Be Wary of Organizations Offering Residential Water Testing

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Door-to-Door Scam Artist

This scam could be happening in your home town, so be aware! If you have any doubts, call your town or city hall.

The City of Swift Current wishes to advise residents that there have been reports of a number of organizations falsely contacting local residents to test water under the pretense of being contracted to do so by the City. The City of Swift Current is in no way affiliated with these organizations.

Reportedly, these organizations have been advising homeowners that they have been contracted by the City of Swift Current to conduct required water testing. Upon gaining access to residents’ homes, these organizations direct residents to purchase water filters and other merchandise sold by their company.

To read the full posting go here: Be wary of organizations offering residential water testing

To learn more about water testing you can trust either go here or go to Water Testing by Professional Lab at Amazon.

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Basic Steps to Protect Private Drinking Water

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Typical Wellhead

Typical Wellhead

Properly maintaining wells that tap into groundwater is critical for protecting personal health and the resource, say state health officials. National Groundwater Awareness Week was established more than two decades ago to bring attention to the important role that groundwater plays in the health and well-being of people. The Minnesota Department of Health recommends all well owners take some basic steps to maintain their well and protect their drinking water.

Basic Wellhead Inspection: Keep insects, rodents, snakes and other undesirable critters out of your well. Keep lawn mowers, snowplows and other equipment away from wells. Follow the Three Cs of well maintenance:

  • Cap – ensure the well cap is securely attached and not broken or missing, and the connections through the cap are watertight.
  • Casing – observe the well pipe or casing for cracks or corrosion. Call a licensed well contractor for repairs.
  • Conduit – confirm that the conduit for the electric service wire to the well is securely connected to the well cap.

Well Water Testing: Complete basic water testing to ensure safe drinking water. Your local county health department may provide or arrange for testing, or you can find certified testing laboratories at the website below.

The following are what you typically will want to test your water for. Other testing may be needed depending on where you live and the surrounding land use.

  • Bacteria – complete a total coliform bacteria test annually or any time your water system is serviced, or you notice a change in taste, color, or odor.
  • Nitrate – complete a nitrate test every two years, or annually if nitrate is detected in your well, and always before giving the water to an infant.
  • Arsenic – complete an arsenic test once.
  • Lead – complete a lead test once, or always flush faucets for at least one to two minutes before using water from them for drinking or cooking when the water has not been used for six hours or longer and never drink from your hot water taps.

You can read the complete posting here:  Basic steps to protect private drinking water

To learn more about well water maintenance and well water testing, go to: Well Water Testing & Maintenace

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Test Your Well Water Before the Peak Water Use Season Begins

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We are beginning to read reminders from state environmental agencies that this is the season well owners need to be performing their annual well and well water checkups. Here’s one that just came from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services:

Just as you check your furnace or replace smoke detector batteries seasonally, spring is a good season to have an annual water well checkup and to test your well water before the peak water use season begins, according to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES). National Groundwater Awareness Week is March 8 to 14, but New Hampshire residents will need to wait for the snow to melt before doing their annual well checkup.

An annual checkup by a qualified water well contractor is the best way to ensure problem-free service and quality water. Also, preventative maintenance usually is less costly than emergency maintenance, and good well maintenance — like good car maintenance — can prolong the life of a well and related equipment. NHDES recommends that private well users test their water whenever there is a change in taste, odor, or appearance, when the system is serviced, or at least once every three years.

Nearly half of N.H. residents receive their drinking water from private wells, as opposed to regulated public water systems. But with well ownership comes the responsibility of keeping the well in good working order and testing for common contaminants such as arsenic and radon. A check of your well should include:

  • Checking the well cover to make sure it keeps out insects, snakes, and other animals;
  • Making sure the casing is high enough to keep out snowmelt and surface runoff;
  • Making sure the well is located far enough from septic systems and other potential sources of contamination such as storage sheds, areas where pesticides or fertilizers are used, or where lawn and garden equipment is fueled; and
  • An annual test for bacteria, nitrate, and nitrite, and testing for a longer list of contaminants every three years.

You can read the original posting Reminder from NHDES to Test Well Water.

To learn more about well water testing and to see a free video, go to http://www.drinkingwaterspecialists.com

Baseline Water Testing for Well Owner in Fracking Areas

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Here’s a headline that caught my attention today:

Urge lawmakers to act on water testing

Fracking

The crux of this Letter to Editor in the Billings (MT) Gazette from Deborah Hanson of Miles City was to urge landowners who might be affected by fracking activity going in their area to contact their state senators to support baseline water testing.

We have been urging well owners who live in areas where fracking operations are present to do this for quite some time. What this gives the well owner is just what the term ‘base testing’ implies—you now have a documented reading of the primary contaminants that a point in time…hopefully, before the fracking operation actually begins. But, even if it has already started in your area, you can still use this method. After the baseline test has been done, you will continue to have your water tested. We recommend that it be done annually, but it may need to be done more frequently if you start to see increased levels of certain contaminants or you, members of your family, or your pets and livestock start getting sick.

The writer says the testing can be expensive, and it can be. That’s why she urges the cost be covered by the companies doing the drilling. We think this is also a good idea and the right thing for the companies to do to prove they are being good citizens.

In the meantime, if I was a well owner, I wouldn’t wait for this to make its way though the legislature. I would find an economical way to have my water tested ASAP so I have my own baseline. You can go to a local lab and have this done, but it’s probably going to cost you a fair amount. That’s because labs normally price their testing on the number and specific types of parameters you want to test for.

We created a water test that is designed to be a baseline test at a very affordable price. That’s because we have a fixed set of contaminants and other parameters we test for. This saves us set up time and we pass these savings onto our customers. We believe that the cost of such a test should not be a barrier having it tested, especially in these fracking locations.

You can read the original Letter to the Editor here.

If you want to learn more, please visit our site and read about the ‘Bang-for-the-Buck’ Essential Indicators Water Test. It can either be ordered directly from us or on Amazon.

Fracking in California Causes High Level of Benzene in Well Water

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This story is shocking! monterey-shale

Waste water testing from fracking operations in California show levels of the human carcinogen benzene up to 700 times the federal standard.

“How can this happen?” you ask. “Aren’t these operations closely regulated by health officials?” You would think so …

But, for some reason the state regulators responsible for fracking regulations in California, the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, blew it. Even the federal Environmental Protection Agency called this situation “shocking.”

Regardless of how this was allowed to happen, it shows that the common citizen cannot just assume the regulators responsible for making sure fracking operations are not contaminating our drinking water are really doing their job.

That’s why we keep preaching to homeowners near fracking areas, especially those who get their drinking water from their private well:

Get a baseline water test.

Ideally, this would be done before drilling begins.

Then have it tested periodically after the baseline test. This enables you to track the results to see if any parameters are showing up at higher levels than the prior test.

It’s a relatively inexpensive way to be sure your drinking water is safe.

The parameter benzene that was the center of the California debacle can be tested for as part of a test for volatile organic compounds. Many of these VOCs can prove harmful to humans if present at an elevated level.

You can read the entire article here: http://goo.gl/Zasy6F

To learn more about water testing, read about our ‘Bang-for-the-Buck’ Essential Indicators Water Test.