We often get asked if people who have city/town water ought to test their drinking water from time to time. If you live in the city of Edgewood, Iowa, you no longer have to ask that question.

While the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says they do not believe any dangerous water safety issues avoided detection, the fact that a city employee responsible for testing the city’s public drinking water supply on a regular basis purchased only enough supplies for 100 tests — despite claiming to have performed 3,889 water tests between January 2006 and July 2009 — would make just about anyone curious.

A former Edgewood city employee has been sentenced to probation after he admitted that he failed to test the town’s water supply and submitted false reports to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

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Harris, 43, pleaded guilty in April to one count of making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency.

In the plea agreement, Harris admitted he sent false monthly reports to the DNR from February 2008 and July 2009. He falsely claimed testing for fluoride, chlorine and manganese. DNR tests showed less chlorine in the water than the 1.5 milligrams per liter required by state law to kill bacteria.

The review found lower-than-acceptable levels of fluoride, which reduces tooth decay, and manganese oxide, which helps remove cancer-causing radium from the water. Residents in the eastern Iowa town were not exposed to any short- or long-term health risks, a DNR officer said.

The DNR originally alleged that Harris claimed to have done 3,889 water tests between January 2006 and July 2009, but bought enough material for only 100 tests. Harris resigned in August 2009.

The investigation began after some residents complained about declining water quality. ( source )

OK, now having read that, does the statement, “DNR tests showed less chlorine in the water than the 1.5 milligrams per liter required by state law to kill bacteria.” make you feel… safe?

How about “The investigation began after some residents complained about declining water quality.” Does that give you any sense of security?

Can individuals test their city/town/tap water?

Of course they can! While only certified water testing laboratories can give the absolute last word on the safety and potability of drinking water, at-home drinking water test kits from companies like SenSafe and WaterSafe allow the average homeowner to test critical water parameters on their own, whenever they want, and for little money.

What water parameters should homeowners test?

Given the number of possible drinking water contaminants, the average homeowner would find it difficult (and expensive!) to test for them all… but as a general rule, if typically makes sense for people on city/town/tap water to test for water parameters such as:

• free chlorine residual
• total chlorine residual
• lead in water
• copper in water
• iron in water
• total hardness
• bacteria in water
• hydrogen sulfide

Should homeowners with city water test for other things? That all depends on where their water company gets its water. As an example, if the water comes from a well, other potentially harmful water contaminants such as pesticides and arsenic could find their way into the water supply and an ill-equipped water treatment facility may not have the proper technology installed to remove them.

As always, though, if you have serious reason to suspect that your tap water has ‘issues’, seek advice from certified water quality experts. Home water test kits serve as great field tests, but the final word regarding a water supply’s potability should come from a certified water testing laboratory.

Back in the month of June resident of Alberta, Canada with his own ‘news’ blog did his community a great service by posting an article warning people that scam artists had targeted neighbors. Apparently, a fly-by-night, or otherwise not-so-ethical organization, left small bags containing water sampling kits on people’s doors and has now started making follow-up calls to the homes where they dropped off bags.

While the town of Morinville DOES have a random sampling program in effect to help guarantee water quality for all residents, the town has nothing to do with the surprise water testing packages showing up at people’s homes.

Morinville – If you come home to find a little blue bag hanging on your door with a water testing kit inside, Morinville Enforcement Services want you to know that it is not a town-run program.

Enforcement Services have recently received a number of calls from Morinville residents who have received the kits and are reporting that follow-up calls are being made to their homes regarding them.

The kits are not being distributed by Public Works or any other Morinville department.

Morinville already has a water testing process in place. Water testers collect unsolicited random samples on a daily basis and send them to a government lab to ensure the quality and safety of the Town’s water.

If the Town requires anything from a resident or their property, they contact the person directly. At no time do they hang collection kits on a resident’s door.

Residents with questions are asked to call Enforcement Services at 939-4361 or Public Works at 939-2590. ( source )

We have written about shady water testing companies in the past, we find ourselves writing about them now, and we will probably wind up writing about them again in the future. It saddens us to know that people could use matters as serious as drinking water contamination as a way to trick people into purchasing additional water testing and/or possibly unneeded water filtration equipment.

