Everyone loves a bargain, right? Well if you have waited to purchase a test kit for drinking water because you could never find one on sale, well, you no longer have a reason to wait.

FilterWater.Com recently dropped the price of Sensafe’s most popular test kit for drinking water quality, an easy-to-use test kit that tests for 15 critical water quality contaminants and does not require users to mix powders, crush tablets, or have a degree in chemistry to figure out the directions.

Considered by some the most complete do-it-yourself Water Quality Test Kit on the market, this water test kit tests up to 2 water sources for 15 critical water quality parameters and allows you to quickly and easily test your drinking water and/or check to see if your water filter does a good job.

In this particular drinking water test kit you will find the only available USEPA Approved Free Chlorine Test Strip as well as color-coded, visual, on the spot tests for 13 other parameters. The bacteria test kit, however, requires 48 hours, just as it does in kits manufactured by all other companies.

In total, the Water Quality Test Kit contains the following:

• Free Chlorine – 2 tests
• Total Chlorine – 2 tests
• Chloride – 2 tests
• pH – 2 tests
• Total Alkalinity – 2 tests
• Total Hardness – 2 tests
• Nitrate – 2 tests
• Nitrite – 2 tests
• Iron – 2 tests
• Sulfate – 2 tests
• Hydrogen Sulfide – 2 tests
• Copper – 2 tests
• Lead – 1 test
• Pesticide – 1 test
• Bacteria – 1 test

Included with the kit you will receive a chart so that you can compare your results to USEPA recommended levels is included.

And remember…

Despite the great price on this home drinking water test kit, no at-home testing can ever take the place of having a certified water testing laboratory such as National Testing Labs analyze your drinking water if you have serious reason to suspect contamination.

Pretty much everyone we have ever met KNOWS that a chemical compound designed to kill creatures of even the smallest size could possibly have adverse effects on human beings.

More to the point, you can continue reading a recent study of 1,139 children ranging in age from 8 to 15 years old found a definite link between the concentration of pesticide ‘markers’ in the children and the existence of ADHD or other behavioral problems.

We expect that the data generated by this study will definitely raise more than a few eyebrows and add fuel to the fire already burning regarding the topic of pesticide and herbicide use in the United States.

Exposure to pesticides used on common kid-friendly foods — including frozen blueberries, fresh strawberries and celery — appears to boost the chances that children will be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, new research shows.

Youngsters with high levels of pesticide residue in their urine, particularly from widely used types of insecticide such as malathion, were more likely to have ADHD, the behavior disorder that often disrupts school and social life, scientists in the United States and Canada found.

Kids with higher-than-average levels of one pesticide marker were nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD as children who showed no traces of the poison. ( source )

Several of us on the Water Testing Blog staff have small children and it saddens us to learn that supposedly ‘safe’, also known as ‘better than giving them candy or chips’, types of snacks may fall into the category of foods that may contain the toxins mentioned in the article.

In the end…

…we will start washing even the frozen fruits and, of course, testing our drinking water. If the government and big business can’t even keep toxins off of our supposedly safe foods, should we REALLY trust them to keep contaminants out of our drinking water?

While most adults understand the value and importance of clean drinking water, many children take it for granted and believe that clean, pure drinking water will come from the tap and/or from bottles today, tomorrow and always.

In their world, the words ‘pollution’ and ‘contamination’ happen in other places and not in THEIR own neighborhoods or in the sources of their drinking water. The naive nature of children makes them precious at times, yes, but we, as responsible adults, have a duty to teach them about the importance of making sure their drinking water IS safe today and will be safe tomorrow.

Since no one really wants to try and explain the concept of titrations and so forth to young kids, companies such as WaterSafe and Industrial Test Systems, Inc. have developed simple, easy-to-use drinking water test kits which make teaching children about water quality as easy as dipping a test strip and comparing colors on a chart.

Industrial Test Systems, Inc. has excellent, and quite comprehensive, test strip based drinking water test kits that even a child could use without much effort:

• Water Quality Test Kit — Test for 15 different water quality parameters. Contains (2) two tests for free chlorine, total chlorine, chloride, pH, total alkalinity, total hardness, nitrate, nitrite, iron, sulfate, hydrogen sulfide, and copper. Also contains (1) test for lead, pesticides (atrazine & simazine), and bacteria.
• Well Water Check — 2 test for each: pH, Total Alkalinity, Total Hardness, Iron & Nitrate/Nitrite Nitrogen.

We found two sizes of WaterSafe Science Projects for water quality readily available:

• WaterSafe Science Project — Contains (4) four tests for lead, bacteria, pesticides, nitrates, nitrites, chlorine, hardness and pH.
• WaterSafe Science Project — Contains (10) ten tests for lead, bacteria, pesticides, nitrates, nitrites, chlorine, hardness and pH.

Drinking water testing: A necessary skill for today’s youth!

While making the rounds through the Internet, searching for water quality testing and filtration news, we came across another interesting article providing reasons why people ought to consider testing their drinking water routinely and installing drinking water filters in their home and/or office.

