Hello, Dan, and thank you for your inquiry. At this time we do not know of an at-home water test kit capable of detecting vinyl chloride, but we do know that National Testing Laboratories offers mail-in water testing services that include vinyl chloride detection. Links to two of their capable products to follow:

WaterCheck City Standard

and...

WaterCheck City Deluxe

Note:  NTL typically sends water test results back to its customers via email in approximately 10 business days.

What is Vinyl Chloride and How Does It Get Into Drinking Water?

Vinyl chloride is a colorless organic gas with a sweet odor. It is used in the manufacture of numerous products in buildings and construction, the automotive industry, electrical wire insulation and cables, piping, industrial and household equipment, medical supplies, and is depended upon heavily by the rubber, paper, and glass industries.

In other words, you can find potential sources of vinyl chloride all around you, but thankfully industry USUALLY keeps a close eye on its supplies and tries hard to minimize leaks of vinyl chloride into the environment.

National Testing Labs 30 Parameter Test Kit w/ Laboratory Testing

National Testing Labs 83 Parameter Test Kit w/ Laboratory Testing

National Testing Labs 103 Parameter Test Kit w/ Laboratory Testing

• Wednesday, December 24th
• Thursday, December 25th
• Friday December 26th
• Thursday, January 1st
• Friday, January 2nd

Therefore if you have purchased a test kit recently you should plan the collection of your water sample and its subsequent shipping to NTL for analysis accordingly.

Why does this matter?

Several of the tests offered in the National Testing Laboratories water testing packages sold in our Water Test Kit Store have time and temperature requirements that if exceeded, will invalidate the test results.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will do our best to answer!

Good evening, Mandy, and thank you for contacting us about your well water concerns. As for what you may want to consider testing for, that all depends on the exact nature of your concerns as well as several factors which include:

1) Proximity of well head and well to septic systems and septic system components (i.e. tanks, drain lines, leach fields, etc.). Possible contaminants include: Bacteria, Nitrates, Nitrites.

2) Proximity of well head and well to agricultural activities (i.e. farming, raising of animals, etc.). Possible contaminants include: Bacteria, Nitrates, Nitrites, Pesticides.

3) Proximity of well head and well to industrial activities (i.e. machine shops, manufacturing, any process that uses chemical solvents). Possible contaminants include a HUGE for the imagination to comprehend. Identifying the types of industries in your area will help you determine what sorts of chemical compounds and solvents your well water may contain. Note: Testing for most of the contaminants from industrial processes will more than likely require the services of a water testing laboratory.

4) What sort of naturally occurring minerals and compounds exist in the ground where your well draws its water from? as an example, does the ground contain high levels of things like Iron, Copper, Arsenic, Hydrogen Sulfide, etc.?

By no stretch of the imagination have we touched on all the possible drinking water contaminants that could have found their way into your well water, but hopefully we have at least given you an idea of some things to consider.

Once you have pondered the above points, please feel free to contact us, again, and we will make a recommendations at that time. Testing options we offer range from very basic:

… to a lot more thorough:

… and the kits can get even more thorough. If you believe a more comprehensive test kit will fit your needs we have some listed in the National Testing Laboratories section of the Water Test Kit Store.

Common examples of VOC’s include toluene and benzene — both of which scientists have positively identified as carcinogens.

Over the past week or so we received numerous emails from readers asking how can they test for VOC’s and how can they remove VOC’s if detected in their water supply. In this blog article we will focus on testing for VOC’s in drinking water and in an article coming soon we will address the matter of reducing VOC concentrations in drinking water.

Testing for volatile organic compounds

Due to the complex nature and relatively low concentrations of these compounds typically found in drinking water, no simple at-home water test kits exist for volatile organic compounds. To test for them, the average homeowner has two choices:

1. Have water tested by a local water testing laboratory. You can usually obtain a list of qualified local laboratories by contacting your local Health Department or agency responsible environmental monitoring.
    
