Final’ Opinion: If you want a simple under sink water filter system that will do a lot to improve the taste and safety of your drinking water, the Crystal Quest Triple Under Sink Filter stands as a solid contender from what we have read. Well worth taking a look at if you want to keep spending down and still reap the rewards and benefits of a fluoride (and other contaminants) water filter.

In closing we’d like to offer the testimony of an actual Crystal Quest Triple Under Sink Filter user:

On 2/16/2011 ‘Lynn’ said, “The Undersink Fluoride Filter is a grand product. With the filter your water goes through a cleaning series of 8 stages to prevent all the harmful government added substances from entering the body. It comes with 3 cartridges two that need to be replaced every 6 months to a year. The filter was simple to install and works wonderfully! I would recommend this filter to all citizens who want ‘Big Brother’ out of their water.” (on FilterWater.Com web site)

And now we shall discuss the Pentek RO-3500 Water Filter System. . .

Cost: Ringing in at the cash register at either $199 and $259 depending upon whether or not you want an electronic monitoring system keeping an eye on the effluent stream (water treated by your unit), this unit packs quite a punch for the money.

For around $200 or $260 dollars homeowners can get their hands on a reverse osmosis water system certified and tested to NSF/ANSI Standard 58 for the following: Arsenic (Pentavalent) Reduction, Barium Reduction, Cadmium Reduction, Copper Reduction, Chromium (Hexavalent) Reduction, Chromium (Trivalent) Reduction, Cyst Reduction, Fluoride Reduction, Lead Reduction, Nitrate/Nitrite Reduction, Radium 226/228 Reduction, Selenium Reduction, TDS Reduction, Turbidity Reduction, Chlorine Reduction – Aesthetic, and Taste & Odor Reduction.

Fluoride Reduction: As stated in the last paragraph, the Pentek RO-3500 Water Filter System has passed rigorous testing by an independent laboratory proven that it’s fluoride reduction capabilities meet the requirements of NSF/ANSI Standard 58.

Other Contaminants: We already discussed how the Pentek RO-3500 has tested and certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 58 for the reduction of a bunch of potentially dangerous and definitely unwanted drinking water contaminants so we won’t bore you with the full list a second time.

Our ‘Final’ Opinion: Before we tell you much we like the benefits this system offers, we do want to mention a few reasons why a reverse osmosis water filter system like the Pentek RO-3500 and others may NOT work well for everyone:

1. Some people feel they waste water since not all of the water that goes into the system will wind up as usable drinking water and gets discharged as waste.

2. The water generated by reverse osmosis systems tends to have an aggressive nature.

3. Reverse osmosis water treatment systems produce ‘flat’ tasting water that some people find a bit unpleasant. Because of that taste many owners of reverse osmosis systems choose to install a simple post-ro re-mineralizing cartridge that adds important minerals for taste and nutrition while also balancing the pH of the water before consumption.

OK, so having said ALL that, we found the Pentek RO-3500′s NSF Certification extremely appealing since it ‘guarantees’ the performance of the unit for at the very least, its ability to reduce concentrations of a known list of contaminants.

The double meaning of ‘fracking’ in this instance makes us chuckle. It could either serve as a replacement word for a curse word or as an accurate description of the chemicals in question.

The other day we received an email inquiry from ‘Wesley’ who asked a question that no one, surprisingly enough, has ever asked: “If drinking water was contaminated by fracking chemicals, would a reverse osmosis remove them and make the water safe to drink? If not, what would remove these chemicals from the water?”

Very good question! Too bad we don’t have a definitive answer.

Why no definitive answer?

Quite honestly, until gas companies come clean with the full list of ingredients they put in fracking fluids we will never really know what method of water filtration will work best to remove them. We do know, however, that properly functioning reverse osmosis water filter systems will put a serious dent in the concentrations of commonly found drinking water contaminants… including a number of the compounds currently identified as fracking fluid components.

Will reverse osmosis save your bacon, if fracking fluid somehow makes its way into your water supply? As of right now we don’t know for sure, but we bet water treated using reverse osmosis will contain far fewer contaminants and we, if given the option, would rather drink the RO (reverse osmosis) water!

Please note, however, that as we conducted the research for this blog posting we uncovered something that we did not, previously fully understand… reverse osmosis units on their own do an excellent job of improving water quality by cleansing it of SOME unwanted contaminants potentially found in fracking fluids (i.e. dissolved metals), but a person looking for a water filter certified to remove other common fracking fluid components like VOC’s (volatile organic contaminants) should seriously consider purchasing a unit equipped with pre and/or post filters that scrub the water for VOC’s.

As an example, of what we just talked about, the Pentek RO-3500 reverse osmosis system has tested and certified to NSF/ANSI to Standard 58 for the reduction of Pentavalent Arsenic, Barium, Cadmium, Copper, Hexavalent & Trivalent Chromium, Cyst, Fluoride, Lead, Nitrate/Nitrite, Radium 226/228, Selenium, TDS and Turbidity in water, but not VOC’s.

Don’t get the wrong idea about the Pentek RO-3500, though. The reviews we found for the unit speak VOLUMES about its ability to clean up otherwise unpleasant drinking water. It just may not work as well for the purpose of removing fracking fluids from drinking water.

So… If not reverse osmosis, then WHAT?

Again we want to stress that until gas drilling companies must reveal the full list of potential ‘nasties’ they put in fracking fluid, no one will really know the best way to remove fracking fluid from drinking water.

