WaterSafe Science Project Test Kit

• Lead – individual test
• Bacteria – individual test
• Pesticides – individual test
• Nitrates – individual test
• Nitrites – individual test
• Chlorine – individual test
• Hardness – individual test
• pH – individual test

Students can test various sources of water and compare the results or they can test the same water at various times to check for variances in its quality. Whichever way students decide, they will find the WaterSafe Science Project Kit very easy and safe to use.

Today’s inquiry came to us from ‘Ric C’ who asked a very wise question about a water filtration unit he may wish to purchase (HomePure AP-0930):

Hi
Am dealing with a product that has an NSF certification, and below is the address;

http://www.nsf.com/Certified/DWTU/Listings.asp?TradeName=homepure&Standard=&ProductType=&PlantState=&PlantCountry=&PlantRegion=&submit3=SEARCH&hdModlStd=ModlStd

Does this mean the product is good?

Quite honestly, we have never seen the HomePure AP-0930 before but as we said previously, the marketplace has a ton of water filtration units out there and we seriously doubt that anyone could know the in’s and out’s of every single water filtration unit currently available for purchase.

With that said, we looked at the NSF credentials supplied by Ric and saw that this unit has tested and certified to NSF/ANSI STANDARD 042 (Drinking Water Treatment Units – Aesthetic Effects) for the reduction of chlorine taste and odor as well as NSF/ANSI STANDARD 053 (Drinking Water Treatment Units – Health Effects) for the reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOC’s).

While having NSF Certification does give the HomePure AP-0930 a bit of credibility, please keep in mind that not every water filter will work in every application — even with NSF, WQA, etc. certifications to back up its capabilities.

Think of it this way: A high quality hammer won’t do you a bit of good when you need to turn a screw.

Testing your water first?

Yes! Do it! Test your drinking water before spending money on a water filter!

Before investing in a water filter for your home or office make sure you test your water for as wide a range of potential contaminants as possible. Doing so could save you the expense and aggravation associated with installing a filter that addresses the wrong water quality issues.

Anything specific about the HomePure AP-0930 catch your eye?

We like the fact that the HomePure AP-0930 has NSF certifications. As we said before, it means the unit certainly has some credibility.

One thing we did not like about the unit dealt w/ it inability to filter out heavy metals such as lead, copper, iron, chromium, etc. In our opinion a well-rounded, general purpose water filter would also have the ability to remove/reduce levels of heavy metals in drinking water.

Older homes most likely contain metal piping and the majority of public water systems contain metal pipes, as well. “But, we live a newly constructed home.” Does not matter (in our opinion). Newer homes, while mostly containing PVC or some other type of plastic piping, still get connected to public water systems that contain miles and miles of metal pipes.

Depending upon the quality of the water when it leaves the water treatment plant, it has the opportunity to pick up anywhere from traces of metals to noticeable levels of metals as it travels through those miles of metal pipes to homes and offices on the water system.

Interesting fact: The literature for the HomePure AP-0930 water filter system did mention metals and say that metals in water may cause problems, but the HomePure AP-0930 does not remove/reduce metals.

Replacement filters for the HomePure AP-0930?

According to the NSF web site, the HomePure AP-0930 uses a replacement filter element with model number “AP-0931″. A quick search of three popular online water filter web sites (FilterWater.Com, FiltersFast.Com and WaterFilters.Net) and a google search yielded no locations where a person could purchase replacement filters.

Not a particularly good sign! What happens in 3 months or a year when the original filter kicks the bucket?

Moral of the story?

Not all water filter systems are created equal and even though some bear seals of certification and/or endorsement from well-known, reputable organizations such as NSF or WQA, not every one of those ‘certified’ products will clean up every possible water quality condition.

So, test your water to see what problems/issues it may have and THEN set about the task of locating the correct water quality improvement device for your water.

Look for products that bear the NSF and/or WQA logos, but do not assume the logo automatically means that a particular device will do what you need it to do.

Oh, and one last thing: Check to make sure you can easily acquire replacement filters for any water filter you consider buying.

What juice brands contained arsenic? Name brands you might recognize included Minute Maid, Mott’s, Gerber, Welch’s, and Great Value ( source )

Did other brands ring in as containing arsenic, as well? Yes, and the same study also explored the lead content in various juices — and discovered that an alarming number of juice brands contained unsettling amounts of lead.

Scary times, in our opinion, when juice manufacturers — or the manufacturers of ANY food or beverage product — do not take into consideration contaminant levels like lead or arsenic regardless of whether or not the levels violate Federal Law.