2. Send a water sample by mail to a company like National Testing Laboratories for analysis.

When dealing with volatile organic compounds one must always remember that even the most reputable certified water testing laboratory will not have the ability to test for all of the possible compounds that could end up in the water supply.

Literally, and we mean this, the current full list of volatile organic compounds contains thousands of chemicals… and the list grows larger all the time.

Therefore, most laboratories offer testing packages that include a number of the more commonly used (in industry, manufacturing, etc.) volatile organic compounds that could turn up in drinking water. As an example, National Testing Laboratories‘ line of Watercheck Testing Packages offers testing packages that include as many as 47 VOC’s.

Below you will find a list of contaminants reduced or removed by the Watercheck w/ Pesticides Testing Package offered by National Testing Laboratories, a kit we think very well suited for use by anyone who fears potential water supply contamination by industry, intention, agriculture, or accident:

Watercheck Testing Package w/ Pesticides — 103 Parameters

Do you know what scares us most? This list does not take into account several other ‘families’ of potentially dangerous drinking water contaminants… like radioactive isotopes.

Moral of the story

Whether we like it or not, water pollution exists and although the majority of United States citizens do have safe, clean drinking water pouring from their faucets, accidents happen, mechanical devices fail, incentives/bribes make some folks turn a blind eye to environmental violations, and sometimes… sh#t happens — like when runoff containing animal or human waste winds up in a lake that feeds people’s private water systems… or when that same contaminated runoff seeps down into aquifers where traces of the excrement multiply and wait to get pulled to the surface by a private water well… or when that same runoff lingers in a lake, pond or stream where its bacteria multiply and eventually drift towards a popular swimming spot…

Need we say more?

The option of testing for water quality exists for most of us and depending upon what you think you may want to test for, it may cost a lot less than you think. Contact the Water Testing Blog and we will do our best to help you find the perfect water test kit for your unique water quality situation — even if we don’t carry anything for it in our own Water Test Kit Store.

It’s your water, your health, and ultimately… your LIFE!

Allegedly, political figures in the 11,000-resident village of Crestwood located roughly 20 miles south of Chicago hoped to score brownie points with local voters by showing how the water commission had kept water rates low… by mixing water from a well previously determined to contain unwanted carcinogenic compounds with more expensive, but much cleaner water from Lake Michigan.

Estimates put the annual savings netted by this deceptive little scheme at around $400,000 per year and although residents certainly did enjoy the ride afforded them by lower water bills for a number of years, many Crestwood residents now harbor a tremendous amount of ill will towards the longtime supervisor of the water department (Theresa Neubauer) and the man who served as the water department’s certified water operator (Frank Scaccia).

Both Theresa and Frank now face up to 5 years per count for making false statements to environmental regulators. The court found Theresa guilty of 11 counts so she could face up to 55 years in prison while Frank previously plead guilty to 1 count and could face up to 5 years in prison.

Was Justice served, though?

While it may make some folks happy to see trusted government officials getting thrown in jail for putting hardworking, unknowing families at risk by serving up polluted water, the fact remains that in this case, the residents of Crestwood have ingested potentially dangerous drinking water up until 2008 despite environmental regulators warning political figures in the town in the mid-1980’s of the potential dangers lurking in the well water.

So… will two people spending time behind bars do anything to help those whose health may have gotten compromised by carcinogenic compounds in the well water? Probably not and quite honestly we doubt ANY news of ANY kind will make the residents of that community feel better about what has happened.

Moral off the story?

We would like to think of the unfortunate events in Crestwood — especially the betrayal of the public’s trust by governing officials — as isolated events but our years of reading and writing about various intentional acts of water contamination by individuals, industries and governments will not allow us to think like that.

Instead, we view this story (which will only end in more heartache and misery for the residents of Crestwood) as a grim reminder that we must all keep a vigilant eye on the quality of our water regardless of how it reaches our homes, schools and offices.

Whether accidental or intentional, unwanted water contaminants can creep into the water supply at any time. Only through regular, or at least annual, drinking water testing will you find out if something has altered the quality of your water and possibly put you and your loved ones at risk.

