My son has recently been diagnosed with extreme arsenic levels and parasites…

Our doctor feels it may be from our water. We are in the suburbs, so have city water.

I have had health problems and so have our animals for a while now. I am wondering if our water is the cause.

I see a test for arsenic. Is there a test I can get to test for parasites in our water?

I would truly appreciate any information you could share with me!

Thank you!

Good morning, Michele, and thank you for your inquiry.

From what you described we would agree that your water may have something to do with the health problems you described in your son, your animals, and yourself. Prolonged exposure to a drinking water contaminant like arsenic can result in the appearance of a wide range of symptoms… and since your son has already tested ‘high’ for arsenic, it definitely stands to reason that you would want to test for the presence of dissolved arsenic in your water.

Simple test kits for arsenic like the Arsenic Quick test kits we carry allow home and business owners to readily and easily test for the presence of dissolved arsenic in their drinking water.

Regarding the parasites doctors found in your son’s body, well, the fact that you have city/tap water makes the likelihood of those parasites coming from the faucet quite low, but not impossible. Usually unwanted parasites get filtered out and/or neutralized via chemical or other process at a water system’s water treatment facility.

No at-home test kits exist for parasites (that we know about) so if you wish to test for parasites you will need to contact your local Health Department for a list of certified water testing laboratories and contract with one to come out, take a sample (or samples), get the sample(s) back to the lab quickly, and perform testing specifically for parasites.

A couple things to remember when it comes to parasites:

• A person can pick up unwanted parasites from sources other than drinking water. Foods may carry parasites and sometimes people may even pick certain types of parasites from contact with contaminated dirt, soil, mud, etc.
   
• Depending upon the parasite, some have the ability to exist in a host body for quite a while before the host shows any signs of infection/infestation.
   

By any chance did the doctor tell you what type of parasites he/she found in your son? That may help you to narrow down your list of ways in which your son became infected.

Moral of the story?

Sometimes a preliminary round of testing (this time unfortunately on a young boy) results in a need for more testing (this time on the water and possibly other things) before a solution becomes available. With that said, if after a round of testing you still have unanswered questions, keep testing until you find thee answers you need.

Your health and the health of those around you may depend on the answers you eventually find and solutions you implement as a result of those answers!

Up until this point no comprehensive studies of arsenic in water concentrations have taken place in this particular region (Mount Bundy Station, located 100 kilometers south of Darwin) and at least one person thinks that needs to change… Immediately.

An environmental engineer has called for more water testing in the Northern Territory following the death of a teenager of suspected arsenic poisoning.

17-year-old Ben Witham died last week in hospital after becoming ill on Mount Bundy Station, 100 kilometres south of Darwin.

Dr Gavin Mudd, from Monash University says little is known of the levels of arsenic concentrate in local water sources, particularly around retired mines.

“From a basic sustainability or environmental perspective, we should be gathering good data to prove there are no problems,” he said.

“Just because we have no data to show and we believe there’s no problem, that’s a very dangerous approach from a public health perspective.”

Northern Territory Police are preparing a file for the South Australian coroner, who is investigating the death. ( source )

What could the testing reveal?

Most importantly it could reveal whether or not residents in the area have received unusually high amounts of exposure to arsenic through their drinking water. Conversely, and just as important, it could reveal that water in the region has not become contaminated (to an appreciable extent) by local abandoned wells, the likes of which have caused contamination issues in other areas of the country (and world).

How difficult is it to test for arsenic in drinking water?

In a case like this we suggest that residents defer to the advanced equipment and sampling techniques used by qualified/certified water testing professionals. Then, once results (hopefully) come back with in an acceptable range, local residents could use a test kit from the Arsenic Quick line of water test kits to perform field testing to make sure no new sources of arsenic contamination have influenced the quality of their water.

You can find additional information on Arsenic Test Kits on the Arsenic-Test-Kit.Com Web Site.

Arseinc Quick Test Kit — 100 Tests
Methodology Verified by EPA/ETV Program

We would like to note, though, that unlike in other situations we have heard about where companies/municipalities either deny or try to pass the blame for high arsenic readings, Aqua Pennsylvania appears to have stepped up to the plate and accepted responsibility for correcting the problem.

HONESDALE, PA — Residents of Honesdale were alarmed when a long article that appeared on the front page of The New York Times on Thursday, December 17 cited the high, illegal levels of arsenic in Honesdale’s drinking water.

The Honesdale water company, Aqua Pennsylvania, was not mentioned in the article itself but was cited on a map of the nation as one of 12 locations that had these unaccepted levels of the dangerous chemical, which can cause cancer. More information that repeated the arsenic levels and six other contaminants that were within legal limits were contained at a link on the Times’ website, www.nytimes.com/water

“The state changed the national chemical level for arsenic about 10 years ago, lowering it and making it stricter,” said Steve E. Clark, Honesdale manager of Aqua Pennsylvania.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lowered the legal level of arsenic from 50 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 ppb 10 years ago, making it much stricter and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) now enforces this standard in the state, according to Mark Carmon, DEP spokesman.

Aqua Pennsylvania took over the original Honesdale Water Company last October and has plans to correct the arsenic problem, Clark said.

