State health and environmental experts performed testing of well water around a know 1,4 Dioxane contamination site and detected the compound in a number of wells… with that number expected to rise as more test results return from the lab.

ATKINSON – A cancer-causing water contamination in town has left many residents scared to turn on the tap.

The Department of Environmental Services has identified 12 wells contaminated with 1,4 Dioxane, four in just the past month. The contamination could affect more Atkinson residents than originally thought and to address concerns, representatives from DES and the Environmental Protection Agency held a public information session at the Atkinson Community Center last night. More than 80 people attended to learn more about what may be in their water.

Water is unsafe to drink if levels of the chemical exceed three parts per billion, according to David Bowen, hydrologist and project manager for DES. The state has found elevated levels in 12 wells and detectable quantities in 15 wells on Emery Drive and Belknap Drive, But that number will continue to rise.

…

Since DES began testing for it, the chemical has been found in about 70 sites in New Hampshire. 1,4 Dioxane is a stabilizer in chlorinated solvents and found in paint strippers, dyes, degreasers and varnishes, Regan said.

DES is still investigating, but the source of the contamination may have been a release of a chlorinated solvent at the Johnston and Johnston property in 1989, according to DES groundwater expert Stephen Roy. The company, which manufactured rolled aluminum, sold the property at 128 Route 111 to Windfield Alloy, a recycling company, in 2005.

“There is 1,4 Dioxane in the water below that facility,” he said.

…

The chemical does not degrade over time and spreads easily through groundwater. And there are considerable health risks over time, according to David Gordon, DES Health Risk Assessor.

“The EPA has classified it as a likely human carcinogen, based on studies in several animal species,” he said. “The cancer risk is one in one million, if you drink two liters of water per day. It can be toxic to the liver and kidneys.”

Drinking or cooking with the water accounts for about 90 percent of the risk, he said. But Dioxane cannot be filtered effectively with home water filtration systems, which is why DES has been supplying bottled water to residents in the area since finding the contamination. ( source )

Some pretty scary stuff right there AND it appears from this article, as well as some other research we’ve done, that most residential water filters can do NOTHING to make well, ground and drinking water contaminated with 1,4 Dioxane safe for consumption.

Still thinking this cannot happen to you? Ask the folks in Bally, Pennsylvania how THEY feel about the likelihood of an unthinkable well water contamination event happening to THEM. Oh, and by the way: The residents of Bally, Pennsylvania existed on bottled water for a period of around SEVEN YEARS before exhausting attempts at well water remediation and finally drilling a well that did not contain 1,4 Dioxane.

Moral of the story?

Do NOT think drinking water contamination can only happen to others. If you own a private well you need to get it tested regularly (experts suggest yearly) for as many potential contaminants as possible.

We’ve said it before and we will say it until we turn blue in the face… The responsibility for the quality of well water coming out of a private well falls squarely on the shoulders of the well owner!

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.

Today’s question about well water testing and possible well water contamination by hydraulic fracturing came to us from a woman named ‘Terri’ in Pennsylvania who asked…

why is the cost so high to test water for fracking contamination? after the recent flooding it only cost $25.00 to see if the well water was safe to drink. is it best to have a local company test the water or should we send it to Penn State or out of state? how often after the drilling starts do you recommend water to be tested?

Thank you for this question, Terri, and we bet other folks facing the unwanted financial burden of paying for more ground/well water testing than the average homeowner with a well have wondered the exact same thing.

Well Water Testing (2 or 3 parameters)…

In our experience, well water testing that costs roughly $20 to $30 usually includes the following tests: Nitrates/Nitrites and Coliform Bacteria.

Some kits and marketed laboratory testing packages may include other tests, but not much more and definitely not nearly the number of tests included in the laboratory testing packages typically used to analyze water that may contain contamination resulting from hydraulic fracturing.

Testing for Fracking Fluid (potentially 100’s of parameters)…

From the very beginning companies that used hydraulic fracturing as a means of extracting natural gas from rock and shale formations deep in the Earth have kept the list of ingredients in their fracking fluids out of the public eye.

However, according to information posted on Wikipedia (10/28/11)…

“Chemical additives used in fracturing fluids typically make up less than 1% by weight of the total fluid. They are biocides, surfactants, adjusting viscosity, and emulsifiers. Many are used in household products such as cosmetics, lotions, soaps, detergents, furniture polishes, floor waxes, and paints.[33] Some are also used in food products. A list of the chemicals that have been used was published in a U.S. House of Representatives Report.[34] Some of the chemicals pose no known health hazards, some of the chemicals are known carcinogens, some are toxic, and the health hazards for the rest are unknown. The report does not include the concentration of each chemical used or the amount used.

A 2011 study identified 632 chemicals used in natural gas operations. Only 353 of these are well-described in the scientific literature; and of these, more than 75% could affect skin, eyes, respiratory and gastrointestinal systems; roughly 40-50% could affect the brain and nervous, immune and cardiovascular systems and the kidneys; 37% could affect the endocrine system; and 25% were carcinogens or mutagens. The study indicated possible long-term health effects that might not appear immediately. The study recommended full disclosure of all products used, along with extensive air and water monitoring near natural gas operations; it also recommended that fracking’s exemption from regulation under the US Safe Drinking Water Act be rescinded.[35]”

So as you can clearly see, the potential for harm befalling a person exposed to fracking chemicals could certainly clearly exist — even if it may take a while to happen through prolonged exposure to fracking chemicals in the air and/or in their drinking water.