Avoiding the snake oil salesman

Most Effective Method: Don’t let the b#stards in the front door to begin with and/or hang up on them when they call.

Next Most Effective Method: Knowing the condition of your drinking water will always provide you with the best defense against unethical water testing companies and companies using deceptive water testing tactics. They cannot possibly convince you that you need ‘this’ or that you will DIE if you don’t install ‘that’ right away if you already know from testing of your own or a trusted water testing facility indicates otherwise.

Always remember that a water filter company offering to come out and test your water ‘for free’ spends money on gas, training, salary and equipment sending a technician (salesperson) to your house — and therefore expects that technician (salesperson) to sell you something whether you need it or not.

If you think you may need a water filter, first have an independent lab like National Testing Laboratories or a local laboratory certified to test drinking water give you a complete analysis. Then read the results over carefully and make sure you understand what they mean so that when the water filter salesperson makes his/her presentation, you can ask the right questions and keep yourself from accidentally getting sold more filter than you really need.

While the average person does not have a need to for chlorine levels much above 3 to 5 parts per million, and even then they would typically only need to do so to make sure their swimming pools had a sufficient amount of free chlorine, but other folks have the need to test for free chlorine levels in excess of 25 or 50 parts per million on a regular basis. Below we will list a few of the places where you might expect to see a need for high range free chlorine testing.

Fruit & Vegetable Processing

After fresh produce leaves the fields it travels to a processing facility where it typically gets washed with a solution containing some sort of sanitizer such as chlorine, ozone, etc. In cases where the produce processing plant uses chlorine employees must make sure the rinse water contains a certain amount of free chlorine after it has passed over the fruit/vegetables.

Levels of free chlorine drop with an increase in biological load (contamination) and the rinse water having free chlorine left after use indicates that the produce no longer contains biological contamination on its surfaces.

Childcare Facilities

State laws require that childcare facilities clean their surfaces with properly mixed sanitizing and disinfecting solutions that contain an appropriate concentration of sanitizing or disinfecting chemicals. In many cases these facilities use chlorine bleach solutions for cleaning purposes.

As a general rule these solutions must contain anywhere from 50 to 200 parts per million free chlorine for sanitizing solutions and anywhere from 500 to 800 parts per million free chlorine for disinfecting solutions. In case like this the Waterworks High Range Free Chlorine Test Strips will not work because they have an upper detection limit of only 120 parts per million free chlorine, but WaterWorks Free Chlorine Check Ultra High II has an upper detection limit of 2,000 parts per million free chlorine and works well in this application.

Some states leave it up to individual childcare facilities to determine testing frequency of sanitizing and disinfecting solutions while other states, like North Carolina for example, have strict laws dictating how often childcare facilities must perform testing.

As of January 1, 2006, all licensed, non-in-home daycare centers in the State of North Carolina had to have the ability to test the chlorine bleach content in both their sanitizing and their disinfecting solutions. Previously the law stated that they had to test only the chlorine concentration in their sanitizing solutions. ( source )

If interested in purchasing a test kit for testing sanitizing & disinfecting solutions in a childcare facility, you can find them readily available on the Filters Fast web site.

Water Lines and Water Mains

Before a water line can go into service for the first time or go back into service after a breakage or leak has gotten repaired technicians must flush (burn) the lines with water containing a high concentration of free chlorine to clean out any and biological contaminants. Typically the technicians must test the discharge water periodically until the free chlorine level remains constant at a high level for a set amount of time.

Waterworks High Range Free Chlorine Test Strips work very well for this application.

Product-specific information about Waterworks High Range Free Chlorine Test Strips:

• Testing requires just 32 seconds
• Each bottle contains 50 ready-to-use tests
• Color chart has easily distinguished color blocks at 1, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 120 ppm
• No harmful chemicals or reagents to handle

The other day we received a question from a reader in California who asked a question about free and total chlorine readings in what she called the ‘high range’.