Testing for carcinogenic compounds in drinking water

As most of you know, we carry a variety of simple, at-home drinking water test kits in the Water Test Kit Store that folks can use to keep an eye on basic drinking water parameters. Neither basic dip-n-read test strips nor traditional wet chemistry test kits, however, will tell you if carcinogens exist in your water supply.

Detection of compounds like VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) which scientists have positively linked to the occurrence of cancer in laboratory animals and humans can only take place with the aid of technology not well-suited for field work so we have recently also started carrying mail-in drinking water test kits produced by National Testing Laboratories, a widely respected and well-known name in residential and commercial water testing.

For the purpose of testing for VOC’s we suggest considering a water testing package like the Watercheck City-Check Standard Test Kit which tests for 47 VOC’s as well as a host of other important water quality parameters:

Generally speaking, National Testing Laboratories will send by email a copy of your test results 10 to 14 business days after the lab receives your water sample.

I have city water and want to know if the austin springs water filter will clean my water so it is safe. The under counter and countertop models look like they will work but how can I can I tell for sure?

First and foremost, Fred, before you start deciding on a water filter, we think you should consider getting your water fully tested for typical water contaminants in your area. Contact your local water department for a copy of the most recent annual water quality publication and then locate a certified water testing laboratory in your area that can perform any testing that appears necessary.

We suggest using a qualified (and certified!) local water testing laboratory because they may have the ability to recommend testing based on their experience with the local water supply over a number of years.

If no local lab exists, then you may want to consider the mail-in water testing services of a company like National Testing Laboratories that currently offers three levels of what they call ‘City-Check’ ranging in cost from $140 for the Basic City-Check up to $250 for the Deluxe City-Check.

After completion of testing?

With any luck, Fred, your water will receive a clean bill of health! But, if not, then make a list of all the things found in your water that you would like removed (or in some cases reduced) and compare that list to the list of water contaminants removed/reduced by any of the water filters you have considered purchasing.

Moral of the story?

Rushing into a water filter purchase without knowing exactly what, if any, contaminants your water supply contains makes no sense. You could very easily make one of several foolhardy things:

• Spend money on an expensive, complicated water filtration system when your water does not require anything more than simple chlorine reduction for taste and odor improvement.
   
• Spend any amount of money on a water filter that does not address your specific water quality issues.
   
• Spend money on point-of-use (i.e. shower, faucet, countertop, or undercounter) water filters when in actuality, only a whole house filter has the filtering power to meet your water quality improvement needs.

What about simpler drinking water test kits?

The cost of water testing by a laboratory may not fit a lot of people’s budgets these days — and we can FULLY appreciate that!    🙂

So… will more economically feasible water test kits like the WaterSafe City Water Test Kit, WaterWorks COMPLETE Test Kit or SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit work just as well? Not for complex contaminants like VOC’s (volatile organic contaminants) and harder to test for environmental elements, no, but for folks on municipal water systems one would HOPE that none of those would exist in the water supply to begin with since those folks PAY a company to clean up the water before distributing it!

Interested in learning more about Austin Springs water filters?

If you would like to learn more about the filtration capabilities of the Austin Springs product line, then the links below will take you to pages containing more facts about each of the products shown:

We ‘yelled’ that last bit for a reason. Unwanted and potentially harmful contaminants can find their way into well water regardless of how far below the surface it comes from.

Hence the reason why well water professionals and health officials suggest having one’s well water tested yearly.

Today’s story about well water contamination came from Kansas where residents of Butler County have had to all but abandon the use of their drinking water wells because of an unpleasant chemical smell.

Specifically, the water coming out of the private wells has a gasoline like odor to it.

A bad odor and taste in the well water has some residents in a neighborhood east of Andover concerned. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and a water testing lab are working to find the source of the problem, but residents in the area are becoming frustrated.

Eric and Brittney Hauck say the well water at their house in Butler County smells terrible and they fear it could be unsafe.

“There was the smell of gasoline, kind of a paint-thinner kind of smell,” said Brittney Hauck.

