Science projects encourage children to think more about the world around them help them gain a better understanding of how parts of the world work... so why not let them learn about the wonderful world of water quality this year?

The  WaterSafe Science Project Water Test Kit makes learning about water quality fun and easy to accomplish by letting students measure and record 8 different water quality parameters for a total of 10 samples. The kit comes with an instructional CD that includes a printable fill-in table for recording test results in a neat, easy-to-present fashion.

Frequently asked questions:

Q: Does the kit require special skills or equipment?
A: No, it does not. The WaterSafe Science Project Water Test Kit comes with all materials needed and each test has explicit, simple test procedures.

Q: What water quality parameters does the kit test for?
A: Lead, Bacteria, Pesticides, Nitrates, Nitrites, Chlorine, Hardness & pH levels.

Q: Will my child need to wear special protective gear because of potentially harmful chemicals in the test kit?
A: Absolutely not!  The WaterSafe Science Project Water Test Kit was designed to use minimal chemicals and pose virtually no risk to those who use it.

Q: Where will my child find 10 different sources of water to test?
A: In the past we have heard of students using many different and interesting ideas for water sources such as...

• Tap water from kitchen sink immediately after turning the tap on vs. tap water from the kitchen sink a minute after turning the tap on.
• Tap water from kitchen sink (cold) vs. tap water from kitchen sink (hot, but allowed to cool).
• Rain water collected in a glass container vs. rain water collected in an old, possibly rusty, metal container.
• Rain water from a puddle on the lawn vs. rain water from a puddle on concrete/asphalt.
• Water from the tap vs. water from a chlorinated swimming pool.
• Pond water, lake water, stream water, river water, creek water, etc.
• Water from taps located in different neighborhoods (i.e. home, school, office(s)/job(s) of friends and family, relatives’ homes, etc.)
• Samples of water with coins, rocks, wood, leaves or other ‘stuff’ left in them for varying amounts of time.
• Samples of water with tiny and varying increments of household items (i.e. baking soda, black pepper, vinegar, lime juice, lemon juice, etc. Important: additives must not change the color of the water or colorimetric test strips will not work properly) added.
• Swimming pool water right out of the pool vs. pool water allowed to sit exposed to the environment for varying amounts of time.
• Municipal tap water right out of the tap vs. municipal tap water allowed to sit exposed to the environment for varying amounts of time.
• Rain water vs. melted snow.
• Different types of bottled water.
• Distilled water vs. tap water vs. reverse osmosis water vs. spring water vs. boiled water (after it cools).

Q: If we want to test samples for certain parameters more than the test kit includes, can we purchase those tests separately?
A: Yes. Water Test Kit Store has all of the tests included in the  WaterSafe Science Project Water Test Kit available for purchase in larger quantities.

WaterSafe Science Project Test Kit Contains 10 of Each Water Test

Most ‘health’ issues stemming from contaminated well water did NOT have to happen so we really like hearing from people interested in getting their well water tested — hopefully BEFORE anyone has gotten sick from the water.

Today we heard from ‘Ilija S’ who asked, “Who do we contact to get well water tested?”

Hello, Ilija, and thank you for your inquiry.

When it comes to well water testing we suggest contacting a certified well water testing laboratory in your area. Your Local & State Health Departments should have a list that they can send.

Please keep in mind that if you have reason to suspect well water contamination, you should always defer to the expert testing services of a qualified, certified water testing laboratory; preferably one in your immediate area since their staff will know more about the intricacies of your local water situation than a laboratory located in a different city, county or state.

For spot testing of basic water quality parameters, test kits such as the WaterSafe Well Water Test Kit or SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit work quite well… but they do not test for more complex, man-made chemicals such as VOC’s (volatile organic compounds).

If you want a more thorough analysis that includes things like pesticides and volatile organic compounds, you may want to take a look at test kit options like the National Testing Labs Mail-In Water Testing Kit that includes a number of commonly found pesticides and different VOC’s.

We hope this has helped at least a little bit!

We knew that this question would come along sooner or later. ‘Lisa’ wrote in and asked, “can my daughter use the arsenic water testing kit on juice? can you recommend any ideas for a science fair project?”

While we have no evidence to support the notion that Arsenic Quick Test Kits will function properly with juice as the test specimen rather than water, we have used the kits extensively and know that the color of the juice ought not affect the results since the test pads react with ‘arsenic gas’ liberated from the sample inside the reaction vessel and not the actual water sample.

Note: We contacted the makers of Arsenic Quick Test Kits about the effectiveness of their Arsenic Quick Test Kits with juice as samples and will most certainly share any definitive information we learn.