I work at the front desk of a company that works on water lines and the guys are always complaining about ‘powder pillers’ and so today I finally asked what a ‘powder piller’ was. I learned two things today. One never ask a cranky engineer a question unless you know what your asking cuz they’re called POWDER PILLOWS and two the guys use them to test chlorine and they are a real pain to work with on a job. Do you have something else the guys can use cuz they REALLY don’t like those things nad they don’t test very high either it seems. Thanks for helping. MandyMandy113

A very interesting question, indeed, Mandy, and definitely one many people besides yourself probably would like to have answered — especially that cranky ‘ole engineer! He probably has spent years testing for free chlorine residual in water mains using DPD-Based test kits that require users to tear open a tiny foil packet and pour a pre-measured amount of reagent powder into a small test tube or vial.

Believe it or not, opening those small foil packets, often referred to as powder pillows, and pouring their contents into tiny openings using dirty, wet hands in cold, windy conditions really DOES take a lot of concentration and effort. Who knew, right?

So anyways, Mandy, other options do exist and they have a few bonuses they your co-workers, even the cranky ‘ole engineer, might appreciate. One option in particular even has approval by the EPA for use when testing the free chlorine residual in drinking water! See how he likes THEM apples. We think he will.

The SenSafe Free Chlorine Water Check test kit for free chlorine residuals in drinking water detects free chlorine residuals as low as 0.05 parts per million in a matter of seconds and requires the user to do nothing more than dip the strip into a sample, wait a few seconds, and compare the color on the test pad to a color chart.

Now before you say, “Oh great… a test strip…” let us remind you that the USEPA has thoroughly evaluated the SenSafe Free Chlorine Water Check test strips and found them more than adequate for testing free chlorine levels in municipal water supplies.

In the past test strips had color charts with hard to read colors, but this products stands as testament to the fact that times have changed and test strip technology has progressed quite far. See for yourself.

Many people (like several of the people here at Water Testing Blog) have difficulty telling the difference between different shades of colors with red in them so the fact that Free Chlorine Water Check uses a reagent that turns different shades of blue can really make a difference in how accurately a tester can interpret test results.

Testing higher levels of free chlorine

Since Mandy’s co-workers work on water lines, they most likely need to test for higher levels of chlorine (between 20 and 50 ppm) when flushing a new line or putting a repaired water line back in service. For testing like that they probably had to dilute samples 4 or 5 to 1 so they could get readable results with their dpd-based test kits. Not a fun task, especially since they would need to carry a supply of chlorine-free water with them to dilute their test samples.

As an alternative to diluting and testing with dpd reagents, SenSafe created a dip-n-read test strip that uses the same reagent as Free Chlorine Water Check, but has the ability to accurately detect up to 120 parts per million free chlorine w/ no monochloramine interference: WaterWorks Free Chlorine High Range.

For years people have wisely invested money in shower filters designed to improve the quality of their shower water by removing chlorine, but what about those times when a person wants to kick back and relax in the tub by taking a hot bath? Shower water filters remove chlorine from only the water that comes out of the shower…

Good thing companies like Rainshow’r developed products such as the Bath 3000: Crystal Ball Bath Dechlorinator, an easy-to-use device capable of removing the chlorine from as many as 200 tubs of bath water.

Rainshow’r claims its product, the Crystal Ball Bath Dechlorinator removes up to 100% of free chlorine from your bath water in minutes.

Medical professionals and cosmetologists have often stated that removing chlorine from the water we bathe in/with will result in healthier, softer, and better looking skin.

For those not sold on the idea of removing chlorine from bath water, yet, please think about the following: Shower water containing chlorine hits your skin in spurts while bath water containing chlorine makes constant and continual contact with your skin for the duration of your bath.

Benefits of using a bath water dechlorinator include better lathering and suds’ing of soaps and shampoos, relief from dry skin, and removal of a known poison from the water. Also, with the Crystal Ball Bath Dechlorinator you will not need to mess around with plumbing fixtures, connect or disconnect any pipes, handle any toxic chemicals, or worry about changing out filters.

How does the Crystal Ball Bath Dechlorinator work? Quite simply, it converts chlorine ions to harmless chloride. Using a proprietary blend of KDF media safely locked away inside the Crystal Ball Bath Dechlorinator, it gets rid of the toxic effects of chlorine, chloramine, and chlorine gas sometimes found in bath water in a matter of minutes.