Having said that, we came across a non-RO unit called the Pentek US-1500 Chemical/Lead System that uses two different types of filters to clean drinking water… and it has tested and certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for the reduction of reduce 43 different VOCs, lead, cysts, mercury, asbestos, chlorine taste and chlorine odor.

No, the Pentek US-1500 will not filter out the contaminants that a good quality reverse osmosis unit will. . . so we suggest TESTING YOUR WATER before investing in a water filtration unit!

If you plan to buy a water filter, also plan to have your water tested by a certified drinking water testing laboratory. Whether you choose use a mail order water testing service like National Testing Laboratories or you opt for the services provided by a local laboratory, a water test may keep you from foolishly spending your hard earned money on the wrong type of water filtration system!

After our recent posting about commercial reverse osmosis units we expected to receive inquiries about them, but we NEVER expected for so many of you to ask the same question: “What do the replacement RO membranes cost?”

Honestly, we had not pondered that question… until now. Though we checked only one site, it appears as though one may want to do their homework before investing in a commercial reverse osmosis water filter if pinching pennies matters because the RO membranes in the 4,000 gallons per day unit we brought to everyone’s attention uses 4″x40″ filters that cost no less than $290 apiece on the various sites we checked.

We suppose, however, that anyone willing and ready to drop around $5,000 on a high volume water filtration system probably expects to spend a few bucks on the unit’s replacement RO membranes

Thankfully, though, replacement reverse osmosis membrane prices for point-of-use systems for households, small businesses, etc. still cost in the range of $100 or so.

Now that we’ve done a little research, we can definitely say that anyone considering purchasing a reverse osmosis unit should make sure the unit they want to purchase uses a universal size of ro membrane — else face really high replacement costs and/or the risk of not being able to find a replacement at all!

Every once in a while we will get an inquiry from folks interested in water filters for larger, more robust applications… and for those folks we have written today’s post about a reverse osmosis filtration system for commercial applications capable of producing up to 4,000 gallons of highly filtered drinking water a day.

A company we have talked about in the past, Crystal Quest, has come out with a commercial (or whole house) reverse osmosis water filter system that uses (2) two 4″ x 40″ TFC HF1 Membranes, (1) one 4.5″ x 20″ Big White 5 micron sediment filter, (1) one 4.5″ x 20″ Big White 10 micron carbon block filter and, (1) one 4.5″ x 20″ Big White 1 micron sediment filter to effectively filter source water pushed through by a single 1 HP Multistage Goulds Pump and Motor (110/220 Volts AC, 60/50 Hertz).

Neatly packaged on a powder coated (white) aluminum, lightweight frame, this unit also boasts an inline TDS monitoring system so operators can keep a watchful eye on the purity of water produced by the system.

What good does monitoring TDS do?

When operating properly, a reverse osmosis system like the one pictured here, or like smaller, point-of-use versions such as the Crystal Quest Thunder 1000 CP, which combines reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration, will strip water of pretty much any dissolved matter… so if a TDS meter detects dissolved solids in water post-filtration, then something has gone wrong during the filtration process and one or more of the filter elements may need replacing.

If, by chance, your water usage does not require such a high volume of purified water on a daily basis, you may wish to consider the 2,500 gallon commercial reverse osmosis system or, if you just need a system for in-home use, you can find a number of units worth taking a look at on the Filter Water Web Site.

We recently read that the United States Environmental Protection Agency plans to enact new guidelines aimed at monitoring perchlorate levels in drinking water and requiring corrective actions if higher than acceptable levels get detected.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in early February it will be implementing a standard that regulates the amount of perchlorate that can be in drinking water. Perchlorate (a salt derived from perchloric acid) is a man-made and naturally occurring substance that is found in rocket fuel, fireworks, and other combustible products and has been linked to thyroid problems in young children and pregnant women.

Between 2001 and 2005, the EPA monitored drinking water sources in sources all over the United States and found that 153 sources in 26 different states contained perchlorate. In most positive sources, the drinking water was contaminated by improperly disposed rocket fuel and other chemicals at plants, testing sites, and even military bases. ( source )

What prompted the EPA to take closer look at perchlorate in drinking water? According to the EPA’s own web site,

“Scientific research indicates that perchlorate may disrupt the thyroid’s ability to produce hormones that are critical to developing fetuses and infants. Monitoring data show more than 4 percent of public water systems have detected perchlorate and between 5 million and 17 million people may be served drinking water containing perchlorate. The science that has led to this decision has been peer reviewed by independent scientists and public health experts including the National Academy of Sciences. Perchlorate is both a naturally-occurring and man-made chemical that is used in the manufacture of rocket fuel, fireworks, flares and explosives, and may be present in bleach and in some fertilizers. This decision reverses a 2008 preliminary determination by the previous administration, and considers input from almost 39,000 public comments.”

So… How can a person learn if their tap, city and/or municipal water supply contains unacceptable levels of perchlorates? Each year your local water department must make available Consumer Confidence Report that tells consumers what contaminants showed up during routine testing throughout the year and from source(s) it extracted its water.

Removing/Reducing perchlorate levels in drinking water?

As usual, when dealing with a particularly unpleasant drinking water contaminant, water professionals suggest the use of a quality reverse osmosis drinking water system for the job.

Watts 315 Reverse Osmosis System Meets NSF/ANSI Standard 58

Watts 415 Reverse Osmosis System Meets NSF/ANSI Standard 58

Watts 525 Reverse Osmosis System Meets NSF/ANSI Standard 58