Getting back to the topic of using Arsenic Quick Test Kits, at first the process may sound a bit complex — but trust us when we say it really does not take a rocket scientist to perform the testing. Hence the reason why a number of people, including folks at the USEPA and other high profile government (as well as non-profit) agencies, have recommended this kit as a viable and useful field testing option when faced with situations where a water source may contain inorganic arsenic as a contaminant.

At this point you may find yourself asking, “Wait, didn’t you say the test liberated arsenic gas?”

Yes, Arsenic Quick Test Kits do liberate small amounts of arsenic gas in the test vessel but the amounts generated should not pose a problem as long as the testing takes place in an area with proper ventilation. In other words, open a window, test in the garage w/ the door open or perform your testing outdoors.

Arsenic Quick Test Kits do not require typical controlled laboratory environments in order to yield quality results.

What about the science projects?

So glad you asked! Depending on where you live, Lisa, and how many bodies of water you have access to for sampling purposes, you could have quite a few really cool science projects for your daughter to work on.

A company called Water Safe manufactures a test kit called the Science Fair Project Test Kit which gives young (or old!) experimenters the ability to test up to 10 bodies of water for the following important drinking water parameters:

Do other options exist for more testing? Of course they do… but the WaterSafe Science Fair Project Test Kit offers a good sampling (8 parameters for 10 bodies of water) of tests for a reasonable cost — around $80. If that option does not suit your budget, WaterSafe also makes the same kit in a smaller size that tests up to 4 bodies of water for the same water quality parameters for around $40.

Got bigger testing plans?

If you believe you will want to perform long-term testing and will need 25 to 50 tests per water quality parameter, SenSafe manufactures a par of kits called the Well Driller Standard and Well Driller Master test kits which both come with plenty of testing supplies to keep testing projects of longer duration well-stocked.

Ever wonder about the quality of water coming out of a drinking water fountain? Perhaps you should since a good number of drinking water fountains in public places still may contain older plumbing that contains pipes joined together with lead-based solders.

Below you will find excerpts from an article published last week about high levels of lead found in public fountains and sinks:

Even as universities across the country are banning bottled water, alarms are going off about the safety of the water coming out of drinking fountains at some Canadian campuses.

Concerns over water quality at school drinking fountains are not new. A US investigation in 2009 turned up lead-contaminated drinking water at schools in every American state. Some of the lead came from the school’s own well or local water supplies, while lead-soldered pipes were identified as culprits in other cases. In Canada, one study found that 27 per cent of “first draw” samples taken in Ontario schools had high levels of lead, and 9 per cent still had high levels even after the system was flushed. source

We included that last paragraph so that no one would say, “Oh, well see? It’s just a Canadian problem. We’re safe here in the United States…” And yes, we get emails from people all the time saying silly stuff like that.

Why has lead in drinking fountains gone unnoticed for so long?

Honestly, we do no know. We’d guess that many people just assumed removal of older, lead-baring piping inside and hooked up to drinking water fountains would take place when all of the other piping in buildings got replaced, and as you can see they must have guessed incorrectly.

“Recently, the Albany City School District voluntarily decided to test the water in all of their school buildings. In at least six school buildings, 32 faucets came back with high, unsafe levels of lead in the water. While one would think this problem would only affect older buildings, some of the affected faucets were in buildings that had been renovated.” source

How do we test for lead in drinking fountains?

While qualified laboratories use sophisticated testing equipment that may cost thousands of dollars, the average person (like you and me) can acquire simple, easy-to-use and highly affordable lead in water test kits.

One kit in particular, the Watersafe Drinking Fountain Detective Kit (WS-207T), includes supplies for testing (12) twelve water samples, comes with a data tracking sheet to record results, provides results in just ten minutes, requires no special training or testing skills, and contains an interactive CD designed to help create a presentation template for the testing data.

What about other metals? Can we test for those, as well?

Absolutely! While more complicated test kits do exist, the average person (like you and me) can use simple, dip-n-read test strips for metals in water such as the SenSafe Water Metals Test Kit to perform on-the-spot testing. Products like this detect heavy metals such as lead, copper, iron, chromium, nickel, cadmium, etc. and alert users to the presence of metals — down to levels as low as 10 parts per billion!

Note: Although Sensafe Water Metals Check does have the ability to detect really low amounts of metals in water, it does not have the ability to tell user which metal or metals it has detected.

Every so often we receive questions from readers who ask something along the lines of, “What do most people ask about?”

Seemed odd at first (several years ago), but after getting asked the same thing so many times we eventually came to the conclusion that a good number of people really and truly don’t know what questions they ought to have about the quality of their drinking water.