“The poor levels of arsenic are limited to only one well—the Quarry Well at the top of Brown Street,” he said. “The contamination is occurring naturally and is not the result of any manufacturing or industrial activity.”

According to the Times article, the legal standard for contamination of arsenic set by the Safe Drinking Water Act revealed that the level in Honesdale is around 16 ppb.

“We are in the middle of a construction project for an arsenic treatment plant for that well,” Clark said. Carmon confirmed that the DEP had issued a permit for Aqua to do the work.

The Quarry Well serves about 200 people, he said.

“When we tested the raw water at the well, it was slightly higher than the legal level,” he said. “When we tested the water at the first house that it serves, it was way under.”

Clark said that his staff analysts have evidence that the contamination is caused by things like tree stumps.

Construction of the treatment plant has already begun and should be completed in a few months. ( source )

Since arsenic occurs naturally in the environment, pretty much any ground water can become tainted with arsenic. Periods of heavy rain, periods of drought, earthquakes, volcanic activity, and a host of other natural phenomenon can all result in increased arsenic concentrations in ground water.

For the longest time testing for arsenic in drinking water, or any type of water for that matter, required the use of specialized equipment and somewhat hazardous chemicals as well as a bit of training in a laboratory setting.

The Arsenic Quick™ line of arsenic test kits greatly simplified the arsenic testing process by cutting the number of reagents down to three, using much safer reagents, drastically shortening test times, and removing the need for special glassware and equipment.

Whether you work in a water treatment facility and need to perform regular testing or own a private well and want to make sure the arsenic levels in your drinking water have not risen above the current USEPA Maximum Contaminant Level of 10ppb (parts per billion), definitely take a look at the Arsenic Quick™ test kits.

EPA/ETV Test Verified performance, test times as short as 12 minutes, the safest reagents possible (zinc powder, a food grade acid, monopersulfate), simple test procedures, and the fact that everything a person needs to perform on-the-spot arsenic in water testing comes in a convenient carrying case make Arsenic Quick™ the obvious choice.

While not the most in-depth article we have ever seen on the topic of arsenic in drinking water, it does hit a lot of high points and cover a lot of important material in a succinct manner.

There may be something lurking in your drinking water that you can’t see, smell or taste and scientists say it could cause diabetes.

The potential danger is arsenic, a metal that naturally occurs in rocks, soil, plants and animals.

Dr. Miroslav Styblo, an associate nutrition professor at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, spoke to a group Thursday at Catawba College’s Center for the Environment on the link between arsenic and diabetes.

Styblo, a toxicologist, has been conducting studies in Mexico on whether arsenic in drinking water could be a cause of diabetes.

Exposure to high levels of arsenic in drinking water has been linked to various cancers, including liver and lung, he said. ( source )

For people interested in testing their drinking water for arsenic, we suggest using one of the Arsenic Quick Test Kits. Below we have listed some of their smaller, more affordable field arsenic test kits.

Arsenic in Water Test Kit <1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 20, 25, 30, 40, >50, >80, >120, >160 ppb (481303-5) Perform 5 Tests, Results in 14 Minutes	481303-5
Arsenic in Water Test Kit 0, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 & >500 ppb (481396-5) Perform 5 Tests, Results in 12 Minutes	481396-5
Arsenic in Water Test Kit 0, 0.3, 0.7, 1.0, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 20 & >20 ppb (481300-5) Perform 5 Tests, Results in 12 Minutes	481300-5
Arsenic in Water Test Kit 0, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 & >500 ppb (481396-2) Perform 2 Tests, Results in 12 Minutes	481396-2

More on Arsenic and Testing for Arsenic:

• Arsenic in Upstate NY Wells
• Testing Arsenic in Salt/Brackish Water
• Arsenic Exposure Linked to Lower Influenza Resistance
• Testing for Arsenic in Wood and on Playgrounds
• Possible Link Between Arsenic Exposure and Diabetes

RIO RANCHO, N.M. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is helping build water treatment systems that will reduce arsenic levels in water used by thousands of Rio Rancho and Bernalillo residents.

The Corps says the systems are designed to be a relatively inexpensive way water utilities can reduce arsenic levels from the old federal standard of 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion.

The agency has spent $9 million for each community as part of a cost-sharing agreement. Still, officials say there is $24 million worth of work to do.

Arsenic occurs naturally in volcanic soils, which are common in New Mexico. It leaches from the soil into groundwater, the main source of drinking water for many towns and rural residents in New Mexico and other parts of the West. ( source )

While the residents of those communities may soon have nothing to worry about regarding arsenic in their groundwater and drinking water, what about you? Do you have arsenic in your drinking water? If you cannot answer that question, you may want to either have your water tested by a certified laboratory or use an at-home drinking water test kit for arsenic as a screening method:

Arsenic Quick Home Water Quality Test Kit

The kit above has a detection range of 0.0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.06, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, >0.5, >0.5 ppm (mg/L) and you may also use this kit for determining the arsenic concentration of soil. With a total test time of just 12 minutes, this inexpensive (< $30 USD) home water test kit makes testing well water, groundwater and drinking water for arsenic with EPA/ETV Test Verified Performance accuracy as easy as it will ever get — unless you get someone else to do the testing for you.  😛