Lead-Tainted Water in Schools

School kids - Lead-tainted WaterThis ‘lead’ thing is getting serious! Now the focus is on lead-tainted water in schools.

Maybe none of this would have come to light at almost the same time if there hadn’t been the screw-up in Flint Michigan surrounding high levels of lead in their drinking water.

While the Flint problem was caused by a bad decision and ineptness of their city leaders, other places around the country are finding they have problems because their water delivery infrastructure is so old.

Schools, where are children spend most of their day, are becoming a major focus of concern. Many are so old that their pipes and faucets probably contain some level of lead—which could be leaching into the water as it pass through.

Read more about this lead-tainted water problem…

Here’s an article from Mother Jones that highlights the problem found in several older cities in the Northeast part of the U.S.

It’s downright scary!!

Read the original article

If you are concerned about the possibility of lead in your drinking water, you should have it tested. We can help you with that at DrinkingWaterSpecialists.com

How Does Lead End up in Your Tap Water?

We are getting calls from all over the U.S. since high levels of lead were found in the Flint Michigan water system. While most people know that lead can dangerous to our health, especially for infants and children, they don’t really know how lead can enter their water supply.

This is true whether you water comes from a municipal water company or from your private well.

This video, put out by USA Today, shows you how even water coming from a municipal water company where it has been treated can end up coming out of your household taps with elevated levels of lead.

The first step you need to take is to have your drinking water tested for lead and other contaminants. If the test shows you have a problem with lead and/or any of the other contaminants, you now can look for ways to treat for those specific problems.

When asked which of our informational water tests we recommend we normally suggest our ‘Bang-for-the-Buck’ Essential Indicators Water Test. It covers most of the parameters you need to know about when it comes to understanding just how safe and clean your water is.

What You Need to Know About Slime-forming Bacteria

Rotten_Egg_SmellHas the well water coming out of your tap ever smelled like rotten eggs?

If so, then you have slime-forming bacteria in your well water.

Fortunately, it’s not a danger to your health. However, it forms a layer of slime on water pipes and other surfaces it passes across such as water filters. This reduces the useful life of the filters.

It can corrode pipes, cause “rotten egg” odors, and turn the water black.

This video tells you what you need to do to counteract these bacteria in your well.

Lead in Flint Michigan’s Drinking Water

If you live in an older city with aging lead water pipes, you may have lead in your water.

The water problems in Flint Michigan have brought out the fact that even if your water company is producing safe, clean water, the old lead pipes that carry the water to your home may be leaching that lead into your home.

I’ve put up a video that address what you need to know if you do live in a city and want peace-of-mind that the water coming out of your tap is safe and clean to drink and cook with.

Science panel faults EPA fracking probe for excluding baseline water testing

fracking-siteThe EPA is being called to task for not doing the right thing in areas where hydraulic fracturing is in operation…

The Hydraulic Fracturing Research Advisory Panel, a unit of the EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB), published a report on January 7th calling out the EPA for not following a fundamental scientific protocol for a project that could adversely affect the drinking water in that area over time because…

They do not require baseline testing before a fracking begins.

That means they can cannot, with some level of certainty, say down the road that contaminants found in drinking water in that area are very likely caused by fracking.

That’s why we have been advocating for a long time that well owners in these areas do their own baseline testing followed by annual testing. That gives them the information they need to monitor the safety of their water and take specific corrective action if necessary. This normally means installing the appropriate treatment system to correct the problem.

While the EPA was remiss, according the scientists, we believe that well owners should be taking action on their own in any event.

We decided several years ago to offer a very affordable and very comprehensive drinking water test so that well owners can perform their own baseline testing regimen. Today, that test targets about 170 contaminants including:

  • Pathogenic Bacteria
  • Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
  • Essential Elements and Heavy Metals
  • Inorganic Chemicals

We call this test the ‘Bang-for-the-Buck’ Essential Indicators Water Test. We made it very affordable—less than $150 for each test.

We made it very reasonable because we want well owners to take control and manage the quality of their water. Even in areas where there is not a fracking operation, well owners need to periodically test their water. That’s because if they don’t, no one else is doing it for them.

Click here to read the entire article

You can learn more about our water test by going to our web site. Here’s the link: ‘Bang-for-the-Buck’ Essential Indicators Water Test

Walton County FL: Private Well Water Contamination

florida-floodsDue to the recent floods in Walton County FL, the County Health Department is urging well owners to decontaminate their water. This is especially important if you use your well water for drinking, cleaning dishes, washing food or brushing your teeth.

You should boil the water for at least a minute to be sure that the health-related contaminants have been destroyed. You can also disinfect the water by adding 8 drops of unscented household bleach to each gallon of water. Let the bleach stand in the water for about 30 minutes. If it’s clear at the end of that time, it’s safe—however, if it’s cloudy you need to repeat the dosing.

Once the flood waters have receded, the Health Department recommends that well owners disinfect their wells. We think that is the right next step.

If you are like most well owners, you will either toss some bleach down into your wellhead or you’ll hire someone to do it for you…

BEWARE: taking either of these options will more than likely NOT get rid of the pathogens and other contaminants. That’s because bleach does not contain enough chlorine to attack the pathogens floating in the water. Most of the bleach will attack other organic material first, such as leaves and other visible debris. There won’t be enough chlorine to attack the free bacteria floating in the water.