The Haucks immediately stopped drinking the water and contacted the KDHE. Ash Creek Associates out of Portland, Oregon came out to their house and tested the water.

Last week, the Haucks received the results which showed elevated levels of benzene and other contaminants. The testing company gave the Haucks bottled water and installed a charcoal filter at no charge.

A week later, the family and many other neighborhood residents are still waiting for answers from the KDHE about what’s causing their water to become contaminated. KAKE News attempted to contact both the testing company and KDHE but could not get a response because the offices were closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Some residents suspect the contamination may be coming from a petroleum pipeline that runs through their neighborhood. Until they can get some definitive answers about the safety of their well water, residents say they’ll continue to use bottled water for drinking, cooking and bathing. ( source )

We feel very bad for the Haucks and all the other folks in that area affected by the suspected contamination of the aquifer from which they draw their well water. Hopefully the KDHE will determine the source of the well water contamination quickly and make it so the Haucks and their neighbors can once again perform simple tasks like cooking and bathing with their well water.

Testing for benzene in drinking water?

The average person cannot obtain an off-the-shelf test kit capable of testing for the presence of benzene in drinking, tap or well water. That sort of testing must get done in a laboratory using advanced analytical techniques and equipment.

AS usual at this point we suggest contacting your local water department or board of health to see if they can provide you with a list of certified water testing laboratories. For those wishing to use a mail-in water testing service, you may want to take a look at the 83 water quality parameter test package offered by National Testing Laboratories.

Test for 97 Potential
Drinking Water Contaminants

For the longest time we have mentioned a company called National Testing Laboratories and a number of their testing products, but thus far we have not really talked about the company and why we keep mentioning them.

At some point between 2005 or 2007 one of the founders — and main writers for this site — had the pleasure of meeting a person of importance at National Testing Laboratories staff while working at a (National Ground Water Association [NGWA]) trade show.

Over the following months (and years) the information learned about National Testing Laboratories from his contact at the company and from independent sources made him a solid believer in the company’s firm commitment to providing accurate, affordable and reliable water testing services to both the general public and the private sector.

And in National Testing Laboratories’ own words. . .

The National Testing Laboratories, Ltd. network of certified laboratories performs drinking water analysis for customers worldwide according to US EPA and standard methods. We test for compliance and informational purposes and hold certifications across the U.S. Our laboratories successfully participate in US EPA Proficiency Testing Programs. We offer test packages to meet federal, state, FDA and International Bottled Water Association requirements. We maintain memberships in the Water Quality Association, Eastern Water Quality Association, International Bottled Water Association, Canadian Bottled Water Association, Northeast Bottled Water Association, National Ground Water Association, and many other national or regional associations. Members of our technical staff are contributing members of various IBWA and WQA committees. ( source )

And, just because it will save us a lot of typing, take a look at what else National Testing Laboratories has to say about itself. Yeah, we took the easy way out on this company profile, but WHY reinvent the wheel, right?

National Testing Laboratories (NTL) is one of the largest independent laboratories in the U.S. specializing in the analysis of drinking water for chemical and microbiological contamination. The corporate office in Cleveland, Ohio is integral to the operation of our laboratory facility in Ypsilanti, Michigan. For more than 25 years, we have offered a wide range of services for residential and commercial customers. Commercial customers include public water systems (city water), environmental consultants, engineers, water treatment professionals, bottled water plants, well drillers, food producers, pharmaceutical companies, laboratories and home inspectors. In 1998, Environmental Hazards Services, LLC. (EHS) of Richmond, Virginia was added to the network. EHS offers analysis for lead and asbestos in air and solids. Their strength is in high-quality analysis with very short turnaround time. The addition of EHS further enhances the broad capabilities of the network to better serve valued customers.

The network laboratories perform analysis according to USEPA and standard methods to meet state compliance in addition to performing informational tests for quality control purposes. Certifications are held across the country to meet customers’ needs. Network laboratories successfully participate in the USEPA, NIST and AIHA Proficiency Testing Programs and rank in the top percentile when compared to all other participants. ( source )

So there you have it; straight from the horse’s mouth. Wait. Did we just call ourselves a HORSE? Never mind. Moving on.

