Big Kahuna
Professionally Testing Your Cistern Water
A while back I wrote about what’s in your cistern and the harmful side effects of what’s in your water (click here and here). We decided to have our water tested by a laboatory (http://www.watercheck.com/). The process is pretty simple:
1. They mail you out a complete water testing kit:
2. It comes in a Styrofoam inner box:
3. Here are the containers inside the Styrofoam:
4. One of the items (the blue one) is a freez pack to keep the sample cold on the shipment back:
The instructions are simple to follow along and take no more than 5 minutes to complete. Once I had everything back into the Styrofoam container I slipped it back into the original box it came in.
The only thing you really have to be concerned with is getting the box to the USPS first thing in the morning. I did the test at 8am and mailed it by 9am USPS Express Mail to arrive by 10:30am the next day. It’s IMPERATIVE the sample get back the next day or the bacteria test will be void.
If you want to read all the disgusting things they test for click here: http://www.stthomasblog.com/?p=8869
Okay so drum roll please……………………
Here are the results, keep in mind I’m using a carbon block 5 micron coconut shell filter, 5 micron sediment filter and then UV light system which is supposed to get rid of all the nasty stuff.
Before you attempt to read all these numbers the end result was our Ph level was slightly elevated and everything else was within normal levels or slightly above the minimum detection level but below the “referenced standard”. End result, using our current method of filtration system makes our cistern water perfectly fine to drink.
Total Coliform by P/A Total Coliform and E.coli were ABSENT in this sample.
Results Units National Standards Min. Detection Level
Inorganic Analytes – Metals
Aluminum 0.1 mg/L 0.2 EPA Secondary 0.1 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Arsenic ND mg/L 0.010 EPA Primary 0.005
Barium ND mg/L 2.00 EPA Primary 0.30
Cadmium ND mg/L 0.005 EPA Primary 0.002
Calcium 8.0 mg/L — 2.0 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Chromium ND mg/L 0.100 EPA Primary 0.010
Copper 0.004 mg/L 1.300 EPA Action Level 0.004 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Iron 0.032 mg/L 0.300 EPA Secondary 0.020 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Lead ND mg/L 0.015 EPA Action Level 0.002
Magnesium 0.70 mg/L — 0.10 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Manganese ND mg/L 0.050 EPA Secondary 0.004
Mercury ND mg/L 0.002 EPA Primary 0.001
Nickel ND mg/L — 0.020
Potassium 2.5 mg/L — 1.0 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Selenium ND mg/L 0.050 EPA Primary 0.020
Silica 3.440 mg/L — 0.100 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Silver ND mg/L — 0.002
Sodium 17 mg/L – 1 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Zinc 0.009 mg/L 5.000 EPA Secondary 0.004 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Physical Factors
Alkalinity (Total as CaCO3) 26 mg/L – 20 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Hardness 23 mg/L 100 NTL Internal 10 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
pH 8.8 pH Units 6.5 to 8.5 EPA Secondary (The contaminant was detected above the standard, which is not an EPA enforceable MCL).
Total Dissolved Solids 61 mg/L 500 EPA Secondary 20 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Turbidity 0.4 NTU 1.0 EPA Action Level 0.1 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Chloride 13.0 mg/L 250.0 EPA Secondary 5.0 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Fluoride 1.0 mg/L 4.0 EPA Primary 0.5 (The contaminant was detected at or above the minimum detection level, but not above the referenced standard.)
