Whether listed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as a serious health concern or just a general nuisance, most people care about only one thing: Testing for metals in drinking water and removing them ASAP!

Commonly asked about metals include…

Questions about other metals such as manganese, copper, chromium and, of course, our dear friend arsenic, also make their way into emails sent through our Contact Us page.

Why the Concern Over Metals in Water?

Health officials unanimously agree that excessive exposure to dissolved metals in water can in many cases lead to serious side effects such as cancer, organ damage, impairment of the nervous system, the development of a life-threatening condition where the immune system attacks its own cells, a reduction in the growth and development of cells, joint problems/diseases, circulatory system problems, and last, but definitely not least… death.

Younger people stand to suffer the effects of exposure to metals more than adults do to their small body masses. In other words, an 8 oz glass of water containing X ppm (parts per million) of heavy metals will result in a much higher dose in a child than it will in an adult who drinks the same glass of water.

Some health officials theorize that very young children and unborn babies whose bodies develop at a rapid pace absorb the metals readily into their systems. Exposure of this nature often results in learning difficulties, damaged nervous systems, memory deficiencies, and even behavioral problems such as hyperactivity and aggressiveness.

More Information on Metals in Water:

• Lead Testing in Humans… Without Needles
• Study Links Manganese Exposure to Cancer
• Chromium in Drinking Water
• Mercury Found in Fish From All 291 US Streams & Rivers Tested
• Filters for Mercury in Drinking Water
• Copper in Drinking Water
• Information About Mercury
• Visual Test Kit for Lead in Paint
• Rust Color in Drinking Water

My son lives in Indiana and has well water. He has heard that there might be high levels of mercury in his water-who would he call or what can he do to get this tested? Is there usually someone in the county or state you live in that offers free testing, such as the EPA? Thank you.

Thank you for your question, Kris. We first suggest you take a look at the EPA web page dedicated to listing the contact information for State Agencies in Indiana responsible for drinking water, ground water, etc.

• http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo/in.htm

If you cannot find the information you seek by contact one of those agencies, try having your son contact the Board of Health in his area. They will often know of current government-funded water testing programs if they exist.

Note that we said government-funded. Use caution when dealing with water testing programs sponsored by a company that coincidentally has an interest in selling water treatment systems. Snake oil salesmen still exist in this world…

In the event your son’s local officials cannot provide him with a free water testing option and the links on the EPA’s web page also prove ineffective, you may want to consider using a simple test strip designed to detect levels of dissolved mercury in water as low as .002 ppm (parts per million).

EPA Maximum Contaminant Level for Mercury in Drinking Water: 0.002 ppm

While test strips such as Boris’ Mercury Check from Industrial Test Systems, Inc. work well as screening tools, they should serve only as screening tools.

Positive or questionable results obtained from at-home drinking water test kits (test strips, liquid kits, meters, etc.) give users an indication that they may want to have their water tested by a certified water testing laboratory in their area.

• List of State Certified Laboratories

When it comes to your water, remember this: It’s your water, your health… and your life

Once in the human body, mercury acts as a neurotoxin, interfering with the brain and nervous system.

Exposure to mercury can be particularly hazardous for pregnant women and small children. During the first several years of life, a child’s brain is still developing and rapidly absorbing nutrients. Prenatal and infant mercury exposure can cause mental retardation, cerebral palsy, deafness and blindness. Even in low doses, mercury may affect a child’s development, delaying walking and talking, shortening attention span and causing learning disabilities.

In adults, mercury poisoning can adversely affect fertility and blood pressure regulation and can cause memory loss, tremors, vision loss and numbness of the fingers and toes. A growing body of evidence suggests that exposure to mercury may also lead to heart disease. ( source )

Many health officials also believe the mercury in thimerosal administered to children as part of routine/required childhood vaccinations plays a large role in causing autism and the United States Environmental Protection Agency considers mercury toxic enough to mention it specifically in its Primary Drinking Water Standards.

Sources of Mercury in Our Lives

Although a naturally occuring element, it typically enters the environment as a waste product from industrial processes and poorly run gold mining operations.

The majority of mercury poisoning cases result from people eating fish containing large amounts of mercury and drinking water contaminated with mercury. We have not found evidence of acute mercury poisoning resulting from vaccinations containing thimerosal. Note that we specified ACUTE cases of mercury poisoning.

Other Possible Articles of Interest:

• MCL for Mercury in Drinking Water
• Information About Mercury in the Environment
• Testing for Mercury and Other Metals in Water
• Mercury Found in All Fish Tested in US Freshwater Streams
• Mercury Contamination in Fish
• H1N1 Flu Vaccine Will Contain Mercury

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Scientists have detected mercury contamination in every one of hundreds of fish sampled from 291 freshwater streams, according to a U.S. government study released on Wednesday.

More than a quarter of those fish contained concentrations of mercury exceeding levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency for the protection of people who eat average amounts of fish, the U.S. Geological Survey report said.

More than two-thirds exceeded the EPA-set level of concern for fish-eating mammals. ( source )

You read that correctly. 100 PERCENT of the fish sampled from 291 freshwater streams in the United States tested positive for the presence of mercury and more then 66 percent of those fish contained quantities of mercury which exceed levels which may harm fish-eating mammals (beavers, otters, bears, etc.).