With the number of chemicals and ‘other things’ possibly present in fracking fluid, and the mystery surrounding many of those additives true identities, responsible testing laboratories must use a shotgun approach when analyzing samples for the fracking fluid… because they have no solid idea of what exactly to look for.

The Best way to Test for Fracking Fluid?

Terri mentioned Penn State in her inquiry and at this point we feel the scientists at Penn State may very well have the best idea of what has transpired in that region due to their close proximity and the amount of time and resources that institution has dedicated to tracking the activities of gas drilling companies in the area.

Moral of the Story?

If companies intend to begin hydraulic fracturing in your area then you really ought to have the quality of your water tested before, during and after drilling.

If companies have already started drilling and you have not, yet, had a qualified water testing lab analyze your water, you really ought to have that testing done right away.

They found tetrachloroethylene in a family’s well water in Randolph County, North Carolina.

Staley, NC — When the North Carolina State Department of Environment and Natural Resources tested neighborhood well water in Randolph County, they were looking for petroleum leaks from a run down gas station, but they didn’t find any. What they did stumble upon was another dangerous chemical. A chemical used for either dry cleaning or cleaning grease off of auto parts.

“Every time I go to wash my hands, I just think, what more damage is that going to do to my body?” says Andrea Falk. The dangerous chemical, tetrachloroethylene, was found her homes well water weeks ago. She says ever since she got her letter from the state about her bad water, she’s been paranoid, “It said that there was a dangerous amount of the tetrachloroethylene. It said don’t use it for any household uses including dishwashing, clothes washing, bathing yourself, drinking, brushing teeth and flushing the toilet. I mean you can’t use it at all. There is no usable water in this house.”

Wayne Jones, the environmental health supervisor for Randolph County said the state notified him of the chemical and this week a second test confirmed the contamination of the dangerous substance, ” It’s a very nasty chemical, but it takes a long time to be classified as a known carcinogen and there has just not been that much testing. But it is a pretty nasty chemical that is suspected to be a carcinogen.”

But Falk has been using it the past four years, and now she’s beginning to question her change in skin and hair. “You kind of wonder, is it the house? Is it the water?,” she says, “We are a small little community here. We’re out in the middle of nowhere. There might be 20, 40 families right in this area. Who knows how far it could be affected.”

The Randolph County Health Department is working with state agencies to investigate this contamination because they don’t know where the source of the chemical is or how far it’s reach extends.

July 1, 2008 is the first time North Carolina started it’s state-wide well water testing. If your well was tested before this date, the Randolph County Health Department says it isn’t likely the water was tested for this chemical. ( source )

What is Tetrachloroethylene?

According to Wikipedia, “Tetrachloroethylene is an excellent solvent for organic materials. Otherwise it is volatile, highly stable, and nonflammable. For these reasons, it is widely used in dry cleaning. Usually as a mixture with other chlorocarbons, it is also used to degrease metal parts in the automotive and other metalworking industries. It appears in a few consumer products including paint strippers and spot removers.” ( source )

If you suspect that your well water may contain unwanted contaminants like tetrachloroethylene, at-home drinking water test kits such as the WaterSafe All-In-One and the SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit will not test for anything beyond the basic water quality parameters. You will need to seek assistance from a certified water testing laboratory such as National Testing Laboratories.

Residents in one town recently, and quite accidentally, discovered that a property in their community may have leached harmful contaminants into their drinking water… and they would never have found out if someone had not put in a request to re-zone the property for a new use.

East Norwalk resident Rick Giordano on Monday delivered to City Hall a petition requesting groundwater testing for the area surrounding the former Norden Systems, Inc. property.

The petition delivery comes days before the city’s Zoning Commission is scheduled to vote on a major housing plan the eastern part of the site.

“The problems with polluted drinking wells and soil contamination came to light during the process of rezoning … (The property) was found to have been the source of chemical pollution,” said Giordano during a news conference at City Hall on Monday. “I’ve delivered a petition with almost 300 names from Norwalk and from Westport, requesting that water test and soil vapor tests be performed for the residents living within a quarter mile of NordenPark.” ( source )

So even if you have taken proper precautions such as not installing your well within 100 feet of a septic system, you cannot always know for sure that your well water contains no harmful contaminants.

Only regular water tests performed by a certified well water testing organization combined with spot checks using at-home drinking water test kits offers the kind of protection that may be required to make sure no unwanted bacteria or other contaminants have entered your private drinking well.

At any rate, people installing a new well should make sure to place it no less than 100 feet from the nearest septic tank and/or septic system. See below.

Most Star Valley residents get their water from a well, flush their toilets into to a septic system and have never tested their groundwater.

That’s a potentially toxic combination, especially if a septic system is within 100 feet of a well or starts to leak. In that case, it could deposit waterborne pathogens and fecal matter into the groundwater.

Because residents are not required to test their well water, “they could be drinking themselves to death and not even know it,” said Vern Leis, chairman of the Water and Sewer Commission. ( source )

Homeowners have sole responsibility for the quality of the water coming from their wells and should maintain an active regimen of well water testing in addition to having their water checked by a certified water testing laboratory at least once a year and definitely after unusually heavy rains, periods of drought, or whenever some other event, natural or caused by mankind, may have affected the source of your drinking water.