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Two questions we get on a regular basis:

    (1) “Do I Need a Water Filter?”
    (2) “How Do I Know if I Need a Water Filter?”

Quite frankly, we kinda’ wish someone would give us a penny for each time we’ve gotten that question in an email.. We’d have a ton of cash! But we digress.

As seemingly complicated and daunting as both those questions may seem, they both have the same answer: Only testing of your water, preferably by a certified water testing laboratory, will let you know if you need a water filter…

… And even then you will need to perform occasional water tests just to make sure the quality of your water has not changed since the last test (because it can!) and/or to make certain your water filter continues to function properly.

As with any matter that could possibly have detrimental effects on your health, though, you should always get a second opinion… or in this case read what the EPA says and plans to do regarding water quality in the United States:

The Environmental Protection Agency says most people don’t need to treat their drinking water at home to make it safe. But the agency adds that a home water-treatment unit can improve water’s taste, or provide an extra margin of safety for people “more vulnerable to the effects of waterborne illness” such as infants, the elderly or those with compromised immune systems. The EPA sets standards for about 90 contaminants that can end up in drinking water supplies—from micro-organisms to herbicides and discharge from industrial-chemical factories.

For each, the agency dictates a “maximum” amount allowed, and utilities are required to treat water and issue an annual report to customers about what’s detected. (If you’re drinking from a private well, you’re on your own.)

A home-treatment device may reduce such contaminants even further. Plus, the EPA sets drinking-water standards for just a fraction of the some 15,000 chemicals used in the U.S. In December, the not-for-profit Environmental Working Group released results of a three-year analysis of 20 million tap water quality tests performed by water utilities and found some 202 currently unregulated chemicals in water supplied across the country. That included rocket-fuel component perchlorate and MTBE, a gasoline additive. Other contaminants, such as copper and lead, may be introduced through corrosion of a homeowner’s own pipes or through leaching of brass or chrome-plated faucets and fixtures. There are DIY test kits starting at about $10 that can detect some contaminants, but a thorough analysis will require a professional to collect samples and send to a private lab.

“In almost every case, the utilities comply with federal standards but that doesn’t ensure that the water is safe to drink,” says Jane Houlihan, senior vice president for research for EWG. The EPA is evaluating the health effects of more than 100 contaminants currently unregulated in drinking water, including pharmaceuticals and disinfection byproducts, for possible regulation by 2013. ( source )

So… Do you need a water filter for your tap water or well water? Again, only testing will tell and since even the EPA suspects that it may have more drinking water contaminants to monitor, well, all of us here at Water Testing Blog know that WE will keep an eye on OUR drinking water quality and suggest you do the same, too.

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.

When times get tough for the general public, they also get tough for the average criminal who will do whatever it takes to keep his or her income stream alive — including impersonating a city or county worker assigned to test water quality in a residential neighborhood.

Recently police have received a number of reports mentioning fake county workers asking residents in Forsyth County, Georgia to allow them access to their homes supposedly for ‘official business’ involving water related matters.

Just north of Atlanta in Forsyth County, authorities are warning people about a situation that could prove either physically or financially dangerous. While they are not saying what the motives of these people are when they come to doors there; they are warning people that the county never conducts business in the manner in which these imposters are suggesting.

Since little is known at this time, people in surrounding counties and in Atlanta should also be aware since it is not know how far and wide this scam may be. If you have grave suspicion that something is awry, phone 911 immediately.

The officials have received several calls where individuals posing as water department employees in which they say they need entrance into the house to test the water.

Again it is not clear if how these imposters make appointments either at the front door or by phone, it is well advised to not let any stranger into your home. Apparently some have been contacted by phone to set up an appointment.

Living in the perilous times that we do, it is always important to keep your guard up. Always question any utility – gas, water, phone, etc. if you did not contact them.

The Forsyth County Water and Sewer Department says they never solicit over the telephone and residents should be leery of anyone contacting residents; especially if they did not initiate the contact.

Citizens of the county are being advised not to give any personal information to those inquiring.