How long will the Crystal Ball Bath Dechlorinator last? That obviously depends on the amount of chlorine in your bath water to begin with and how often you take a bath, but Rainshow’r estimates that users will have to purchase a new Bath Ball approximately once a year or every 200 baths — whichever comes first.

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Obviously removing chlorine from just bath or shower water will not suffice if you want to eliminate the risk of potential harm it can cause. Having said that, the first step to take involves testing for chlorine in your water supply. Use of a simple do-it-yourself chlorine test strip will give you a good idea of how much chlorine your water contains in a matter of seconds.

Once you know how much chlorine you have to remove, then you can set about selecting the correct shower water filter, countertop water filter, refrigerator water filter system or whole house water filter system.

We recently learned that the maker of SenSafe Water Test Kits has released a new version of the eXact Micro Meter Water Testing Kit that makes accurate chlorine testing with DPD-based chemistry easy for experienced testers and novices alike.

Introducing, for all your chlorine testing needs, the eXact Chlorine Photometer… a digital meter for testing chlorine that has a detection range of 0 to 11 parts per million for both free and total chlorine without the need for drop counting, crushing tablets or dissolving powders.

Using the same hardware platform as the eXact Micro 7+ Meter, this new kit comes with 100 tests for free chlorine (using DPD-1) and 100 tests for total chlorine (using DPD-4)

Aside from the 0.01 ppm resolution with +/- 0.02 ppm accuracy between 0.00 and 2.39 ppm chlorine and its high detection limit of 11 parts per million, the eXact Chlorine Photometer also offers a great deal of versatility for those who may want to test for other water quality parameters such as… Ammonia, Bromine, Chloride/Salt, Chlorine Dioxide, Chromium (in Hexavalent Form), Copper, Cyanuric Acid, Fluoride, Iodine, Iron, Low Range Total Hardness, Manganese, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ozone, Acid pH, Alkali pH, Potassium, Sulfate, Sulfide, and Turbidity.

If the need arises where you need, or want, to test for parameters other than free and total chlorine, simply pick up a bottle of the appropriate reagentstrip and follow the simple instructions in your meter’s manual.

Water Testing Blog loves to hear about local health departments taking the initiative to try and get residents to test their well water for potentially harmful contaminants. In this case, the health department in McHenry County, Illinois has stepped up to the plate by offering coliform bacteria and nitrate testing at a reduced cost until the end of August.

WOODSTOCK – McHenry County Department of Health will offer reduced fee water testing for individual well water users during the month of August.

Residents can have their well water sampled for coliform bacteria and nitrate for $18.

Testing wells regularly is the only way to determine whether well water is safe to drink, as many contaminants are colorless and odorless.

Water from a public or municipal water system regularly is tested for contaminants regulated by federal and state standards.

Bacteria and chemicals can get into well water and contaminate it in different ways.

Some bacteria and chemicals occur naturally.

Contaminants, such as nitrate, can come from animal waste, wastewater, flooded sewers, polluted storm water runoff, fertilizers, agricultural runoff, or decaying plants. High levels of nitrate in drinking water can cause illness in young children and pregnant women. Coliform bacteria are microbes found in the digestive systems of warm-blooded animals, in soil, on plants, and in surface water.

For a nominal charge, the health department also will sample private wells for nuisance chemicals resulting in water hardness, iron, discoloration and odor.

Sampling kits can be picked up at the health department in Woodstock or at one of eight drop-off centers. Samples can be dropped off for testing Tuesday mornings between 9 a.m. and noon at the following centers:

• Algonquin Township Office, 3702 Route 14, Crystal Lake; 847-639-2329.

• Dorr Township Office, 140 Newell St., Woodstock; 815-338-0125.

• McHenry Township Office, 3703 Richmond Road, McHenry; 815-385-5605.

• Nunda Township Office, 3510 Bay Road, Crystal Lake; 815-459-4011.

• Marengo City Hall, 132 E. Prairie St., Marengo; 815-568-7112.

• Harvard Police Department, 201 W Front St., Harvard; 815-943-4431.

