For those who would like a definition of pH and an explanation of why testing for pH matters, take a look at one of our previous blog entries: “Testing for pH Levels and Why pH Matters“.

Since we have not, as of yet, posted a blog entry specifically about alkalinity, we figure we will take care of that matter right now by including a basic definition of alkalinity in this blog entry:

In a nutshell, alkalinity refers to water’s ability to resist sudden changes to its pH and to measure alkalinity we measure the amount of CaCO₃ in the water. In nature CaCO₃ typically comes from rocks and soil that water passes over in its travels.

Pool and spa owners will add CaCO₃, sometimes referred to as “Alkalinity Increaser, to counteract the basic (high pH) nature of liquid chlorine and/or the acidic (low pH) nature of most chlorine tablets and sticks.

Since pH and alkalinity have such a close relationship, and it would make sense to measure one if you planned to measure the other, the makers of the WaterWorks brand of water quality test strips created the pH and Total Alkalinity Test Strip which measures both water quality parameters simultaneously and gives accurate, repeatable results in under 30 seconds.

Directions:

1. Dip 1 test strip into a water sample for 10 seconds, then remove.
2. Immediately match pH color, then match alkalinity test pad color.

Detection Levels:

• pH: 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0
• Total Alkalinity: 0, 80, 120, 180, 240, 360 ppm (mg/L)

We recently learned of another vendor, WaterFilters.Net, that offers drinking water water test kits on their web site.

A while back we posted an article about the extent of mercury contamination in freshwater streams and rivers in the United States and in that article we told you how fish from ALL 291 bodies of water tested came up positive for mercury. Therefore an article which recently appeared on the Denver Post web site about smallmouth bass in the Juniata Reservoir coming up positive for mercury contamination did not surprise us.

How certain government officials proposed to DEAL with the problem, however, DID shock us.

GRAND JUNCTION — A reservoir that provides drinking water for Grand Junction is closed for fishing because smallmouth bass there have tested positive for mercury contamination.

Steve Gunderson, director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s water- quality division, says the mercury levels in Juniata Reservoir are extremely low, but mercury accumulates in fish. He says state health officials are meeting with city officials about keeping the reservoir off a list of bodies of water that don’t meet water- quality standards, if they can get rid of all contaminated fish or isolate the reservoir. ( source )

Sounds to use like the officials seem more concerned about keeping this body of water off the ‘contaminated list’ than they do about the actual underlying problem: Mercury in the water!

Granted the article only gave a brief overview of the situation at Juniata Reservoir, but we really find it strange that the proposed method of ’solving’ the problem involves removing (killing) all the smallmouth bass… and/or keeping those fish from migrating to another body of water.

No matter how you look at it, once again it seems that certain government bodies care more about regional revenue from tourism, revenue from sport fishing, and revenue in general than they do about finding the underlying cause of all the problems… and this means, to some extent, that the general public must keep a vigilant eye on issues involving contamination of lakes, rivers, ponds, streams, and any other bodies of water because government agencies have their own agendas which may or may not include keeping toxic materials out of the water.

Testing for Metals in Water

A quick and efficient way of testing for the presence of metals in your water involves the use of a water testing product such as the SenSafe Water Metals Check which provides users with semi-quantitative water metals levels in under three minutes.

SenSafe Water Metals Check requires no iodine indicator solution, no meter, and no specialized training. Just dip the strip for 20 seconds, wait two minutes, and match color on the end of the strip to the color chart provided on the bottle.

Metals detected by SenSafe Water Metals Check include, but are not limited to, copper, cobalt, zinc, cadmium, and nickel.

SenSafe Water Metals Check has a low detection limit of 10ppb (parts per billion), much lower than any comparable product on the market.

What About Testing for Mercury in Water?

Simple test kits exist for testing mercury levels in drinking water as well. SenSafe manufactures two different Mercury in Water Test Kits and both, like SenSafe Water Metals Check, require no meter or special training to use and yield results in a matter of minutes.

About a month ago we reported that environmental testing had detected elevated levels of radon in a residential area called The Acreage in Florida… and that 13 families in the development had children who currently suffer from or did suffer from brain tumors or cancer. The Palm Beach County Health Department also conducted in-depth interviews with 12 of 13 families. They did not, however, come up with any definitive explanations for the cluster of cancer cases observed.

Radon Suspect in Florida Tumor and Cancer Cases

Now, after months of back-and-forth between the families, the Health Department, and various State Officials, it appears as though the State of Florida will step in and perform its own testing and hopefully find a reason for all the illnesses.

THE ACREAGE – State officials will test the water and soil at cancer-stricken children’s homes in The Acreage, said the Florida Department of Health’s chief of staff.

That decision, which the children’s families had sought for months, was disclosed Friday.

“If they want us to test it, we will,” said health department Chief of Staff Robert Siedlecki Jr.

“Wonderful,” said Tracy Newfield, whose daughter had a brain tumor removed when she was 11. “They’ve had our medical records and had our approval to test whatever they want.”