We believe that companies who produce products intended for use or consumption by children really ought to hold themselves to higher standards than Federal Laws mandate since laws dictating food & beverage products — and possibly every aspect of our lives — only go on the books AFTER something becomes a problem, people get sick, someone dies, etc.

Many of you may have seen episodes of murder mystery shows where the killer used arsenic to poison his/her victims… because it WORKS as a lethal poison in the right doses and also causes debilitating conditions with prolonged exposure at lower levels.

Find more information on arsenic and test kits for arsenic in places like water, soil and wood below:

• Basic Information About Arsenic
• Arsenic Test Kits (water, soil, wood)
• Arsenic Quick Test Kits
• Arsenic Category on Water Testing Blog

We mentioned lead in the title of this article… so we will now tell you that the same study mentioned above ALSO determined that popular brands of juice contained higher than expected levels of lead, too.

For those not knowledgeable about lead in water or the effects of lead on the human body — especially young children — it will suffice to say that it does bad, bad things and you do not want it in your food or water.

Over the years we have posted numerous articles about lead in water, testing for lead in water and various ways to remove lead from drinking water. Check out those lead in water postings in the Water Testing Blog ‘Lead’ Archives.

In tests of 44 properties in Jasper County, 19 showed high levels of lead, prompting the city’s mayor to ask the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for help in testing for, and cleaning up, the element, according to the Los Angeles Times.

For more than 100 years, beginning in the mid-19th century, Jasper County was at the worldwide forefront of lead and zinc mining. The area included town names like Leadville Hollow and Minersville.

According to Dan Pekarek, director of the Joplin Health Department, a waste product from lead mining called “chat” was dumped in several spots around the city of Joplin, and simply covered with soil. Those sites we likely exposed when the F-5 tornado ripped through the city. ( source )

So… What does that mean for the residents of Joplin in terms of water quality and drinking water safety? It means they will more than likely begin regular testing for lead and other potentially dangerous metals in their drinking water!

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has determined that consuming food and drink containing levels of lead at or above 15ppb (parts per billion) can cause serious health problems.

Why did companies dump ‘chat’ all over the place?

At the time no one probably knew the dangers posed by the material so government did not really care where the material ended up. Hence the reason the article mentioned how people used it as fill material under houses, in yards, etc.

Now, however, science and the medical profession both agree that material containing such high levels of lead pose quite a threat, mining companies would need piles and piles of permits before they could dispose of a substance like ‘chat’ and they would more than likely remain on the hook for the safety of surrounding areas for many years.

Testing for lead in water? Soil?

Can the average person test for the presence of lead in their water and soil? Absolutely! SenSafe makes several affordable products that work well for field testing.

Right now (11/09/11) TestProducts.Com has SenSafe’s Lead in Water Test Kit available at a discounted rate of around 18 dollars for two tests and you can use the kit to test for the presence of lead in either soil or water.

A company called WaterSafe also manufactures a Lead in Water Test Kit, but that kit does not include instructions for determining lead levels in soil.

Below you will find excerpts from an article published last week about high levels of lead found in public fountains and sinks:

Even as universities across the country are banning bottled water, alarms are going off about the safety of the water coming out of drinking fountains at some Canadian campuses.

Concerns over water quality at school drinking fountains are not new. A US investigation in 2009 turned up lead-contaminated drinking water at schools in every American state. Some of the lead came from the school’s own well or local water supplies, while lead-soldered pipes were identified as culprits in other cases. In Canada, one study found that 27 per cent of “first draw” samples taken in Ontario schools had high levels of lead, and 9 per cent still had high levels even after the system was flushed. source

We included that last paragraph so that no one would say, “Oh, well see? It’s just a Canadian problem. We’re safe here in the United States…” And yes, we get emails from people all the time saying silly stuff like that.

Why has lead in drinking fountains gone unnoticed for so long?

Honestly, we do no know. We’d guess that many people just assumed removal of older, lead-baring piping inside and hooked up to drinking water fountains would take place when all of the other piping in buildings got replaced, and as you can see they must have guessed incorrectly.

“Recently, the Albany City School District voluntarily decided to test the water in all of their school buildings. In at least six school buildings, 32 faucets came back with high, unsafe levels of lead in the water. While one would think this problem would only affect older buildings, some of the affected faucets were in buildings that had been renovated.” source

How do we test for lead in drinking fountains?

While qualified laboratories use sophisticated testing equipment that may cost thousands of dollars, the average person (like you and me) can acquire simple, easy-to-use and highly affordable lead in water test kits.