We have prepared a short video that explains the science behind chlorinating a well. Even the well ‘experts’ do not really understand the science behind chlorinating a well. You can watch the video by going to this link:

http://drinkingwaterspecialists.com/www-get-free-video/

If you want to read the original article just follow this link:

Walton County Flooding

Rowan County, N.C.: Commissioners Set to Approve Well Water Tests

Salisbury_NC_ParkThis North Carolina county Health Department has discovered vanadium and hexavalent chromium present in well water near a coal ash pond.

As a result, the director of the Department is asking for approval to spend up to $150 per test kit to test for these contaminants. That might be a fair price, given that the county needs to pay for employees, travel and postage.

But, there are alternatives. For instance, Drinking Water Specialists offers a comprehensive water test that not only includes testing for these contaminants but another 168 targeted parameters.

We believe well owners need to act as their own “water department”. That’s because they are responsible for maintaining the potable quality of their drinking water. In this case, the county is doing a great job of being proactive about helping well owners in the area surrounding the runoff from the coal ash pond. But, there are a lot more contaminants that well owners need to be testing for.

Our water test is an easy way for the well owner to get their water tested. They can order the test kit online. Once we get the order, we ship the kit out. It contains water vials and easy-to-follow instructions. The well owner just fills the vials with water, puts them back into the original box and ships it back to our lab. In about 6 business days, we email the test report back to the well owner along with information on how to treat their water should they have a problem. We pay for postage both ways.

There is one thing we ask the well owner to test themselves—testing for the presence or absence of pathogenic bacteria. This is a very simple, yet very accurate test, to do. We do this because we have found over the years that there isn’t a good way to ship the water samples back to our lab and maintain the proper and consistent temperature while in transit that’s required for the most accurate bacteria test. Also, bacteria testing is best performed within 24 hours of putting the water sample into the vial.

We only charge $129 for this extensive test. That’s because we test for the same set of parameters for all of these water tests. That saves us setup time and the time to prepare the reports—standardization makes our testing more like an assembly line process as opposed to the process that nearly all other labs use. We pass these savings onto our customers.

Follow this link to see the list of 170 targeted parameters we test for: “Bang-for-the-Buck Essential Indicators Water Test”

If you want to learn more about this test go to this page

Here’s the link to the original article from the Salisbury Post: “Commissioners set to approve well water tests for Rowan residents”

We really believe all well owners need to follow our tagline: “Take control, manage the quality of your drinking water.”

South Carolina Well Water Testing Following Devastating Floods

south-carolina-floods

Following the devastating floods in South Carolina this past week, the South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control is providing water testing for private well owners.

The S.C. DHEC will test the well water for fecal coliform bacteria to make sure the water is safe to drink.

This is really important and every well owner, no matter where they live in the country, needs to have this test performed if their property and the surrounding area has been flooded.

As the S.C. DHEC says…

IF YOUR WELL WAS FLOODED, YOU CAN ASSUME IT’S CONTAMINATED

In addition to having their well water tested for fecal coliform bacteria, well owners are also being advised to disinfect their wells. And, following the disinfection, they are advised to test their water before using it if it does not taste, smell or look like it did before the flooding began.

After reading this news, we decided to try to help the affected well owners in South Carolina.

We offer a kit that contains everything a well owner needs to disinfect their well. This includes the shock treatment, chlorine test strips, self-test kits for bacteria, ph test strips, written instructions and access to an on-line video that walks the well owner through the steps. There is enough shock treatment, test strips and self-bacteria test kits for a repeat disinfection should the first treatment not completely solve the problem.

This well disinfection kit, called the Well Water Wellness Kit, sells today for $79 including shipping within the U.S. But, if you are a well owner in South Carolina, we want to help you even more because of the extent of the problem. We are offering you a discount code that brings the price down to $69. We will keep this offer open through the month of November, 2015.

To take advantage of this special offer, go to drinkingwaterspecialists.com/well-maintenance. When you click through to the order page, there is a place for you to put in a coupon code. The coupon code to put in is ‘SCFLOODS’ (without the quote marks).

If you have any questions, please post them here in the comments section, or call us 805.39.WATER (805.399.2837)

You can read the article here.

And The Best Room Temperature For Sleeping Is…

home-temps

 

This post has absolutely nothing to do with drinking water…

…but, I think we can all relate to the contents of an article that came my way from Rodale’s OrganicLife. It’s about what temperature to set your thermostat at in the Summer and the the Winter that is comfortable for you and for your spouse and is the most economical.

You can read the article here: And The Best Room Temperature For Sleeping Is…

 

The eight-glass myth: We don’t really need to be drinking all that water


We’ve heard the mantra since we were kids—”Drink 8 glasses of water a day”. 

But, maybe that’s not true based on actual science according to a column in the New York Times written by Aaron Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine.

According to Mr. Carroll, “Many people believe that the source of this myth was a 1945 Food and Nutrition Board recommendation that said people need about 2.5 liters of water a day. But they ignored the sentence that followed closely behind. It read, ‘Most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods.’ “

The amount of water an individual needs is related to what they eat (since many foods such as fruits and vegetables contain water), where they live, their size, and what they are doing. In fact, drinking too much water can lead to serious health issues. 

Of course drinking water is healthier than drinking sugar-based drinks such a soda and fruit juice and less of a problem on your system for many than drinking milk. But, in a related article by Rebecca Tucker in the National Post, a Canadian online newspaper, she says, “there is actually no scientific evidence supporting the notion that increased water intake leads to greater overall health in any regard. Water is just another thing we need, like adequate rest and sufficient calories. Everything in moderation, as it were.”

To read the original article by Aaron Carroll, click here.

To read the article by Rebecca Tucker, click here.