Several membsers of the Water Testing Blog staff have spoken with members of the military, both currently enlisted and recently discharged, and found out that some soldiers do not have access to simple, efficient tools they can use to test potential drinking water while deployed in foregin countries.

In most cases they carry packets of sanitizing/disinfecting tablets which they can use to put into their canteens to kill off bacteria, but what about lead, arsenic, cyanide and other items which can EASILY render an entire unit inoperable and take them away from their assigned duties?

Thankfully US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps medical units deployed around the globe now have the ability to make use of simple water quality test kits which give them the ability to read basic water quality parameters quickly and easily.

Arsenic in Water and Soil: Arsenic Quick^TM

Bacteria in Water: Bacteria Check

Chlorine Residual (Free): SenSafe^TM Free Chlorine Water Check

Chlorine Residual (Total): SenSafe^TM Total Chlorine Water Check

Cyanide in Water: Cyanide ReagentStrip^TM

DPD-1 and DPD-4 (Chlorine Testing): eXact DPD ReagentStrips^TM

Lead in Water: Lead in Water Test Kit

Multi Parameter (6 Parameters): Well Water Check

Multi Parameter (11 Parameters): Well Driller Standard Water Test Kit

Multi Parameter (13 Parameters): COMPLETE Water Test Kit

Multi Parameter (15 Parameters): Water Quality Test Kit

Most of us know how badly we feel after ‘a night on the town’ filled with margaritas, martinis, cocktails and body shots because of dehydration. Now try to imagine how our soldiers must feel after a few MONTHS in the desert wearing full combat gear.

Safe drinking water means safer soldiers.

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.

A quantitative testing method for the presence of peroxides in organic solvents and ethers exists as well:

EM Quant^R Peroxide Test, 0.5ppm to 25ppm

Note: The following instructions come from Galade Chemical, a distributor of the above product, and the authors of Water Testing Blog present them ‘as is’, with no expressed or implied guarantees of accuracy.

Volatile Ethers

Immerse a test strip for approximately 1 second in the solvent being tested and allow to evaporate.

Breathe on the reaction zone 4 times for 3-5 seconds each time. Alternatively, immerse briefly in distilled water.

Compare the reaction zone with the color scale.

Low Volatility Ethers

A. Immiscible with water.

Mix a sample of the ether to be tested with 3 times its volume of peroxide-free ether or petroleum benzine (boiling range 40-60°C).

Test as described under “Volatile ethers.”

Record the value indicated on the scale and multiply by 4.

B. Miscible with water

Mix a sample of the ether to be tested with 3 times its volume of distilled water.

Immerse a test strip for approximately 1 second.

Wait 2 minutes and compare with the color scale.

Convert the results as under “Conversion.”

Conversion

Allowing for dilution, 3mg/l on the color scale is equivalent to:

90mg/l tetrahydrofuran peroxide or 30mg/l peroxide calculated as H2O2

150mg/l dioxan peroxide or 45mg/l peroxide calculated as H2O2.

In a previous post we hinted at the existence of a testing procedure for the presence of peroxides in organic solvents. For safety and liability reasons we opted not to go into detail about it, as our areas of expertise deal with testing for specific water parameters and not for specific parameters of other liquids such as organic solvents.

Peroxides formed in/over organic solvents can lead to very dangerous, explosive situations and although we will now discuss (briefly) a testing method for peroxides in organic solvents, we suggest that all parties concerned over such matters consult with the manufacturer(s) of their chemicals for better, more detailed testing, storage and safety information.

For hydroperoxide determination in organic solvents, moisten the test pad of the WaterWorks^TM Peroxide Check test strip with the solvent. Allow the solvent to evaporate and dry. Moisten the test pad with a drop of distilled water. The formation of a blue tint or color on the test pad indicates the presence of hydroperoxide.

The above test procedure provides qualitative results, not quantitative results, and serves as a presence/absence testing method only.