One kit in particular, the Watersafe Drinking Fountain Detective Kit (WS-207T), includes supplies for testing (12) twelve water samples, comes with a data tracking sheet to record results, provides results in just ten minutes, requires no special training or testing skills, and contains an interactive CD designed to help create a presentation template for the testing data.

What about other metals? Can we test for those, as well?

Absolutely! While more complicated test kits do exist, the average person (like you and me) can use simple, dip-n-read test strips for metals in water such as the SenSafe Water Metals Test Kit to perform on-the-spot testing. Products like this detect heavy metals such as lead, copper, iron, chromium, nickel, cadmium, etc. and alert users to the presence of metals — down to levels as low as 10 parts per billion!

Note: Although Sensafe Water Metals Check does have the ability to detect really low amounts of metals in water, it does not have the ability to tell user which metal or metals it has detected.

As an example, ‘J. Mampilly’ from India installed a system and now seeks to determine if he has installed the correct unit. He asked,

I would like to know about how i can confirm the effectiveness of my water purifier. Labs in India that can certify and throw light on the camparative quality of water before and after using a water purifier. Thank You

Unfortunately we do not have familiarity with water testing laboratories in India and cannot directly assist with this situation. We can suggest, however, that you contact your local health department and ask them for a list of certified water testing laboratories in your area.

Coliform Bacteria Test Kit

Before…

In order to know what type of filter or what filtering capabilities you should purchase, invest (yes, we said invest) in a thorough water analysis performed by a qualified water testing laboratory. Here, again, we suggest contacting your local board of health and asking them, for a list of certified drinking water testing labs. Alternatively, or if no labs exist in your immediate vicinity, you can use the services of accredited water testing companies such as National Testing Labs.

No matter what, though, always have your water tested BEFORE deciding on a water treatment system. Oh, and one more thing: Don’t think for one second that a salesperson doing an in-home water test has the same water testing tools or qualifications as a reputable water testing laboratory. Remember: 99% of all salespeople attempt to sell things and not accurately analyze a situation — especially if accurately diagnosing a situation could cost them a sale!

And after!

As ‘J. Mampilly’ has done, we should ALL take an interest in comparing the quality of water that comes out of our water filter systems. Only then will we know if the money we invested in (not spent on!) a quality drinking water filter system performs as expected.

Testing water quality beforehand gives us not only an idea of what we need to filter out of our water, but also a checklist of water quality parameters to monitor post-filtration. Should follow up water testing reveal that these ‘issues’ did not get corrected or suddenly show up months after the installation of a water system, perhaps the water filter has stopped working or never really worked properly in the first place and needs service of some sort.

And in conclusion…

Many people go through life ‘deaf, dumb and blind’ when it comes to the quality of their water — until an (initially) unexplainable health problem pops into their life. Then, and unfortunately sometimes too late, those same people get very interested in the quality of their water and want to punish or otherwise penalize others for allowing them to consume tainted, polluted and/or contaminated drinking water.

Although we feel much sympathy for the victims of poor quality drinking water, most of us here in the United States have the ability to at least once every great while perform basic testing for critical water quality parameters such as heavy metals (i.e. lead, mercury, copper, iron, etc.), coliform bacteria, pesticides (i.e. atrazine and simazine), chlorine levels (free and/or total), total hardness, total dissolved solids, and many others.

Many times the contaminants in a water supply will have no taste, carry no odor and not appear before the naked eye. Only testing will alert you to their presence.

That’s where a test like the Toxic Element Exposure Hair Testing Kit comes in handy. It gives people the ability to test their own body’s (or a loved one’s body) for recent exposure to 31 harmful and potentially harmful heavy metals — all with just a simple snip of hair from the head.

So if you suspect exposure to metals through drinking water contamination, airborne contaminants or any other means, you should definitely consider having yourself tested for Arsenic, Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Chromium, Beryllium, Cobalt, Nickel, Zinc, Copper, Thorium, Thallium, Barium, Cesium, Manganese, Selenium, Bismuth, Vanadium, Silver, Antimony, Palladium, Aluminum, Platinum, Tungsten, Tin, Uranium, old, Tellurium, Germanium, Titanium, and Gadolinium.

The Toxic Element Exposure Hair Testing Kit provides results in just 7 to 10 days and best of all REQUIRES NO INVASIVE PROCEDURES (like needles).

• Chromium will appear in nature in one of three forms: Chromium(0), Chromium(III) or Chromium(VI).

• Chromium(0) gets used in the production of steel.

• Chromium(III) and/or Chromium(VI) may appear in compounds used for chrome plating, making dyes and pigments, tanning leather, and preserving wood.

