KC had a few questions for us and wrote…

I have 2 questions that I am not finding answers to on this blog. I could be overlooking the answers. 1) is there a home test kit for THM’s and HAA5? 2) I purchased some property & I would like to test a pond on the property for contaminates other than the drinking water quality home test kit variables such as fossil fuel/petroleum contamination and other pollutants.

For those who do not know, THM’s stands for trihalomethanes and HAA5 stands for haloacetic acid. Both compounds fall in the category of disinfection byproducts, or chemical products created when a disinfectant acts on a contaminant in water. In recent years health officials have determined that exposure to these compounds can increase a person’s risk of developing cancer.

With regard to KC’s question about THM and HAA5 test kits, we do not know of any at-home drinking water test kits for these compounds. Testing for disinfection byproduct levels requires a laboratory environment.

If you wish to test for these two compounds you will have to use a kit that you mail into a certified drinking water testing laboratory such as National Testing Laboratories. Within about (2) two weeks after receiving your water they will issue a lab report telling you all sorts of interesting things about your water — including how many disinfection byproducts your water contains, if it has any at all.

National Testing Laboratories offers several different testing options, but their most popular water testing option provides sample submitters with analysis of their water for a total of 83 different water quality parameters:

• Bacteria (presence/absence for coliform and E.coli),
• (19) heavy metals and minerals,
• (6) other inorganic chemicals,
• (5) physical characteristics,
• (4) trihalomethanes and
• (47) volatile organic chemicals.

Worried about other things such as pesticides, herbicides and PCB’s? National Testing Laboratories offers a water testing option that includes all of the above tests plus an an additional check for (20) pesticides, herbicides and PCB’s. They gave it a really long name, WaterCheck with Pesticides Laboratory Analysis Water Testing Kit, and it test for a total of 97 different water quality parameters.

While oxidizers such as chlorine, bromine and chlorine dioxide do an excellent job of cleaning up water so that it contains no microorganisms and/or harmful strains of bacteria, their success as disinfectants does not come without a price.

Byproducts of the chemical reaction between the ‘bad’ components and the oxidizers form each time one of those ‘bad’ components gets eliminated and we call the disinfection byproducts. See below for a list of the ones listed in the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for Disinfection ByProducts along with their MCL’s (Maximum Contaminat Levels) and potential hazards to humans:

• Bromate — Associated with an increased risk of cancer. Maximum Contaminant Level: 0.01 mg/L
• Chlorite — Associated with Anemia; infants and young children: nervous system effects. Maximum Contaminant Level: 1.0 mg/L
• Haloacetic acids (HAA5) — Associated with an increased risk of cancer. Maximum Contaminant Level: 0.06 mg/L
• Total Trihalomethanes (TTHMs) — Associated with liver, kidney or central nervous system problems; increased risk of cancer. Maximum Contaminant Level: 0.08 mg/L

Most water treatment facilities use some form of oxidizer to keep the water they distribute ‘safe’ for human consumption. While the most prevalent way to disinfect water, use of oxidizers as disinfectants in potable water does come at a cost.

The process by which oxidizers break down organic contaminants generates compunds known as ‘disinfection byproducts’: Trihalomethanes (THM’s), Haloacetic Acids (HAA5), Bromates, and Chlorites.

Trihaloemethanes (THM): chloroform, bromodichloromethane, dibromochloromethane, and bromoform.

“EPA has published the Stage 1 Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts Rule to regulate total trihalomethanes (TTHM) at a maximum allowable annual average level of 80 parts per billion. This standard will replace the current standard of a maximum allowable annual average level of 100 parts per billion in December 2001 for large surface water public water systems. The standard will become effective for the first time in December 2003 for small surface water and all ground water systems.” (source)

Haloacetic Acids (HAA5): monochloroacetic acid, dichloroacetic acid, trichloroacetic acid and others.

“EPA has published the Stage 1 Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts Rule to regulate HAA5 at 60 parts per billion annual average. This standard will become effective for large surface water public water systems in December 2001 and for small surface water and all ground water public water systems in December 2003.” (source)

Bromate:

“Bromate is a chemical that is formed when ozone used to disinfect drinking water reacts with naturally occurring bromide found in source water. EPA has established the Stage 1 Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts Rule to regulate bromate at annual average of 10 parts per billion in drinking water. This standard will become effective for large public water systems by December 2001 and for small surface water and all ground public water systems in December 2003.” (source)

Chlorite:

“Chlorite is a byproduct formed when chlorine dioxide is used to disinfect water. EPA has published the Stage 1 Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts Rule to regulate chlorite at a monthly average level of 1 part per million in drinking water. This standard will become effective for large surface water public water systems in December 2001 and for small surface water and all ground water public water systems in December 2003.” (source)

Health officials and medical professionals have studied the effects of disinfection byproducts since the mid 1970’s and have found that in large doses, laboratory animals have developed serious, and sometimes deadly, health conditions. With regard to the effects these compunds have on humans, these same health officials and medical professionals have deterined that the current empirical evidence indicates a potential danger to humans and thus a need for additional research and study.

They also believed that the empirical data had enough merit to warrant restrictions on the amounts of disinfection byproducts in drinking water: Stage 1 Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts Rule.

“In sum, EPA believes the weight-of-evidence presented by the available epidemiological studies on chlorinated drinking water and toxicological studies on individual disinfection byproducts support a potential hazard concern and warrant regulatory action at this time such as that taken in the Stage 1 Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts Rule.” (source)