Don’t they just want to sell me a water treatment system?

Many times in the past we have advised folks interested in having their water tested to steer clear of water testing offers by companies who ALSO just happen to sell water treatment systems… because those companies ONLY want to find a problem (real or semi-real) and sell a product to fix the ‘problem’ their testing revealed.

Since National Testing Laboratories does not sell any water treatment equipment, you won’t have to worry about some pushy salesperson giving you the old ‘razzle-dazzle’ water chemistry show in your home and then pressuring you into buying a (potentially worthless) water treatment system at an inflated price.

National Testing Laboratories’ test kits work using mail-in submission methods… so no commission-hungry sales droid will ever go near your home. A definite plus in our book!

“I have searched for hours. How does one find a water testing company? We live in Northern Colorado and can find no information on this. It’s very frustrating.”

Yes, Joyce, we agree. The internet has become so cluttered with nonsense that finding valuable resources such as reputable water testing companies has turned into a truly annoying adventure.

Thankfully the United States Environmental Protection Agency has put together a way for people to locate certified water testing laboratories in their State of residence. For you, Joyce, the EPA’s web site directed us to the following pdf file which lists State Certified Drinking Water Labs in Colorado.

For all you other folks interested in locating a certified water testing lab in your area, take a look at the EPA’s State Certification Officers for Drinking Water Laboratories. By each name you will find a link to that particular state’s web page with links to its approved drinking water testing laboratories.

Do we have to use a lab to test our water?

We strongly advocate using a certified drinking water testing laboratory in situations where the water has not gotten tested in a long time or people have good reason to suspect contamination of some sort. That does not mean, however, that people ought not perform spot check testing on the quality of their drinking water using at-home drinking water test kits made by reputable companies like SenSafe and WaterSafe because sometimes a drastic change in an easily monitored water quality parameter (i.e. pH, alkalinity, heavy metals, etc.) can indicate the presence of a much larger and potentially much more dangerous problem.

Oh, and did we also mention you have the option of easily adding subtle, tasty flavors to the purified water it produces?

What importance does NSF Certified have?

Getting back to what really matters when it comes to a water filtration system, the PUR Pitcher Water Filter with PUR Flavor Options has passed independent laboratory testing and certified to NSF Standards for its ability to reduce levels of the following nasty water contaminants (if present to begin with):

• 2,4-D Reduction
• Atrazine Reduction — test for atrazine
• Benzene Reduction
• Cadmium Reduction
• Carbofuran Reduction
• Carbon Tetrachloride Reduction
• Copper Reduction — test for
• Cyst Reduction
• Mercury Reduction — test for mercury
• Simazine Reduction — test for simazine
• Tetrachloroethylene Reduction
• Toluene Reduction
• Trihalomethanes (TTHM) Reduction
• Chlorine Reduction – Aesthetic — test for total chlorine / test for free chlorine
• Nominal Particulate Reduction, Class I
• Taste and Odor Reduction
• Zinc Reduction — test for zinc

The PUR Water Filter in this water filter pitcher was successfully tested and certified by NSF International against NSF / ANSI Standards 42 and 53.

No, this filter will not protect your family against EVERY possible drinking water contaminant, but it does offer a decent amount of protection against some truly unpleasant compounds that don’t belong in your water.

Know what contaminants your drinking water contains

The best thing to do before ordering a water filter of ANY size, brand or type… Get your water tested to find out what you need to remove! If you have serious reason to suspect your water contains contaminants, consult with a certified water testing laboratory with proper accreditation. A lab like that will have the equipment and expertise to accurately assess any risks posed by contaminants in your water.

As an example, National Testing Laboratories, a water testing lab certified to perform water testing in pretty much every State in the US, offers three different water testing packages as well as a host of other contaminant-specific tests to the general public.

Click here to view National Testing Laboratories residential water testing packages.