Tomatoes and salmonella poisoning made the news again and with them came some startling scientific revelations. An article written by Lauran Neergaard (AP Medical Writer) and released/published on June 23, 2008 revealed new information about how tomatoes may possibly trap, carry, and incubate salmonella.

“WASHINGTON - Pick a tomato in the blazing sun and plunge it straight into cold water. If that happened on the way to market, it might be contaminated. Too big of a temperature difference can make a tomato literally suck water inside the fruit through the scar where its stem used to be. If salmonella happens to be lurking on the skin, that’s one way it can penetrate and, if the tomato isn’t eaten right away, have time to multiply.

That doesn’t mean people shouldn’t wash their tomatoes — they should, just probably not in cold water.

But as the Food and Drug Administration investigates the nation’s outbreak of salmonella from tomatoes, the example shows the farm isn’t the only place contamination can occur — and checking things like water quality and temperature control in packing houses and other supply stops is one key to safety.”

This raises the question of what sorts of water quality parameters packing houses should monitor on a regular basis.

Sanitizer and Disinfectant Levels — If the water used to wash, rinse and cleanse the tomatoes contains enough sanitizer, then theoretically no salmonella or other forms of bacterialogical contaminants could survive in the water. No contaminants in the water means no contaminants that a tomato could ’suck up’ if submerged in cold water.

“Water is an automatic first suspect. Was clean water used to irrigate, mix pesticides sprayed on crops, wash down harvest and processing equipment, and wash field workers’ hands?

Then in packing houses, tomatoes often go straight into a dump tank, flumes of chlorinated water for a first wash. To guard against salmonella washed into the water in turn being sucked into the tomatoes, producers often keep wash-water 10 degrees warmer than the incoming crop, says food-safety scientist Keith Schneider of the University of Florida, also part of FDA’s tomato initiative.

Beyond packing houses, the industry points to cases where suppliers were shipped unwashed, warm tomatoes and dunked them in ice-water baths to firm them for further processing.

Another question: How often does the water have to be changed? Dirt, leaves and other sediment reduce the chlorine’s effectiveness.”

Produce handlers and packing houses could reduce the chances of accidentally passing fresh produce through improperly disinfected wash water by implementing test procedures and protocols which make use of simple, inexpensive chlorine test strips such as SenSafe^TM Free Chlorine Water Check, a product approved by the USEPA and by several states for drinking water compliance monitoring.

The manufacturer of this product also has dip-n-read test strips capable of detecting chlorine concentrations as high as 2,000ppm and as low as 0.005ppm.

The temperatures have gotten a lot warmer in the past few weeks and swimming pool operators now must meet the public’s demand for a place to ‘cool off’. Swimming pool season has arrived!

Problem: Some pools just don’t pass muster.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It’s the right season to take a dip in the neighborhood pool, but WCNC found almost half the pools in Mecklenburg County fail their first inspection.

The problems were serious enough at 15 percent of Mecklenburg County pools that inspectors shut them down immediately.(source: 6/25/2008 article by Stuart Watson WCNC)

An ‘open’ pool does not necessarily mean a safe pool. Visitors of public swimming facilities, especially those which have privatized maintenance, as in the case of an apartment complex, may want to test the pool water for basic parameters before going for a swim.

Taking a few minutes to use one of the Pool Check^TM brand of test strips will tell you right away if the pool contains the right amount of necessary chemicals. Properly maintained pool water will have a perfect balance of pH, Total Alkalinity, Hardness, and Sanitizer(s). Too much or too little of each parameter can result in potentially unsafe swimming conditions.

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.

“Salmonella in Tomatoes”

Article Written by MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer.

ATLANTA - An outbreak of salmonella food poisoning first linked to uncooked tomatoes has now been reported in nine states, U.S health officials said Tuesday. Lab tests have confirmed 40 illnesses in Texas and New Mexico as the same type of salmonella, right down to the genetic fingerprint.