Nitrate as N ND mg/L 10.0 EPA Primary 0.5
Nitrite as N ND mg/L 1.0 EPA Primary 0.5
Ortho Phosphate ND mg/L — 2.0
Sulfate ND mg/L 250.0 EPA Secondary 5.0
Organic Analytes – Trihalomethanes
Bromodichloromethane ND mg/L — 0.002
Bromoform ND mg/L — 0.004
Chloroform ND mg/L — 0.002
Dibromochloromethane ND mg/L — 0.004
Total THMs ND mg/L 0.080 EPA Primary 0.002
Organic Analytes – Volatiles
1,1,1,2-Tetrachloroethane ND mg/L — 0.002
1,1,1-Trichloroethane ND mg/L 0.200 EPA Primary 0.001
1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane ND mg/L — 0.002
1,1,2-Trichloroethane ND mg/L 0.005 EPA Primary 0.002
1,1-Dichloroethane ND mg/L — 0.002
1,1-Dichloroethene ND mg/L 0.007 EPA Primary 0.001
1,1-Dichloropropene ND mg/L — 0.002
1,2,3-Trichlorobenzene ND mg/L — 0.002
1,2,3-Trichloropropane ND mg/L — 0.002
1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene ND mg/L 0.070 EPA Primary 0.002
1,2-Dichlorobenzene ND mg/L 0.600 EPA Primary 0.001
1,2-Dichloroethane ND mg/L 0.005 EPA Primary 0.001
1,2-Dichloropropane ND mg/L 0.005 EPA Primary 0.002
1,3-Dichlorobenzene ND mg/L — 0.001
1,3-Dichloropropane ND mg/L — 0.002
1,4-Dichlorobenzene ND mg/L 0.075 EPA Primary 0.001
2,2-Dichloropropane ND mg/L — 0.002
2-Chlorotoluene ND mg/L — 0.001
4-Chlorotoluene ND mg/L — 0.001
Acetone ND mg/L — 0.01
Benzene ND mg/L 0.005 EPA Primary 0.001
Bromobenzene ND mg/L — 0.002
Bromomethane ND mg/L — 0.002
Carbon Tetrachloride ND mg/L 0.005 EPA Primary 0.001
Chlorobenzene ND mg/L 0.100 EPA Primary 0.001
Chloroethane ND mg/L — 0.002
Chloromethane ND mg/L — 0.002
cis-1,2-Dichloroethene ND mg/L 0.070 EPA Primary 0.002
cis-1,3-Dichloropropene ND mg/L — 0.002
DBCP ND mg/L — 0.001
Dibromomethane ND mg/L — 0.002
Dichlorodifluoromethane ND mg/L — 0.002
Dichloromethane ND mg/L 0.005 EPA Primary 0.002
EDB ND mg/L — 0.001
Ethylbenzene ND mg/L 0.700 EPA Primary 0.001
Methyl Tert Butyl Ether ND mg/L — 0.004
Methyl-Ethyl Ketone ND mg/L — 0.01
Styrene ND mg/L 0.100 EPA Primary 0.001
Tetrachloroethene ND mg/L 0.005 EPA Primary 0.002
Tetrahydrofuran ND mg/L — 0.01
Toluene ND mg/L 1.000 EPA Primary 0.001
trans-1,2-Dichloroethene ND mg/L 0.100 EPA Primary 0.002
trans-1,3-Dichloropropene ND mg/L — 0.002
Trichloroethene ND mg/L 0.005 EPA Primary 0.001
Trichlorofluoromethane ND mg/L — 0.002
Vinyl Chloride ND mg/L 0.002 EPA Primary 0.001
Xylenes (Total) ND mg/L 10.000 EPA Primary 0.001
Organic Analytes – Others
2,4-D ND mg/L 0.070 EPA Primary 0.010
Alachlor ND mg/L 0.002 EPA Primary 0.001
Aldrin ND mg/L — 0.002
Atrazine ND mg/L 0.003 EPA Primary 0.002
Chlordane ND mg/L 0.002 EPA Primary 0.001
Dichloran ND mg/L — 0.002
Dieldrin ND mg/L — 0.001
Endrin ND mg/L 0.0020 EPA Primary 0.0001
Heptachlor ND mg/L 0.0004 EPA Primary 0.0004
Heptachlor Epoxide ND mg/L 0.0002 EPA Primary 0.0001
Hexachlorobenzene ND mg/L 0.0010 EPA Primary 0.0005
Hexachlorocyclopentadiene ND mg/L 0.050 EPA Primary 0.001
Lindane ND mg/L 0.0002 EPA Primary 0.0002
Methoxychlor ND mg/L 0.040 EPA Primary 0.002
PCB ND mg/L 0.0005 EPA Primary 0.0005
Pentachloronitrobenzene ND mg/L — 0.002
Silvex 2,4,5-TP ND mg/L 0.050 EPA Primary 0.005
Simazine ND mg/L 0.004 EPA Primary 0.002
Toxaphene ND mg/L 0.003 EPA Primary 0.001
Trifluralin ND mg/L — 0.002
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