Sometimes I worry as a Naturopathic Physician that I am over-paranoid about toxins in our environment, so the Biochemist in me grabbed this test kit over at eVitamins to see if maybe I didn’t need to be so paranoid after all.

Now I know why most patients I’ve tested for heavy metals in Seattle consistently show high lead and mercury levels. We are drinking poison! I wish mercury was included in this test kit, but most high quality filters also filter mercury out of our water as well as other toxic substances such as pesticides, bacteria, chlorine and so forth.

I like the simple Aquasauna filters that can be added to your kitchen sink. Don’t forget the shower filter too, or you can filter the water straight at it’s source with a whole home water filter (somewhat expensive but highly recommended for those with chronic disease or small children constantly bathing in it.) ( source )

The author of that text wished they could find a test kit for mercury. Conveniently, we have located a relatively inexpensive and very easy to use mercury test kit for drinking water. You can find information about the mercury test kit and also about mercury in drinking water on this page.

Given that we have strayed from our normal topic of drinking water quality and drinking water quality testing recently, it came as no surprise that we started getting emails asking about the differences between drinking water test kits and pool water test kits. The answer, without a doubt sounds 100% like this: “No. The levels of detection differ greatly for key drinking water quality parameters in such a degree that a person could possibly put their lives at risk by using the wrong test kit.”

As an example, a test kit for bacteria which could help a person determine whether or not a pond, lake, pool, hot tub or river contains an unhealthy level of bacteria unsafe for swimming or bathing cannot definitively tell a person whether or not a person should drink the water.

A kit like…

… will tell you if the water contains unsafe levels of bacteria that would make swimming or bathing unsafe.

A kit like…

WaterWorks^TM Bacteria Check

… detects down to 1 coliform unit of bacteria, the EPA limit for safe drinking water.

Now as we ALWAYS say, “No at-home test kit gives the same level of precision and accuracy as a professional, certified water analysis laboratory!” — It’s your water, your health and ultimately your LIFE!

If you find yourself reading this Water Testing Blog entry, then you have joined the millions of other people who have asked the question, “How can I test my drinking water at home?”

Basic Drinking Water Test Kit Options:

• Visual drinking water testing methods such as simple, easy-to-use test strips whose test areas get compared to a pre-printed color chart to determine test results.
• Visual drinking water testing methods such as color comparators which require the user to add  a reagent to a sample and then compare the color of their test sample to those of pre-packaged color standards to determine test results.
• Electronic water testing devices for drinking water which require the user to calibrate their colorimeter with a ‘blank’ sample, add a reagent to a test sample, and take a reading of the test sample.

So… Which type of do-iy-yourself drinking water test kit does the best job? Depends on who you ask! As alwaysm though, if you suspect a serious health risk or that your water may contain dangerous amounts of chemicals, you should seek the advice of a Certified Water Testing Professional right away.

At-home drinking water test kits should NEVER take the place of professional water testing services when your health is on the line. It’s your water, your health… and your LIFE.

Some people would call us crazy for ever even IMPLYING such a thing, but apparently the folks who run the water treatment facilities in New York City know a thing or two about producing some really good drinking water because it has earned the title of World’s Best Tap Water. (source)

What does this mean for you if you don’t like the way your municipal water tastes? Simple: You can either move to New York City, find out if you can get New York City water in bottled form (see Tap’dNY), or test your drinking water and then get the proper drinking water filter(s) so that you can enjoy good tasting drinking water…. just like those bums in NY.  😛

Many people ask us how they can determine what sort of drinking water filtration system they ought to have installed in their home or office. We respond to each inquiry in the same manner: Find out what you have in your water first, then choose an appropriate drinking water filtration system.

In simpler terms this means we ALWAYS suggest that consumers test their water, or have it tested, before making a purchasing decision.

Consumers have two options when it comes to drinking water testing:

1) Call the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 800-426-4791 for a list of state-certified drinking water testing laboratories in their area. ( EPA SafeWater Project )

2) Obtain a home drinking water test kit such as the WaterSafe City Water Test Kit drinking water test kit or the SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit from a local retailer or a reputable online vendor such as the Water Test Kit Store, FiltersFast.Com, or FilterWater.Com.

Important Note: While at-home water quality test kits provide reasonable piece of mind when it comes to monitoring the safety and purity of your drinking water, if you have serious reason(s) to suspect your water may have gotten contaminated you will definitely want to have your water tested by a certified drinking water professional.

Common types of water filters?

For most people (on municipal/city water sources) one of three types of water filters will handle their water filtration needs: 1) Carbon block; 2) Sediment; and 3) Multi-Stage.

Conveniently, companies like Crystal Quest, a leading manufacturer of home and drinking water filters manufactures a full line of filters in styles that include countertop, undersink and whole house — each designed to address specific water improvement needs.

Therefore it certainly behooves homeowners to test their drinking water prior to purchasing a water filtration system. Otherwise they run the risk of purchasing too much filter for your drinking water (i.e. wasting money!) or not enough filter for your water quality situation (i.e. still having water quality issues!).