• Richmond Township Office, 7812 S. Route 31, Richmond; 815-678-0077.

• Grafton Township Office, 10109 Vine St., Huntley; 847-669-3328.

For information about private well water, call the health department’s Environmental Division at 815-334-4585. ( source )

Many people believe coliform bacteria only get into OTHER people’s wells because THEY did something wrong… but in reality, something as simple heavy periods of rain causing a rise in the water table supplying a person’s well could result in the introduction of potentially harmful contaminants.

Also, the slightest crack in a well’s casing, which could come from age or a shifting in the ground surrounding the well, could serve as a very convenient point-of-entry for bacteria or other well water contaminants.

Whether you need a basic test kit for chlorine & pH, a set of easy-to-use chlorine test strips, or an electronic chlorine testing meter, you will find the product to suit your testing needs on ChlorineTests.Com.

You can also find replacement reagents for several different chlorine test kits on ChlorineTests.Com, which naturally means you will find DPD tablets on the site for sure.

And now for a few basic chlorine testing facts:

• Test kits containing only OTO as their chlorine testing reagent will test for total chlorine only.

• Free chlorine testing requires DPD-1. Adding DPD-3 to the sample after adding DPD-1 allows a person to test for total chlorine.

• The USEPA has set the maximum contaminant level for chlorine in drinking water at 4.0ppm. This limit applies to both free chlorine levels and total chlorine levels.

• When testing for parameters other than chlorine, some test kits will require the use of chlorine eliminating agents such as sodium thiosulfate before testing can take place.

• Water containing the same amount of total chlorine as it does has very little or no free chlorine.

• The difference between the free chlorine level and the total chlorine level equals the chloramine concentration.

Of all the things a person should have to worry about affecting their drinking water, who in their right mind would think that torpedo testing would ever become an issue?

Not us, but folks in the San Gabriel Valley region of California have something to think about… unfortunately.

The San Gabriel Mountains may be an unlikely site for a U.S. Navy torpedo lab, but 17,000 cubic yards of soil contaminated by torpedo tests is going to be hauled away from a lake in a canyon above Azusa, according to reports.

The Navy tested torpedo engines and shapes in the lake behind Morris Dam beginning in World War II. After 50 years, it closed the facility but left behind bad chemical residue.

Perchlorates, a cancer-causing type of rocket propellant, arsenic and other dangerous compounds coat rocks on the 20-acre test site on a peninsula in the lake, which is a domestic drinking water supply for the San Gabriel Valley. ( source )

Yeah… Not too many people will ever have to deal with the residuals of torpedo testing winding up in their drinking water supply, but plenty of other folks — whether they know it or not — really ought to keep a close watch on the quality of their drinking water.

Sneaky contaminants like arsenic, which occurs naturally in the environment, can show up in well water unannounced. Something as simple as a change in the weather can result in increased arsenic levels in well water. Therefore owners of wells owe it to themselves and everyone their wells serve to test for arsenic on a regular basis.

Most health officials suggest that private well owners have a thorough water quality analysis performed at least once a year by a certified water testing laboratory. Whether done by a local lab or a company like National Testing Labs, owners of private wells owe it to themselves and their families to have their water tested on a regular basis.

Ewwwww…… Yuck!

Could bacteria really live in the trusty water coolers at work or in your home? Unfortunately we have to say… “YES.”

Think of it this way: When you swap out the large, cumbersome jugs when the current jug runs out of water, the feeder tube that will stick into the new jug gets exposed to the air… and whatever bacteria, viruses and or airborne biologicals happen to blow around in the room that day.

Over time any of those nasty little buggers that land on the feeder tube and wind up in the fresh jug of water could multiply to dangerously high numbers in the water cooler. Zero disinfectants in the water creates an excellent place for bacteria to start a family!

To make matters worse, the area AFTER the feeder tube down inside the water cooler can also become a nice place for bacteria and other nasties to raise a family… which could one day wind up in your supposedly safe glass of drinking water.

Moral of the story?

If you cannot determine the last time anyone cleaned the inside of the water cooler, you may want to test the water it dispenses for potentially harmful bacteria with a kit like the WaterSafe Water Cooler Test Kit.