Oh, and a mere 25 percent of the fish contained mercury levels exceeding safety limits for humans who eat fich on a regular basis.

Where did the mercury come from?

Scientists believe coal burning power plants account for the greatest amount of mercury found in the United States waterways. Particles of mercury enter the atmosphere and fall back down towards the Earth. Some get blown great distances by wind and others enter the Earth’s system of waterways and travel wherever the currents want to take them.

Where were the highest mercury counts found?

Naturally people, and this includes people who eat fish AND people who don’t eat fish but still have general concerns about the quality of water in their surroundings, want the answer to that question, so…

Some of the highest levels of mercury in the latest study were found in the coastal “blackwater” streams of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana — relatively undeveloped areas marked by abundant pine forests and wooded wetlands.

USGS hydrologist Barbara Scudder said those characteristics somehow enhance the conversion of mercury from its inorganic form in the atmosphere to a more toxic organic form, methylmercury, which accounts for at least 95 percent of the mercury found in fish.

…

High concentrations also were found in some streams in the West fed by areas where mining had taken place, Scudder said. ( source )

Should people stop eating fish from US streams?

Some people think ‘panic’ when a toxicology study involving mercury, arsenic, lead or other heavy metals comes out and delivers bad news. According to scientists, the closer to the higher end of the food chain in those streams, the greater the amount of mercury one can expect to find in the fish.

As with many pollutants, mercury concentrates as it moves up the food chain, from algae, to insects to small fish and larger predators. The main source of mercury poisoning in humans is from eating fish and shellfish.

Scudder said researchers typically sampled about five fish from each of the 291 streams surveyed. They focused on bigger species such as largemouth bass because they are at the top of the in-stream food chain.

She suggested that people concerned about mercury contamination in stream-caught fish should eat more of the smaller pan species, such as perch, bluegill or crappie. ( source )

While the advice of ‘eating smaller fish’ probably does not instill conficence in most people reading this, at least they didn’t tell us to become vegetarians… OR DIE!

So if there’s mercury in the fish, does that mean there’s mercury in the water, too?

Good question! We noticed that the article mentioned mercury in the air and mercury getting into the fish via runoff tainted with mercury particulates… so we would guess that in some areas a person could expect to find mercury in the water as well.

Can the average person test for mercury in water?

While nothing takes the place of professional water analysis conducted by a certified water testing laboratory, the average person can actually test for the presence of dissolved mercury as well as other heavy metals in water:

Testing for Arsenic in Water

Testing for Chromium in Water

Testing for Copper in Water

Testing for Iron in Water

Testing for Lead in Water

Testing for Manganese in Water

Testing for Mercury in Water

For cases where people fear that larger scale mercury contamination may have taken place, a product named Mercury Check with a detection range of 50ppm to 1,000ppm may come in handy.

“Overview: Standard 62 covers distillation systems designed to reduce specific contaminants, including total arsenic, chromium, mercury, nitrate/nitrite, and microorganisms from public and private water supplies.” (source)

What metals could do all that?  Scientists debate that question quite often, but the point of the matter is that you don’t want ANY of the metals, debated or otherwise, in your water.

Sources of Metal Contamination in Drinking Water:

Metals find their way into your water supply in a number of ways.  While the water may have left its source (well, city reservoir, etc.) w/o metals in it, the instant it touched ANY metal it automatically picked up some ions — especially if the water had an unusually high or low pH for any reason.

Even if you think your house has all (new) PVC fittings and piping, keep in mind that your water provider does not use PVC piping to run the water from itself to your doorstep.  Oh, and those metal fittings called ‘faucets’ and the screens inside them contain metal as well. (reference)

So as you can see, consumers ought to consider doing a general test for metal ions their drinking water.  Critters such as aluminum, lead, cadmium and so forth can pop up from a number of sources and according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Health Professionals worldwide, people need to limit the amounts of metals they ingest.

Simple Test for Metals in Water:

Just a few short years ago consumers had to rely upon the ‘wisdom’ and ‘training’ of water system consultants (salesmen!) to tell them if they had metals in their drinking water. . . or they could shell out some serious dough and send their water off to a local lab for a complete and thorough analysis — which would tell them more information than they needed, yet probably wouldn’t tell them anything they could use to decide if they had problems with their water.

Thankfully those days have come to an end.  Consumers now have the option of testing their own drinking water for metals at a cost they can afford, and with an amount of ease they can tolerate.  A simple dip-n-read test strip for metals in water that detects levels as low as 10 ppb (typically reverse osmosis water is at this level or lower) and as high as 1,000 ppb (1 ppm) is readily available from a number of vendors.

While SenSafe(TM) Water Metals Check will not tell you specifically what metals your water contains, it will let you know that you may have a reason to have your water looked at by a water industry professional.

Testing for Specific Metals in Drinking Water

For those wishing to test for specific metals in their drinking water, please use the links below to locate information about ion-specific metals in water test kits:

• Arsenic in Water
• Chromium in Water 
• Copper in Water
• Iron in Water
• Lead in Water
• Manganese in Water
• Mercury in Water