Therefore, for your reading pleasure we will now give a list of the 10 most popular topics on Water Testing Blog for the month of August (2011):

1. Free Chlorine, Total Chlorine and Combined Chlorine
    
2. Testing for Fluoride in Water
    
3. Converting Hardness: Grains per Gallon to Parts per Million
    
4. What is DPD?
    
5. Chlorine Testing: Drinking Water vs. Pool Water
    
6. Simple Chlorine Testing Meter
    
7. Dirty Pool Water Can Make You Very Sick
    
8. Testing for Chlorine in Drinking Water
    
9. Lead in Soil
    
10. Private Well Water and Natural Gas Drilling

In no way does the above list begin to scratch the surface of what curious folks read on our site, but it may help you decide what questions YOU want answered… and if you come up with a question or topic you’d like us to address, send it to us using our submit a comment/question form.

It did, however, kind of shock us that hydraulic fracturing (aka: fracking), a means of extracting natural gas from shale buried deep beneath the Earth’s surface, came in so low on the list given the amount of (bad) publicity hydraulic fracturing has received in the past few years.

We also found it somewhat odd that bacteria in water did not make a single appearance in the list but then again, most folks in the United States have city/municipal water and make the assumption that city/municipal water couldn’t ever contain something as common as bacteria — and that, friends, can sometimes become a dangerous assumption to make!

While we do like to hear that the legal system has taken an interest in prosecuting those who threaten the safety and potability of water supplies, public or private, through acts of negligence or on purpose, it still bothers us that people would actually do things on purpose that could put the water supply of others at risk.

Today we stumbled across an article from a Chicago area paper talking about how a Federal Judge must decide whether or not a water company and also two of its employees should face charges for allegedly raising free chlorine levels intentionally right before taking readings and then allowing them to drop to potentially unsafe levels at other times throughout the day.

In the spirit of allowing both sides to present their case, we will post the entire article… which left us with more than one nagging question.

Our first question…

… deals with the frequency of testing: “Why did the plant only need to test in the mornings?”

Our second questions deals with the real results of the raising chlorine levels (supposedly) to pass inspection and then lowering them to potentially unsafe levels: “Did anyone get sick or suffer any form of harm as a result of these actions?”

Don’t get us wrong based upon that second question. We just want to know more about how these folks got caught. If someone got sick as a result of what the water company did, then this case would have ended in a guilty verdict without the need for the judge to deliberate longer… right?

Bitter truth about public water systems?

While few people would argue that the United States of America, when examined as a whole, has one of the most technologically advanced network of public water distribution systems in the world. This does not, however, mean that all of the systems do all of the testing they should at all the right times.

The article above, as well as articles we’ve read over the years about public officials and private firms fabricating water test results in an effort to save money, makes us leery of our great system… yet grateful as heck that for the most part our greatest fears about our public water supply deal mostly with ‘minor’ breaches in protocol rather than instances of blatant disregard for the maintaining of sanitary practices in our water treatment facilities.

Testing for chlorine in drinking water at home?

Do average people have the ability to keep tabs on the amount of chlorine in their drinking water? Absolutely! Companies like WaterSafe and SenSafe make reliable, accurate and completely affordable test kits for detecting levels of both free and total chlorine in tap/drinking water.

Today’s question comes from ‘Gordon’ and he had a question about replacement (updated) manuals for ammonia test kits. From the sounds of things the test procedure may have changed and his older manual lacks the added steps for the testing.

Unfortunately, as you will see, Gordon neglected to tell us which ammonia test kit he purchased, though we suspect he has one of the eXact Micro 7+ meters from the makers of SenSafe and WaterWorks water testing products.

I have revision 08/26/09 booklet and have just pouchased some ammonia test kits but my instructions do not cover the use of the added liquid, how can I get an up to date insrtuction booklet.

Thanks

If we guessed correctly, then Gordon needs to take a look at this page because it contains a link to the newest version of the manual for the eXact Micro 7+.

Take a look at page 12 in particular, Gordon. Best of luck in all your water testing adventures!

Ever purchase something, get great use out of it for a while, put it in storage for a while, take it out again for another season’s use and discover that evil Gremlins from the Planet Zingledorf have broken into your garage and stolen a critical part?

If so, then you and ‘Anne’ have some thing in common. Those evil little part stealing cretins stole Anne’s instructions for her test kit!

I had ordered the test kit a year back or so.
Now want to use the 2nd, duplicate set.

Anne

We would love to help you, Anne, but honestly we don’t have a clue as to which test kit you purchased or from what company you bought it. We would guess, though, that since you mentioned ‘second set’, that you may have purchased the Water Quality Test Kit from SenSafe.

If so, then you will find a link to that particular kit’s instructions and color charts under the image above. We hope this helps!

Looking for a water test kit?

We know of several reputable online merchants who carry reliable and affordable water quality test kits manufactured by industry leaders like SenSafe and WaterSafe.

• Filters Fast
• Filter Water
• Isopure Water
• Test Country
• Test Products
• Water Filters

Below you will find a few of the more popular water test kits offered on several of the sites listed above. These represent but a small fraction of the water quality test kits available these days so in our opinion, if anyone says, “I can’t find the right test kit”, they really haven’t looked for one.

