In our experience, four basic groups of people ought to consider installing a nitrate filter on their drinking water line and/or main water line, though other folks may have reason to as well:
* Anyone who has well water and lives in an area where regional flooding takes place on a regular or semi-regular basis. Nitrates occur naturally in the environment and if a well head gets covered by flood water, any crack or fissure in the well covering could allow nitrates, bacteria and other potentially harmful contaminants to infiltrate the well.
* Anyone who has well water and lives in an area close to certain types of manufacturing facilities — most notably fertilizer factories. Sometimes runoff containing nitrates from facilities infiltrate local water supplies… by accident, of course.
* Anyone who has well water and lives in or close to areas engaged in agriculture (farming). Many of the fertilizers used by even the smallest of farms contain nitrates and often times those nitrates will get washed away by rain water and make their way into aquifers. Additionally, farms that raise animals may not always dispose of nitrate-rich animal waste and just as in the case of nitrates from fertilizers, the nitrates from animal waste often find their way into aquifers.
First Line of Defense
Without testing, one will never know if their water contains potentially harmful contaminants. Therefore, a homeowner’s first line of defense against drinking water contamination is and always will be testing their drinking water.
For nitrate and nitrate in drinking water testing, SenSafe manufactures an easy-to-use test strip that measures both nitrate and nitrate concentrations in water at the same time and yields results in about one minute.
Should you rely solely upon a test strip to tell you whether or not your water contains potentially harmful contaminants? Not at all. Certified testing labs such as National Testing Laboratories specialize in analyzing drinking water for contaminants and follow strict government approved and/or recommended protocols when performing any testing.