Gov. Charlie Crist pledged Thursday to seek federal help to investigate whether something has caused higher-than-normal rates of pediatric brain tumors and cancer, particularly among girls, in The Acreage. ( source )

While the families whose children fell ill and other families in the area applauded the State’s decision to intervene…

Senate President Jeff Atwater, R- North Palm Beach, also expressed sympathy.

“My heart goes out to the Acreage families who are experiencing the heartache of cancer,” he said in a statement. “I cannot imagine the pain these parents, grandparents, children and their loved ones are feeling. I support the calls for further investigation and thank Governor Crist for committing to get to the bottom of this.” ( source )

… while others felt the State had no reason to get involved and indicated that the inconclusive nature of results from previous testing did not immediately warrant another round of (more in-depth) environmental testing.

However, state environmental officials tested water last year to help the health department. Its samples from 50 wells chosen randomly in The Acreage indicated a few homes had elevated levels of radium and other radioactive substances that could result from natural causes.

The same study concluded ground water quality in The Acreage was “generally good.”

Palm Beach County’s heath director, Dr. Alina Alonso, said investigators’ interviews had not turned up a cause and that it didn’t make sense at this stage to run tests looking for one. ( source )

No matter how you look at it, every family in that area has suffered. Whether in the form of illness, stress over not knowing if a loved one may suddenly become ill, or greatly diminished property values because no one wants to move into a suspected cancer cluster, no family in that area has escaped unscathed.

All of us here at Water Testing Blog hope the State of Florida can get to the bottom of things and help those folks out.

Can a Person Test for Radon at Home?

Absolutely. Test kits exist for detecting the presence of radon in air and in water. One can also install radon mitigation systems to reduce and/or remove radon from a building.

Below you will find links to other articles on the topic of radon in the air, radon in the water, ways to test for radon and ways to get rid of radon:

• Radon Gas Can Kill Whole Families… Slowly
• Test Kits for Radon in Water and Radon in Air
• Radon Test Kits (for New Jersey)
• Radon Removal Systems

TeddyGurl recently asked,

I want to know more about the water parameter tests such as turbidity, pH, chlorine, and calcium.

What is the common testing method that should be done?

Thank you for your question TeddyGurl. We will address each part of your inquiry separately.

Turbidity refers to the level of cloudiness or haziness in a liquid caused by concentrations of small particles, also known as suspended solids. The higher the concentration of these particles, the greater the turbidity of the liquid and more cloudy it appears.

To measure turbidity, one typically uses a meter of some sort. The eXact Water Testing Meter has a detection range of 3 to 580 NTU.

For the record, water with a turbidity reading of around 500 NTU will appear milky to the naked eye and water with a turbidity reading of around 50 NTU will appear cloudy, but still allow light to pass through.

pH refers to the measure of how acidic or basic a solution is. Its scale runs from 0.0 to 14.0 with 7.0 as its neutral (not acidic and not basic) value. Solutions with pH values greater than 7.0 get labeled as basic and solutions with pH values less than 7.0 get labeled as acidic.

To measure pH, one has several options: liquid/powder/tablet based test kits, test strips and electronic meters.

Chlorine gets added to drinking water as a disinfectant (an antimicrobial agent used on non-living objects to eradicate and destroy microorganisms which can cause infection). The United States Environmental Agency has set the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for chlorine at 4.0 ppm (parts per million), or 4.0 mg/L (milligrams per liter).

When testing for chlorine in water, one can choose between liquid/powder/tablet based test kits, test strips and electronic meters.

Calcium has the atomic number of 20 and ranks as the fifth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. When it comes to drinking water, calcium acts to ‘harden’ the water and so therefore when one measures the hardness of water, one actually measures the calcium (and magnesium to a lesser extent) concentration in the water.

To measure the calcium content in water, one can choose between liquid/powder/tablet based test kits, test strips and electronic meters.

Over the past 2 years we have mentioned test strips for commonly tested water parameters such as chlorine, pH, water hardness, bacteria, and heavy metals on a regular basis. Recently someone asked us if we knew of test strips for other, less commonly tested water parameters.

Without knowing exactly WHICH unusual water parameters to look for we just started searching for odd water contaminants and came up with the following:

Nitrate: In inorganic chemistry, a nitrate is a salt of nitric acid with an ion composed of one nitrogen and three oxygen atoms (NO₃). In organic chemistry the esters of nitric acid and various alcohols are called nitrates. Nitrogen trioxide is an alternative name for nitrate. ( source )

Nitrite: The nitrite ion is NO₂. The anion is bent, being isoelectronic with ozone. More generally, a nitrite compound is either a salt or an ester of nitrous acid. ( source )

WaterWorks™ Nitrate / Nitrite (as Nitrogen) test strips make in-home and field testing for nitrates and nitrites in water a fast, easy process. This product requires no tablets, powders, or counting of drops… making it well-suited for on-site well testing or the occasional testing of drinking water at home.