News outlets LOVE to blast the airwaves with news of E. Coli in water supplies and some make the mistake of positively linking the presence of E. Coli to fecal contamination.

While more often than not the presence of E. Coli in a water supply does mean human or animal waste has somehow made its way into the sample, it does not guarantee that has happened.

It does, however, still mean a qualified water testing lab such as National Testing Labs should take a look at the quality of the water to determine its potability.

February 24, 2011 – GRAFTON, Mass. – E.coli bacteria has been detected in an untreated water sample collected recently from the Worcester Street well, the Grafton Water District is reporting.

Grafton Water District Manager Matt Pearson stressed that the sample was taken from the well prior to treatment and the well was immediately taken offline. Boiling of water will not be required for Grafton residents.

The wells are routinely monitored for drinking water contaminants to ensure the safety of the water supply. On Feb. 24, the district was notified that a fecal indicator, E.coli bacteria, was detected in one untreated water sample collected on Feb. 22 from the Worcester Street well.

Samples collected on the same date from Grafton’s drinking water — samples taken after the routine treatment with chlorine disinfectant — did not detect any fecal contaminants.

Fecal indicators are microbes whose presence indicates that the water may be contaminated with human or animal wastes. Microbes in these wastes can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms. They may pose a special health risk for infants, young children, some of the elderly, and people with severely compromised immune systems. ( source )

While definitely something to keep an eye on, other things besides coliform bacteria in drinking water also serve as indicators that drinking water contamination may have occurred.

Simple tests for changes in pH, alkalinity and heavy metals — for literally pennies per test in some cases — can alert consumers to potentially dangerous changes in the quality of their water.

With testing supplies as inexpensive as they have become, it makes little to no sense for people not to take an interest in the quality of the water they drink.

Since we started this blog articles about ‘new’ dangers posed by lead in water have come up from time to time… and we have posted articles about them as soon as we became aware of them. Does that make us sensationalists or couriers of messages and news intended to make people cognizant of potential dangers posed by the possibility of lead in their drinking water?

You will have to answer that question for yourself, and while you ponder that query, please also take a moment to think about the possibility that any number of manufacturing errors could possibly result in the improper distribution of lead in brass fittings — as alleged by researchers investigating alarmingly high levels of lead found in water produced by water fountains after technicians took several steps to make them lead-free.

Hidden elements in drinking-water lines can shed large amounts of lead, a toxic heavy metal. And it’s quite legal, even if it does skirt the intent of federal regulations.

University researchers, who uncovered this problem the hard way, have published a case study on the offending hardware in the November issue of the journal of the American Water Works Association.

Lead adds ductility to brass, making it easier to bend or machine into desired shapes. To limit the risk of lead poisoning, U.S. law prohibits new brass plumbing parts in drinking water lines from containing more than 8 percent lead by weight. Yet two shut-off valves containing only about 6.5 percent lead leached toxic amounts of the metal into drinking fountains at the University of North Carolina.

What happened: During manufacturing, the lead did not uniformly distribute throughout the brass, but ended up preferentially settling at or near the surface. As a result, the outside of affected valves—the side visible when looking at a water line (see photo)—slightly exceeded the lead limit. That shouldn’t have posed a health problem, since this surface doesn’t touch water. However, the valves’ interior surface, which does, contained at least 18 percent lead by weight. ( source )

After reading that, and seeing how careful steps taken by knowledgeable people failed to get rid of all the lead in the plumbing of water fountains on a college campus, would you still think us alarmists by giving the topic a few minutes of publicity?

What levels of lead in water pose a danger?

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has ruled that public water systems may not contain more than 15 ppb of dissolved lead and that any system found to have that amount or greater in the water it distributes must take immediate steps to remedy the situation.

While that sounds like a great plan, the fact remains that pretty much all lead found coming out of faucets in people’s homes entered the water at some point after the water left the water treatment facility. Old water service lines, fittings in people’s homes, and older solder used to join pipes all could contribute lead (and other metals) to the water they come in contact with — especially if the water has aggressive tendencies.

Aggressive tendencies? Water can have a bad attitude and start fights? Well, no, but throwing water on someone in a bar or dance club will put them in a bad mood and possibly start a fight.

When we say water has aggressive tendencies, we mean it has low total hardness and/or a low pH; both of which would make the water want to pull elements (metals and other things) out of any surfaces it comes in contact with.

And in conclusion…

Enough evidence exists out there pointing to the fact that dissolved metals in water have a probability of causing health problems that we do not know WHY anyone would not want to test their drinking water (note: tap water and well water can both can contain dangerous concentrations of dissolved metals) for the presence of metals periodically.