Forsyth County Director of Water and Sewer Tim Perkins said. “Most all of our work can be accomplished outside the home.”

At any time when strangers approach your home, be cautious and always ask for valid identification no matter who they are – and for whatever reason they have approached your home even if you made the appointment. But also be advised that some crime groups are sophisticated these days and can reproduce false ID.

It is not known if these potential criminals are operating only in Forsyth County or in surrounding counties as well. Always err on the side of caution. As the old adage goes, “better safe than sorry.” ( source )

PUBLIC SAFETY TIP: Under NO circumstances should you ever allow a stranger into your home unless they can prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that they have legitimate credentials and reason to enter your home. As a general rule, if the County, City or State really DID need access to your home, they would have called and written you well in advance of showing up on your doorstep.

Additionally, as the article stated, most of the tasks any County, City or State personnel would need to accomplish would take place outside your home and they would have no reason to ever go inside your home.

Variation of the Scam

Some of us here at the Water Testing Blog have heard about shady water treatment companies sending their sales resp out into neighborhoods with instruction to tell residents that the City or County sent them out to conduct a test of the home’s water. Once inside, the salesperson would ‘prove’ that the water contained all sorts of dangerous ’stuff’ and more or less refuse to leave until the homeowner, usually an elderly person, signed up to buy an expensive, overpriced, and/or totally unnecessary, water treatment system.

PUBLIC SAFETY TIP: Reputable water treatment system salespeople will not show up on your doorstep and city/county workers out to perform testing will not EVER attempt to sell you a water treatment system.

Need a Safe Way to Get Your Water Tested?

For those that feel they may need to have their water tested, but do not want to have a stranger in their home that might hit them with a high pressure sales pitch at the end of the test, other options exist:

At-home drinking water test kits from SenSafe and WaterSafe provide fast results for basic water quality tests and submit-by-mail water quality test kits analyzed by a certified drinking water quality testing laboratory such as National Testing Laboratories provide a highly detailed water quality report in about a week or two.

Yes, you read that right. We recently came across a short article on a news channel’s site in the Bethesda, MD area which stated that a local pizzeria used a water filtration system — and that some people believe its pizza tasted more like pizza from New York because of the purified water.

Some say its the water that makes New York pizza taste so good. Flippin’ Pizza uses a water filtration systems to make our local water taste more like New York’s. ( source )

So if we read that right, locals in Bethesda, MD believe one of the secrets to making great New York style pizza involves filtering their own water so that it more closely resembles that of New York’s. Kind of interesting, don’t you think?

Naturally the question on OUR minds sounds a lot like… “What kind of water filter do they use?”

We checked the pizza place’s web site ( www.flippinpizza.com ) to see if maybe they had leaked the brand and type of water filter they use, but no luck. We did, however find this statement that the proprietors made about their pizza:

A real, honest pie. An old-school, ‘I’m from Brooklyn and you’re not’ pizza. So welcome to Flippin’ Pizza. A New York original, since 2007. ( source )

Didn’t figure we’d get much info from New Yorkers, but hey… If you don’t try, you’ll never know. So fuhgettaboutit already!

Better water can make food taste better?

We figure, as you probably already have, that truly rotten water would ruin the taste of anything. But, since we do try to educate with more than just our opinions around here, we decided that we needed to find some scientific proof that our opinion had real merit.

In comparison to taste thresholds in spring water, the recognition thresholds are higher using tap water, and lower using deionized water. When using deionized water, sour was detected by all subjects at the lowest concentrations. Iron(II)sulfate could best be matched to metallic sensation in deionized water. Results indicate that taste sensitivity is influenced by water quality. ( source )

For those who don’t speak ’science talk’, the folks conducting the study discovered that participants in the study could more easily recognize distinct flavors in spring water and deionized water than in tap water.

We suppose that means when people try to add a hint of flavor to a soup or other dish using tap water, it takes them more seasoning to accomplish that task. Now if you consider that some seasonings, like salt, can harm a person if ingested in too great a quantity for too long a time, then that means tap water makes it easier for that harm to happen.

