We thank our friend from the Ohio area for their inquiry and would first like to congratulate them on taking the first step towards understanding more about the impact a local factory that works with metals (and possibly some ‘interesting’ chemicals stored in tanks) may or may not have on their water supply — or at least on the surface (puddle) water they encounter.

Given that the inquiry asked specifically about water pooled on the ground, we will assume our reader encountered puddles of water that formed as a result of runoff from the factory’s property and appeared to contain… ‘something unusual’ in terms of their color or other visual nature.

Having said that, we believe the more likely culprit responsible for why a puddle appeared ‘unusual’ probably had more to do with the presence of of oils, greases, and/or organic solvents than it did dissolved metals like mercury and/or cyanide. Oils, greases, and solvents tend to leave a (sometimes) colorful film on water’s surface whereas dissolved metals would typically impart no visually detectable characteristics.

To test for commonly found compounds in the oil, grease, and organic solvent families one must contact a certified water testing laboratory because no at-home water test kits exist that can reliably qualify or quantify compounds of their complexity.

Testing for mercury and cyanide?

Although we did say that we do not believe mercury or cyanide caused any of the discoloration our reader may have seen in a puddle, that does not mean cyanide, a compound used in many metal finishing shops, and mercury may not have washed down from the factory during a heavy rainstorm (or over time with light rains).

Thankfully simple and affordable test kits for cyanide and mercury do exist… and require no special equipment, training, or complex testing procedures.

• Boris’ Mercury detects dissolved mercury (Hg) as low as 2 ppb (parts per billion) and as high as 80 ppb. Each bottle comes with 50 tests and each test requires just 1 1/2 minutes to complete.
   
• Cyanide in Water Emergency Test Kit allows the average person to quickly test for the presence of dissolved cyanide in water. The test provides presence/absence test results for dissolved cyanide concentrations between 0.2 ppm an 1,700 ppm, takes very little time to perform, and costs very little.

Moral of the story?

If you see something unusual in your environment, don’t hesitate to ask questions like, “What is that? Why is that? Is that safe?” and definitely look for the answers to your questions. Often times factories (perhaps like the one mentioned at the start of this article) do not know they have a leak… or, in more extreme cases, they hope no one notices their leak.

Drawing attention to a possible problem begins the process of: 1) Determining if a problem exists; 2) Fixing the problem; 3) Installing proper safeguards to prevent the problem from happening again; and 4) Cleaning up any environmental damage caused by the problem.

Representatives and employees of government and non-profit environmental protection groups cannot be everywhere at all times so the nest time you see something that you think may pose a hazard to the environment, whose cleanliness helps make safe drinking water possible, do not just shrug it off and say, “Someone else will report it.”

One quick call may keep many animals, plants and people from serious illness… or death.

Cyanide may also show up in the runoff or discharge of a metal plating facility because. . .

“Cyanide compounds are used in plating baths because they accomodate a wide range of electrical current, remove tarnish or other undesirable films from surfaces to be plated, and cause an even metal deposit to form that has lower sensitivity to impurities present in the the bath. Metals coatings of cadmium, iron, gold, and zinc often use cyanide compounds. Cyanide is typically found complexed with plating metals, or as sodium cyanide or potassium cyanide, which is added to the bath.” (source)

How can the average consumer make sure the water in their well has not fallen victim to an (un)announced industrial accident or poor enforcement of cyanide discharge laws from local industry? 

Recently a company came out with a presence/absence test for cyanide that has a sensitivity as low as 0.2ppm and as high as 1,700ppm for free dissolved cyanide:

* Cyanide Emergency Test Kit — This kit utilizes EPA/ETV Test Verified chemistry and makes testing for the presence of cyanide in drinking water as simple as dipping two strips in a vial and seeing if the second strip turns colors.  A change in color on the test area of the second strip indicates the presence of cyanide in the sample.

* eXact^® Strip Cyanide — For those who need more precise numbers when testing for the presence of cyanide in water, the makers of the above kit also offer a cyanide detection kit designed to accurately determine cyanide concentrations in effluents and surface waters.  The eXact^® Strip Cyanide Kit requires as little as two minutes for cyanide colorimetric analysis and has a detection range of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 5, >10, >20, <200 ppm (mg/L).

Both kits use the same laboratory tested chemistry and yield reliable, repeatable results.  If you worry about, or suspect, the possible introduction of cyanide into your drinking or well water by local industry, then these kits will help you to quickly and easily put those fears to bed or determine that you might want to investigate further using a certified laboratory’s more advanced testing methods.

Need to test for other metals?

The following metals in water test kits currently available in our Water Test Kit Store ought to help!