An investigation by Texas and New Mexico health authorities and the Indian Health Service tied those cases to uncooked, raw, large tomatoes.

At least 17 people in Texas and New Mexico have been hospitalized. None have died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Another 30 people have become sick with the same Salmonella Saintpaul infection in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, Illinois and Indiana. CDC investigators are looking into whether tomatoes were culprits there, too.

In Texas and New Mexico, raw large tomatoes — including Roma and red round tomatoes — were found to be a common factor in the 40 illnesses. But no farm, distributor or grocery chain has been identified as the main source, said Casey Barton Behravesh, a CDC epidemiologist working on the investigation.

“The specific type and source of tomatoes is under investigation,” she said.

Salmonella is a bacterial infection that lives in the intestinal tracts of humans and other animals. The bacteria are usually transmitted to humans by eating foods contaminated with animal feces.

Most infected people suffer fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps starting 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness tends to last four to seven days.

Many people recover without treatment. However, severe infection and even death is possible. Infants, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems are at greatest risk for severe infections.

In Texas and New Mexico, the patients ranged in age from ages 3 to 82. Of the 40, 38 were interviewed. Most said they ate raw tomatoes from either stores or restaurants before becoming ill between April 23 and May 27.

Another 17 cases are under investigation in New Mexico, CDC officials said.

As a result of this recent outbreak of illnesses related for foodborne contaminants, many restaurants and supermarkets have pulled tomatoes off the shelf and/or stopped serving them until they hear an official OK from Federal, State and Local Health Officials.

So if you thought water testing had very little to do with the handling and processing of fresh produce such as tomatoes, you thought wrong. At each step of the handling process the quality and nature of the water used to sanitize/disinfect, wash, rinse and clean the dirt off of fruits and vegetables needs continuous monitoring.

Monitoring Free Chlorine Levels in (Produce) Wash Water:

Many fruit and vegetable packing houses rely upon the WaterWorks^TM Free Chlorine Check test strips with a detection range of 0-25ppm to let them know if the wash water contains enough free chlorine residual to effectively keep their finished product free of contaminants.

Monitoring Free Chlorine Residuals Used to Wash Equipment:

Healh officials on every level require the operators of fruit and vegetable processing plants to clean off their machinery with a strong disinfectant solution. WaterWorks^TM Free Chlorine (High Range) test strips have a detection range of 0-120ppm, a range well suited for monitoring the free chlorine residual levels in the solutions used to hose down (wash) the equipment in a fruit and vegetable processing plant.

Making Sure No Chlorine Remains on the Fruits and Vegetables:

The presence of chlorine residual on fresh produce leads to premature rotting of the product so workers in fruit and vegetable processing plants check the total chlorine levels in water used in the final rinse stage with products like the WaterWorks^TM Total Chlorine test strips before allowing the produce to go into its final packaging.

An article published in the Health section of the http://www.dailymail.co.uk web site on June 2, 2008 stated that a study done at Birmingham University (in England) found a correlation between pregnant women drinking certain types of tap water and the occurence of serious birth defects in their unborn children.

“Drinking or even showering in tap water can double the risk of having deformed children,” says study.

Drinking tap water while pregnant may double the risk of serious heart or brain defects in the unborn child, research suggests.

A study of almost 400,000 babies found a clear link between chemicals formed during chlorination and the occurrence of a trio of birth defects.

Drinking water, showers, swimming pools and even the steam from a boiling kettle can all contain the problem chemicals called trihalomethanes, or THMs, the researchers said.

While the study was carried out in Taiwan, it is thought up to one in six British homes is exposed to levels even higher than those found to cause concern, with concentrations tending to be particularly high in the spring and autumn.

The researchers stressed it would be impractical for pregnant women to avoid tap water and said the onus was instead on the use of disinfection methods which limit levels of the chemicals.