• Chromium(III) aids the human body in its use of sugar, protein and fat, though health officials suggest not using excessive amounts of dietary supplements containing chromium compounds.

• Higher levels of chromium(VI) may cause irritation to the lining of the nose, ulcers in the nose, runny nose, and other breathing problems such as asthma, coughing, shortness of breath, and/or wheezing. While both Chromium(III) and Chromium(VI) in air can cause the aforementioned problems, effects occur at much lower concentrations of Chromium(VI) than Chromium(III).

• Chromium(III) and Chromium(VI) may exist in drinking water and have no associated tastes or odors.

• If ingested, Chromium(III) compounds tend to have less toxic tendencies and appear to cause fewer health problems than Chromium(VI) which causes anemia, irritation of the stomach, ulcers in the stomach, and ulcers in the small intestine.

• Some laboratory animals exposed to Chromium(VI) experienced sperm damage and damage to the male reproductive system.

• Some Chromium(VI) compounds may cause skin ulcers and a percentage of the population have extreme sensitivity to Chromium(VI) and/or Chromium(III) with allergic reactions manifesting themselves as severe redness and swelling of the skin.

• The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and the EPA have determined that Chromium(VI) compounds are known human carcinogens. ( source )

• Some developmental effects have been observed in animals exposed to Chromium(VI). ( source )

Regulations, rules and recommendations pertaining to Chromium?

The EPA has determined that exposure to chromium in drinking water at concentrations of 1 mg/L for up to 10 days is not expected to cause any adverse effects in a child. The FDA has determined that the chromium concentration in bottled drinking water should not exceed 1 mg/L. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) has limited workers’ exposure to an average of 0.0005 mg/m3 chromium(VI), 0.5 mg/m3 chromium(III), and 1.0 mg/m3 chromium(0) for an 8-hour workday, 40-hour workweek. ( source )

What NSF/ANSI Standards apply to chromium in drinking water?

Standard 53, Standard 58, and Standard 62.

For more information on the specifics of those NSF/ANSI Standards and others, take a look at the NSF International Web Site. It offers a wealth of information for both the consumer AND water professionals alike.

Removing chromium from drinking water?

As far as units for the average consumer, pretty much only reverse osmosis makes any sense. One could use a process like distillation, but it has a flow rate that most likely would not meet homeowner needs and a much higher entry cost.

As an example of a reverse osmosis that carries NSF Certification for chromium reduction, you may want to take a look at the Pentek RO-3500 which has a price tag of under $270 and appears to offer a lot of filtering power for the money.

Pentek RO-3500 Reverse Osmosis Water Filters have tested and certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 58 for the reduction of Pentavalent Arsenic (Arsenic V), Barium, Cadmium, Copper, Hexavalent & Trivalent Chromium (Chromium VI & Chromium III), Cyst, Fluoride, Lead, Nitrate/Nitrite, Radium 226/228, Selenium, TDS and Turbidity.

Water Metals Test Kit

Ordinarily when a water treatment facility’s product tests positive for too great a concentration of a heavy metal such as lead, copper, iron, mercury, etc. all sorts of people — especially environmental watchdog groups — lay the blame on the doorstep of the water treatment facility.

But not this time. Environmental Working Group (EWG), a lobbying group hailing from Washington, D.C., regards the finding of hexavalent chromium in several public water supplies as a problem, yes, but not necessarily all the fault of local water treatment facilities.

Instead, EWG would like for people to place the blame with the sources of chromium contamination.

Makes perfectly good sense to us. Stopping the flow of pollutants from entering the water supply sure would take a lot of the burden off of water treatment plants and ultimately off of the end user… AKA: All of us in the general public.

A Washington D.C. based environmental group says it’s not trying to put blame on local cities for contamination of hexavalent chromium. A single sample taken an Avion Water Company customer’s tap was one of 35 taken across the country that showed levels in excess of what the State of California is proposing as a public health standard. “This is an upstream pollution problem that needs to be stopped at the source. We need better water source protection and while we do advocate all utilities do their own testing for this and let their all their customers know the results, this doesn’t mean that they’re the ones responsible for the pollution.”

Leanne Brown with the Environmental Working Group says the only consumer level filtering system that can remove this chemical is a reverse osmosis system. Hexavalent chromium can come from manufacturing, pulp mills, and leather tanning. ( source )

So where does that leave average people like us? In the exact same place as before this result… in charge of making sure we have safe, clean drinking water going into our glasses.