Getting back to the taste issue, though, if you consider that pretty much all municipalities add some form of disinfectant (often an oxidizer such as chlorine) to the water they distribute, it would make sense that the oxidizers would act on, and attempt to destroy, anything they encounter — including seasonings and natural flavors in foods.

Additionally, if water has too high or low a pH, it may act to oxidize or reduce naturally occurring chemicals in a food that would otherwise impart the food’s natural flavor into dish.

So, for all you aspiring chefs and cooks out there, as well as all the Ramen Noodle eating folks like so many of us at the Water Testing Blog, using filtered water may increase the flavor in your dishes and allow you to fully enjoy the flavors you work so hard to create.

Test your drinking water before choosing a drinking water filter

Having your water tested will give you the opportunity to select the perfect water filter for your water. Simple at-home drinking water test kits from WaterSafe and SenSafe can provide important information you will need when selecting the appropriate water filter for your home or business.

Note: Drinking water test kits from those companies only give you some of the information you will need to make an educated decision when choosing a water filter. Having your water tested by a certified water testing lab such as National Testing Laboratories will give you a lot more detail and make your water filter decision that much easier.

Most importantly, though, certified water testing labs like National Testing Laboratories will test for many dangerous chemicals and compounds that home drinking water test kits cannot.

We sites to research water filters

Over the years we have seen a lot of water filter web sites come and go and the ones we will list here have not only endured the test of time, but they have grown and adapted well to the public’s ever-changing water filtration demands.

We present these in no particular order.

WaterFilters.Net — www.WaterFilters.net

FilterWater.Com — www.FilterWater.com

FiltersFast.Com — www.FiltersFast.com

IsoPureWater.Com — www.IsoPureWater.com

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

We just got word that our friends over at Filter Water just started carrying a dual filter whole house arsenic filter made by Crystal Quest … and currently have an offer of free shipping on the unit.

Why should you care about arsenic in your drinking water?

Pretty simple answer, really. It can kill you, or at the very least, cause long-term damage to your internal organs.

In a nutshell, arsenic in ground water comes from a reaction between certain types of igneous (volcanic) rock and oxygen when a water table (aquifer) drops. That reaction liberates “free” arsenic and once the water table rises again, that “free” arsenic gets carried away by the water.

As for whether or not arsenic in drinking water can harm a person, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has stated that water systems may NOT dispense drinking water with arsenic in concentrations greater than 10 ppb as of January 2006.

Below please find a brief list of SOME of the illnesses and conditions associated with consuming arsenic in drinking water:

• Long term exposure to arsenic has been linked to cancer of the bladder, lungs, skin, kidneys, nasal passages, liver and prostate.
• Short term exposure to high doses of arsenic can cause other adverse health effects including death.

For more detailed information on the adverse effects on human health associated with exposure to arsenic, please refer to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry’s Arsenic Assessment.

Additionally, you can information on testing home drinking water for arsenic on this page.

How do you know if you have arsenic in your drinking water?

If you have any reason to suspect that you may have arsenic in your drinking water, we suggest you contact a certified water testing laboratory such as Suburban Water Testing or by contacting the State Certification Officers for Drinking Water Laboratories from your state for a current list of labs. You can find a list of State Certification Officers on this page.

For day-to-day arsenic in drinking water testing, because arsenic levels do fluctuate with heavy/light rain events since large amounts of rain and periods of drought affect aquifer levels, you may want to take a look at the at-home drinking water water test kits for arsenic on the following sites:

• www.ArsenicQuick.com

• www.Arsenic-Test-Kit.com

How does the Crystal Quest Whole House Arsenic Filter Work?

Although we will leave the serious details to the folks over at Filter Water, we can tell you that this system uses multiple stages of filtration, uses an NSF certified component for arsenic removal, and has a separate tank that uses KDF-85, KDF-55 and GAC (granular activated carbon) to remove many other typical and atypical drinking water contaminants.

Click Here for More Information on the Whole House Crystal Quest Arsenic Filter

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: