water problems

Some contaminants can be identified as a bad taste, stinky odor, or brown color. Most of the water contaminants that can be identified by our senses are not dangerous. Water contaminants which can cause health problems generally require testing, making it difficult for homeowners to know if the water quality of the water they drink. The best way to know is to periodically test the quality of the water from your private water well or public water system. Depending upon the source of water, well water or surface water will determine what type of water treatment is required.

Before you purchase any water treatment equipment, have your water tested by a Homestead System water treatment professional in your home or at a certified water testing laboratory in your State if you feel you have a water quality problem.

There is no such thing as naturally pure water...
All the water on earth has been here since the beginning and has been recycled since then. This continuous recycling of water from the atmosphere to the ground and back to the atmosphere is called the hydrologic cycle.

As water flows in streams, the water erodes natural rock and soils and in the water will have small amounts of the rock and soil dissolved in it. As water sits in lakes, and filters through layers of soil and rock in the ground, it dissolves or absorbs the substances that it touches. Water moving through underground rocks and soils may pick up a wide array of chemical groups like magnesium, calcium, sulfates and chlorides. Most of these substances are harmless in low levels, however, whether these natural contaminants create health problems depends on the amount of the substance present. In fact, some people prefer mineral water precisely because these impurities, minerals, give it an appealing taste. So, all water contains some impurities.

Just because it is natural does not mean it is safe...
Unfortunately, ground water naturally contains dissolved elements such as nitrates, arsenic, boron, selenium, radium, uranium, radon, a gas formed by the natural breakdown of radioactive uranium in soil, and more. Just like man-made chemicals, at certain levels naturally occurring minerals, are considered contaminants that can make water unpalatable or even unsafe.

Human activity impacts ground water quality...
In addition to natural contaminants, ground water is often polluted by substances discharged from factories, applied to farmlands, or used by consumers in their homes and yards such as

• Improper use of fertilizers, animal manures, herbicides, insecticides, and pesticides
• Improperly built or poorly located and/or maintained septic systems for household wastewater
• Leaking or abandoned underground storage tanks and piping
• Storm-water drains that discharge chemicals to ground water
• Improper disposal or storage of wastes
• Chemical spills at local industrial sites

What can be done?
Public water utilities, federal, state and local governments have established watershed and wellhead protection programs to prevent substances from contaminating their wells. Similarly, some surface water systems protect the watershed around their reservoir to prevent contamination. States and water suppliers are working to assess every source of drinking water and to identify potential sources of contaminants. This process will help communities to protect their drinking water supplies from contamination.

US EPA Drinking Water Standards:
The US EPA has a long list, 103 in total, of drinking water standards. The EPA groups the regulations in two classifications, National Primary Drinking Water Regulations, NPDWRs or Primary Standards, and National Secondary Drinking Water Regulations, NSDWRs or Secondary Standards.

The Primary Standards are legally enforceable standards that apply to public water systems. Primary standards protect public health by limiting the levels of contaminants in drinking water.

The Secondary Standards are non-enforceable guidelines regulating contaminants that may cause cosmetic effects, like skin or tooth discoloration, or aesthetic effects, like taste, odor, or color, in drinking water. The EPA recommends these secondary standards to water systems, but does not require systems to comply. However, states may choose to adopt them as enforceable standards.

On this list, there are 87 Primary Drinking Water Standards which detail the potential health effects from exposure above the Maximum Contaminant Level, or MCL. There are an additional 15 Secondary Drinking Water Standards. This list of primary regulations is color-coded to clearly show drinking water contaminants from Inorganic Chemicals, Organic Chemicals, Disinfectants, Disinfection Byproducts, Microorganisms, and Radionuclides. While virtually any material in water in sufficient quantity can cause illness, the 87 primary regulations target the worst offenders.

Private Water Wells:
The EPA does not regulate private wells and many states and towns do not require periodic sampling of private wells after they are initially installed. The water quality from a private, individual well is the responsibility of the homeowner. So, if you have a private well, regular water quality testing is extremely important. Most contaminants cannot be identified by taste or odor, making it difficult for homeowners to know if the water quality of their well has changed. While the 87 Primary Drinking Water Standards and 15 Secondary Drinking Water Standards are not regulated by the EPA for a private water well, a homeowner would be well served to adhere to these standards. This makes it the responsibility of a homeowner to periodically test their well for contamination.

To help protect the water quality from your well, here are some steps you can take:

• Have your water tested periodically. The EPA recommends that water be tested every year for total coliform bacteria, nitrates, total dissolved solids, and pH levels.
• If you suspect other contaminants, test for those.
• Always use a state certified laboratory that conducts drinking water tests. Since these can be expensive, spend some time identifying potential problems so you are not paying for unnecessary tests.

Testing more than once a year may be warranted in special situations:

• someone in your household is pregnant or nursing
• there are unexplained illnesses in the family
• your neighbors find a dangerous contaminant in their water
• you note a change in water taste, odor, color or clarity
• there is a spill of chemicals or fuels into or near your well
• when you replace or repair any part of your well system

The public drinking water systems are regulated by the EPA under the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations. These public drinking water systems provide drinking water to 90 percent of Americans. Public drinking water system may be publicly-owned or privately-owned and serves at least 25 people or 15 service connections for at least 60 days per year. Through the Public Water System Supervision program, the EPA implements and enforces drinking water standards to protect public health.

In the "Providing Safe Drinking Water in America: 2004 National Public Water Systems Compliance Report - Fact Sheet " published in December 2006, the USEPA reported the progress towards the goal of ensuring that Americans receive safe drinking water from public water systems. In 2004:

• 158,802 public water systems together served over 296 million users. This number is high because millions of Americans drank water from, and were counted as users by, more than one public water system during the course of the year.
• 94% of the public water systems were small serving 14% of the population, but large systems served a majority of the people who drank water from a public water system.
• 41,310 public water systems had health, significant monitoring, and/or reporting violations.
• 16,688 PWS were designated by the EPA as "significant noncompliers". Over 90% of these systems served fewer than 3,300 users.
• 36% of the significant noncompliers, SNC, were newly identified as SNCs in 2004.
• Approximately 22,500 of the over 106,000 non-community water systems had significant violations.