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Safe Drinking Water: Testing Your Water
Aisha Ikramuddin
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Should you test your water?
Even if your water is purified by your water company, by the time it comes through your faucet, it may have accumulated bacteria and lead from the pipes through which it is carried.
Some cities, like Boston, still have lead pipes in service lines. Some PVC pipes made before 1977 may leach vinyl chloride, a carcinogen, into water as well, as was discovered in Troy, Kansas in 1998. Within your own home, you may have lead pipes or pipes soldered with lead.
Bacteria can grow in your hot water tank, the water tank on the roof of apartment buildings or reservoirs between the water treatment plant and your home.
After you obtain your Consumer Confidence Report, you can test the water coming from your faucet to be sure. If you have a private well, you should test your water at least yearly.
Water testing can get expensive, though, since there are so many substances you could test for. Here are a few suggestions to help you narrow down the list:
Everyone should test their tap water for lead, regardless of the age of your house. Some older homes may have lead pipes within the home, and some cities, including Washington D.C., Boston and New York, still have lead pipes in their system.
If your water company is not testing for some substances that you are concerned about, you may want to have your water tested for those substances.
If your water company is using chlorine for disinfection, but does not check THM levels, test for them yourself. (Chlorine reacts with organic chemicals left in the water by soil and decaying vegetation, forming a group of chemicals called trihalomethanes (THMs), which may cause miscarriages.)
If you live in an agricultural area, test for pesticides. Some laboratories have pesticide package deals.
If you live in a heavily industrialized area or near a waste dump, look up your region on U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) HUD E-Maps. Also search the Environmental Defense Fund’s website, Chemical Scorecard, by zip code for data on toxic releases from 17,000 sites in all 50 states.
Private well owners should test for nitrates and bacteria. For more information, see EPA's website for private well owners.
You can test the water coming from your tap for lead and chemicals by sending samples to an EPA-certified laboratory, such as Suburban Water Testing Lab or National Testing Labs. The EPA’s Safe Drinking Water website can give you the names of other labs in your area. You can also obtain water test kits for about $100 to $150. For these kits, you simply collect water from your taps and send it back to the laboratory as specified in the directions.
If you find that the levels of any contaminants are high, then you need to take action. Depending on the pollutants involved, your next steps may vary. While you may simply install a water filter, you may also need to look for lead pipes in your home or look into whether there may be lead lines that feed into your house. In other cases, you may work to end pollution at the source in your community.
Posted by Ohio Clean Drinking Water on 02/04/2011 at 06:51 AM
Thanks for this article! Hopefully it sparks interest in parents to get their water tested and treated for their family.
Posted by Nedrra on 01/13/2011 at 01:58 PM
Thanks for your articles on water. After reading one of the initial posts on EWG’s report on Chromium-6 (Hexavalent Chromium) being prevalent in our country’s tap water I set up a Facebook page (Chromium-6 Contamination Interest Group) on this issue.
When I think about our sweet, innocent babies being ‘lovingly’ bathe in water that may have Chromium-6 in it, I am stunned. And of course, I wonder how many of my ailments over the course of my life might be related to the water I drink, wash in and soak in.
I am stunned that after the big movie blockbuster, Erin Brockovich, well over 10 years ago, we don’t have something in place and working to address this issue.
Posted by Pure Water Network on 01/03/2011 at 08:38 PM
Testing has its place, but the most cost effective solution is to install an NSF certified drinking water system that is certified to remove the widest range of contaminants (http://www.multipureusa.com/pwn). The companies pay for stringent testing under extreme conditions, to assure that they will more than protect in any normal household environment.
Why pay for continual testing? The costs of the test could pay for the filter many times over.
Excerpt from Guide to Water Filtration:
“Many people do periodic testing on their well or spring source and rely on this method to assure themselves that they have good water. What they don’t realize is that there are a few problems with testing.
First, the test is only good for the moment the sample was taken. Bacteria can have “blooms,” if the conditions are right, which potentially occur hours, days or weeks after the testing and therefore remain undetected. Other casual contamination can occur from animal or human sources, as mentioned above, which the test never detected because the sample was taken before the contamination occurred.
Second, testing can be very expensive to do, depending on what is being tested for. Most basic tests cover bacteria (i.e. E. coli), levels of sediment and decaying organic matter, and amount of total dissolved solids (mineral levels such as calcium, magnesium, iron, sulfur, etc.). With any extra testing the price goes up per test. Lead, asbestos and specific chemical contaminants are more difficult and therefore much more expensive to test for.”
Posted by Tony on 12/07/2010 at 12:18 PM
I use one of those filters on my faucet. Will that remove any lead from the drinking water? I’d love to get a test done too.
Posted by article directory on 11/15/2010 at 12:51 PM
Wow, I have never thought about the hot water heater but it does seem to have the right conditions to be a bacteria grower. I think i may be looking into getting a water filter of some kind.
Posted by Zach Johnson on 10/11/2010 at 09:52 AM
Thanks for the article. I have two children and the water quality in our area is a big concern.
Posted by Ben Crawford on 08/06/2010 at 02:36 AM
OH! Its so scary to think that the treated and disinfected water that flows through our pipes can contain harmful substances. Thanks for sharing this.
Posted by Filtrete on 08/18/2009 at 07:09 PM
For starters there’s absolutely no way your lines are crossed. What it sounds like is your cities tap water is undrinkable. If i were you I would still stick to bottled water….even while brushing my teeth. Still the water sounds disgusting.
Posted by cher on 04/09/2009 at 11:17 PM
I live in an apartment building just outside of washington, d.c., and i was just wondering who i would need to talk to about “brown water” with a fowl smell. i have complained to the apartment manager, but the way she sees it-she has my money for the next year at least-there is nothing really i can do except go over their heads. I am not sure who they use for a water company and there are 4 in our area, one of which is actually a water treatment company.
Am i wrong to think that some how our pipes got crossed?
it sickens me to even consider that…
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Posted by water testing on 01/05/2012 at 05:02 AM
I live in Manchester , the most competent place on earth for residential survivals. I am living in apartment on rent. Believe me its hard to pay it. This is not the only thing I have to bear worse is the water problem. The pipes of building are old and contain sludge , mud some times.