Obviously a problem with chromium-6 pollution exists in this country and we, as end users, will not know whether or not we personally have chromium-6 (hexavalent chromium) in our own water supplies unless we perform testing on a periodic basis.

How to test for chromium-6 (hexavalent chromium) in your water

As usual, nothing beats laboratory testing of your water by a certified water testing laboratory (i.e. National Testing Labs)… but that does not mean each and every test needs to get shipped off to a lab.

Periodic testing for chromium-6 using at-home drinking water test kits between annual (or more frequent) lab testing provides continual piece of mind and does not cost a fortune.

SenSafe manufactures a simple dip-n-read test strip for hexavalent chromium (chromium-6) that provides results in under 2 minutes… and 50 tests costs somewhere in the neighborhood of around $17.00 (just $0.34 per test!).

Detection Levels for the SenSafe product: 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, 10, 25, 50 mg/L (parts per million).

If we found one metal, might there be more?

No one can answer that question honestly… without conducting additional testing. A home or business owner might assume that the presence of chromium or other heavy metals such as lead, mercury, etc. also exist in their water supply, but as we said, without additional testing no one will know for sure.

A good way to test for metals commonly found in drinking water?

If you want a fast and inexpensive testing method for metals in drinking water that will tell you if you have a dissolved metals concentration greater than 10 parts per billion in your water, take a look at the Water Metals Check Test Strips.

While this product will not tell you exactly WHICH metal(s) your water contains, it will allow you to quickly and easily determine whether or not you will want to opt for other, more ion specific testing.

Test Strips for Manganese

Lead in Water Test Kit

Mercury in Water Test Strips

]]> http://test-for.com/blog/2010/12/chromium-found-in-drinking-water-%e2%80%94-water-systems-not-to-blame/feed/ 0 http://test-for.com/blog/2010/12/clean-water-for-christmas-%e2%80%94-brita-ultramax-water-dispenser/ http://test-for.com/blog/2010/12/clean-water-for-christmas-%e2%80%94-brita-ultramax-water-dispenser/#comments Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:03:03 +0000 Water Testing Blog http://watertestingblog.com/?p=3274 Rude family members contribute to a lack of cold, clean drinking water? Apparently so because ‘Kaytee’ has more than a few issues with her greedy, insensitive, water guzzling family.

“My husband and kids have no manners. We live in a place where temperatures hit the high 90′s for a good part of the year and since our tap water pretty much stinks (literally! yuck! so much chlorine!) we bought a Riviera filter by Brita and so far it has worked out GREAT — except that my family can’t seem to figure out how to refill the friggin’ thing so that when I get home I can have a glass of water, too! Do they make a larger pitcher or do I need to go out and get another Riviera and write my name on it?”

Ha ha. We have all grabbed a carton of milk or orange juice out of the fridge only to find that it had no weight and no contents. Now a similar heartbreaking event happens with filtered drinking water? What’s this So annoying! Well, lucky for you some folks at Brita must also have lazy family members because Brita does actually make a larger version of its very popular Riviera model.

The Riviera holds approximately 64 ounces of filtered drinking water at most which makes it kind of heavy when full so rather make a larger pitcher, Brita decided to make an in-fridge water dispenser called the Brita UltraMax Dispenser capable of holding an additional ten full 8-ounce glasses of cold, refreshing filtered drinking water more than its cousin the Riviera.

Brita Riviera Pitcher Water Filter

Brita UltraMax Water Dispenser

What do these Brita filters remove/reduce?

Both the Riviera Pitcher Filter and UltraMax Dispenser use the OB03 Water Filter, a filter certified by the NSF and the Water Quality Association to reduce levels of copper, mercury, cadmium, chlorine, and zinc in drinking water.

What NSF Standards does the Brita OB03 water filter certify to?

A very good question! While cruising around the web we found a number of sites claiming that the Brita OB03 water filter does a number of things… that we could NOT verify on the NSF, WQA or Brita web sites.

Therefore, we proudly present certification information about the Brita OB03 water filter that we COULD verify:

1) The Brita OB03 water filter has certified to NSF/ANSI Standard Number 53 (Health Effects) for the reduction of Copper, Mercury and Cadmium.

2) The Brita OB03 water filter has certified to NSF/ANSI Standard Number 42 which deals with the reduction of specific aesthetic or non-health-related contaminants (chlorine, taste and odor, and particulates) that may exist in drinking water for the following: Aesthetic chlorine, taste & odor, and zinc.

3) None of the three web sites mentioned earlier say anything about the OB03 having certifications for it’s ability to remove lead or volatile organic compounds (VOC’s).