Each WaterWorks™ Nitrate / Nitrite test strip performs (1) one nitrate test and (1) one nitrate test.

* Dip strip into sample for a period of two seconds
* Remove strip and wait one minute
* Compare developed colors on test pads to color charts on bottle label

Each bottle of WaterWorks™ Nitrate / Nitrite test strips comes with a total of (50) fifty nitrite tests and (50) nitrate tests.

Detection Ranges:

Total Nitrate (NO3): 0, 0.5, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 ppm (mg/L).

Total Nitrite (NO2): 0.15, 0.3, 1, 1.5, 3, 10 ppm (mg/L)

Over the past few years we have published a number of articles on the topic of arsenic in drinking water, well water, groundwater, etc. Today we learned that a site dedicated to various arsenic test kits from the Arsenic Quick™ brand has gone ‘live’. You can view it here at www.ArsenicQuick.com.

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™ 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

We have not done this in a while, but below you will find the most recent specially priced sale items offered by National Safety Products, an online distributor of products used around the World. You can find water testing kits, water testing meters, fire/smoke safety equipment, light meters, flood/water alarms, heat index monitors, electrical testers, combustion analyzers and a whole host of other very useful tools for inspecting the safety, integrity and quality of many different things on their site: TestProducts.Com.

Water Works pH, Total Alkalinity, Total Hardness, Iron & Nitrate/Nitrite Nitrogen (IT-481302) Contains 2 Each, Result in 45 Seconds $12.99 $7.99	Infrared and Probe Combination Thermometer 2.5:1, -67° to 626°F (IRT303) WATERPROOF with 4.5″ SS Probe, HACCP Food Safe $139.95 $99.00	Inova T3 Tactical Flashlight (NV-T3WB) Black, White Led $74.95 $62.95
Light Meter: Digital 20 to 200,000 LUX (DLM203DL) with RS-232 PC Interface, Cable, Software & Data-Logger $319.79 $169.00	1490 18″ Extension Adapter Kit (1490+25s) with 25s Smoke Detector Test Aerosol $43.95 $24.75	Combustion Analyzer: Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide & Carbon Monoxide (C125KIT) with Infrared Printer, Stainless Steel Flue Probe, 9′ Hose & Case $1,297.95 $1,165.00
Digital Moisture Meter: 0-100% (MS-7003) with LED Bar Graph and LCD Display $199.95 $159.00	Fiber Optic Borescope 36″ x 0.4″ & 0.28″ diameter 2 in 1 REFURBISHED (PV2636-21R) with Case $379.00 $245.00	Wireless Weather Station (WS-2315) ALUMINUM, Wind Speed/Chill, Air Pressure, Rain Fall, Time, Temperature & Humidity w/Cable & Software $259.95 $149.00
Binoculars: Nikon Action 7×35 V2 Ultra Wide View (NIK-7215) with Strap & Case $79.95 $67.75	Hydrogen Sulfide in Water Test Strips 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80 ppm (IT-481197-1) 50 Test Strips, Result in 31 Seconds $13.95 $12.75	Moisture Meter: 6-44% (MM100) with Bar Graph & Dual Mode LCD $99.95 $69.55
Infrared Digital Non-Contact Thermometer, 11:1, -76° to 932° F (IRT408) w/K Port to 1999° F, Gun Style $159.95 $119.55	Manometer: Digital ± 20″ h2o, Single Input (EM151) with Ruggedized Housing, Integral Magnet & Large LCD display $99.95 $89.77	COMPLETE Water Bacteria, Nitrate, Nitrite, Hydrogen Sulfide, Sulfate, Iron, Hardness, Chlorine, Chloride, Copper, Alkalinity+pH (481199) Test Kit $24.95 $19.99

We recently learned that Filter Water, an online distributor of drinking water quality improvement and water testing products, has expanded the number of SenSafe Test Kits to include Ida’s Iron, a dual range test strip that can detect ferrous iron levels as low as 0.005 ppm and as high as 50 ppm in under a minute.

Ida’s Iron specifically reacts with (ferrous) dissolved iron (in the +2 state) without interference from other heavy metals such as copper, silver, mercury, lead or chromium.

For applications where fast, accurate field testing for low levels of Fe+2 matters, Ida’s Iron provides a solid solution and allows you to say, “goodbye” to time-consuming wet-chemical kits that may require specialized training or equipment.

Features of Ida’s Iron include low detection range, easy testing procedures, test times under one minute, no need for glassware, and low test reagent concentrations.

Below you will see a sample of the Ida’s Iron color chart and label:

Label & Color Chart for Ida’s Iron

Ida’s Iron Check Water Test Specifications:

• Sensitivity: 0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.03, 0.06, 0.1, 0.3, 1.0, 2.0, 5.0, 10, 20, 50 ppm (mg/L)
• Test time: 45 seconds
• 25 test strips in a package

Note: To test for total iron, you will want to use a test kit such as the Visual Iron Test Kit which detects both ferrous iron and ferric iron.