The Birmingham University study compared details of birth defects with the level of THMs in tap water.

The analysis of almost 400,000 babies showed those born into regions where levels were around 80 per cent more likely to have a hole-in-the-heart defect and more than 50 per cent more likely to have a cleft palate.

Their odds of suffering anencephalus - a condition that causes much of the brain, skull and scalp to be missing - were almost doubled, the journal Environmental Health reports.

While birth defects are rare - occurring in about 2 per cent of births - the three flagged up in the study are among the most common.

It is thought the chemicals may harm the unborn baby directly. Alternatively they may damage the woman’s eggs. Although the study did not prove that the chemicals caused the birth defects, it is not the first to make the link.

Researcher Professor Jouni Jaakkola said: ‘Our findings don’t just add to the evidence that water chlorination may cause birth defects, but suggest that exposure to chlorination byproducts may be responsible for some specific and common defects.

THMs are the products of a chemical reaction between chlorine and organic compounds common in lakes, rivers and reservoirs.

The amount of THMs made during chlorination vary according to where the water comes from and the disinfection process, meaning highly chlorinated water does not necessarily have the highest levels.

Home water filters may not be entirely effective at removing the chemicals and bottled water may also be tainted.

Professor Jaakkola said the solution was for water companies to use disinfection procedures that keep the production of THMs to a minimum.

He said: ‘Water disinfection has an important purpose in reducing microbial load and reducing acute gastro-intestinal infections.

‘Some have claimed it is the best public health measure ever introduced.

‘We are talking about rare health effects and a modest risk increase.

‘I don’t suggest stopping using tap water but we have to be conscious that at population level some risks may be related to increased levels.’

The Drinking Water Inspectorate, which is tasked by the Government to monitor the safety of tap water, said its own, larger-scale research had failed to find a link between THMs and birth defects.

Principal inspector Sue Pennison said: ‘Obviously we will review this research, engage our health expert colleagues, and look to see if it means we need to do anything more. But there’s no reason for people to be worried.

‘Chlorination is reliable and has been used for centuries. The only reason diseases like cholera and typhoid are not in our water supply is because of chlorination.’

The water industry trade body, Water UK, said it would consider the findings but chlorination in the UK meets World Health Organisation guidelines. ( source )

Testing for Disinfection Byproducts?

There are no ’simple’ ways to test for disinfectionm byproducts (DBP’s), but homeowners can find out if the water supplied by their public water systems possibly contains disinfection byproducts by using a test kit like the WaterWorks^TM Free and Total Chlorine Test Kit. See below:

WaterWorks^TM 2 Free and Total Chlorine

The test strips above have two pads: 1 for measuring Free Chlorine Residual and 1 for measuring Total Chlorine Residual.

• No Color on Either Pad: This typically means the water contains no chlorine at all. If on a residential water system, a person may want to re-test and/or consult your local water authority. Please note, though, that the absence of free and total chlorine does NOT necessarily mean the water does not contain disinfection byproducts. A possibility exists that all of the chlorine (or chloramines) added at the water treatment plant have left the water before getting to where it was drawn for testing.
• Color on Both Pads: This means both free and total chlorine exist in the sample water and a possibility exists that the water also contains disinfection byproducts.
• Color on Free Chlorine Pad Only: This should not ever happen because the total chlorine concentration represents the sum of the free chlorine plus the combined chlorine in the water. You cannot have free chlorine registering w/o it also registering as part the total chlorine concentration.
• Color on Total Chlorine Pad Only: If the public water system uses a chlorine/ammonia based disinfectant system then the water will more than likely NOT contain disinfection byproducts. If, however, the public water system uses a free chlorine residual as its disinfectant, then a good chance exists that the water contains disinfection byproducts.

Don’t forget that you can always find out definitively whether or not your tap water contains disinfection byproducts by simply calling your local water company and asking questions. As a general rule, the law requires them to divulge that sort of information upon request to anyone who asks.