New Report – Violations NJ Utilities Drinking Water Testing

Sharing an interesting article:

Violations At NJ Utilities Enumerated In New Report
By Sara Jerome, @sarmje

“A new analysis of New Jersey drinking water reveals widespread challenges.“More than 1.5 million New Jerseyans are served by a utility that has been cited for excessive contaminants since April 2014, when the Flint water crisis was revealed, according to an analysis of U.S. EPA data by USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey,” The Asbury Park Press reported. “The data shows that water utilities in the Garden State have racked up at least 226 contamination violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act since Flint became synonymous with tainted tap water and put other water systems under a spotlight,” the report continued.  The report shows the state’s water challenges extend even beyond Newark, which is undergoing a major lead crisis.”

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What we recommend:

1. Know if you are getting your water from a regulated or unregulated water system.
2. If you are part of a regulated system – Make sure to get a copy of the consumers confidence report for your supplier.
3. Inspect your piping and home, could you have a lead issue in your home?  This includes lead piping, lead solder, lead paint, lead dust, or consumer products high in lead.
4. Conduct a lead screening test on your home drinking water.
5. If necessary, conduct a first flush and flush test of your drinking water for lead and check to see if your water is vulnerable to corrosion.
6. Need help diagnosing a problem – Go to Know Your H20.
7. Get our educational booklet on drinking water.
8. Consider a point of use filtration system that reduces lead.

Water Filtration System

Custom Point of Use Systems
Crystal Quest Systems (Point of Use, Whole House Systems,  Air and Water Disinfection)
Filter Water Systems (Point of Use and Whole House Systems)
US Water Systems (“Forever Chemicals,, UV Disinfection, Iron, Manganese”)

Blog Post on Drinking Water and Real Estate

Newark Drinking Water Lead Corrosion Awareness and Testing Needed

Interesting article – “Newark said its water was safe, but email reveals it was warned of problems months ago”.

“City officials in Newark said they learned in October that lead water contamination wasn’t just affecting a dozen homes, but was a “widespread problem,” potentially impacting as many as 40,000 residents. But, a newly-released email shows officials were warned at least seven months earlier — months they spent insisting the water was “absolutely safe to drink,” and assuring residents that the issue was confined to a small number of homes.

Beginning in April of this year, through messages on its website and in public statements, the city blamed old infrastructure for elevated lead levels in tap water samples. New court records in an ongoing federal lawsuit over the city’s lead problem, however, show a consultant pointed to another cause: Newark’s water treatment at one of its plants no longer appeared to work — an early sign that the issue could be widespread.

CDM Smith, the consultant hired by Newark to study how the city was treating its water, submitted its draft report in October but shared its initial findings with three officials as early as February, records show.

In a Feb. 22 email to the city’s top water department officials — including then-director Andrea Hall Adebowale and then-deputy director Kareem Adeem — the consultant said a preliminary review showed Newark’s method of preventing lead from corroding off old plumbing and dissolving into the distribution system “has not been effective.””

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Our Take

  1. Identifing and fixing system wide water distribution problems related to corrsion is not fast or easy.
  2. Part of the problem may be your own household plumbing, fixtures, and service lines – have a plumber check your piping.
  3. In my opinion, it is the user that will first notice a problem.  These problems could be identified as a blue-green coating of aerators, blue green water, a metallic taste, and in the extreme corrosion and leaky pipes.
  4. Check your home for lead paint and dust hazards.
  5. We strongly recommend all water users to due the following:
    1. Order and have some easy to use self water testing kits.
    2. Consider using a point-of-use drinking water filter to polish your water.
    3. Know Your H20 – Get your water check by a laboratory at least annually.

Recommending Reading and More.

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Recommending Household Testing

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Emerging Compounds in Drinking Water and NSF Standards

“NSF/ANSI 401:  Emerging Compounds

NSF/ANSI 401 addresses the ability of a water treatment device to remove up to 15 individual contaminants (listed below), which have been identified in published studies as occurring in drinking water. While not a public health issue, the contaminants covered in NSF/ANSI 401 have been detected in drinking water supplies at trace levels and can affect some consumers’ perception of drinking water quality. (NSF/ANSI 401 also applies to reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment.)

Prescription Drugs

  • Meprobamate: a compound found in anti-anxiety drugs.
  • Phenytoin: an anti-epileptic drug.
  • Atenolol: a beta blocker drug.
  • Carbamazepine: an anti-convulsant and mood-stabilizing drug.
  • Trimethoprim: an antibiotic medication.
  • Estrone: a prescription birth control drug.

Over-the-Counter Medications

  • Ibuprofen: an over-the-counter pain reliever and anti-inflammatory medication.
  • Naproxen: an over-the-counter pain reliever and anti-inflammatory medication.

Herbicides and Pesticides

  • DEET (N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide): a pesticide and common active ingredient in insect repellents.
  • 401: an organic compound that is widely used as an herbicide.
  • Linuron: an herbicide often used in the control of grasses and weeds.

Chemical Compounds

  • TCEP (Tris(2-chloroethyl)phosphate): a chemical compound used as a flame retardant, plasticizer and viscosity regulator in various types of polymers including polyurethanes, polyester resins and polyacrylates.
  • TCPP (Tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate): a chemical compound used as a flame retardant.
  • BPA (Bisphenol A): a chemical compound used as a plasticizer.
  • Nonyl phenol: a collection of compounds often used as a precursor to commercial detergents.”

Get Your Water Tested

National Testing Laboratory – Water Testing Options
Tap Score – Water Testing Options

Geoscientists discover an overlooked source for Earth’s water

“Where did Earth’s global ocean come from? A team of Arizona State University geoscientists led by Peter Buseck, Regents’ Professor in ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) and School of Molecular Sciences, has found an answer in a previously neglected source. The team has also discovered that our planet contains considerably more hydrogen, a proxy for water, than scientists previously thought.

So where is it? Mostly down in our planet’s core, but more about that in a minute. The bigger question is where did all this come from in the first place.


“Comets contain a lot of ices, and in theory could have supplied some water,” says Steven Desch, professor of astrophysics in SESE and one of the team scientists. Asteroids, he adds, are a source as well, not as water-rich yet still plentiful.

“But there’s another way to think about sources of water in the solar system’s formative days,” Desch explains. “Because water is hydrogen plus oxygen, and oxygen is abundant, any source of hydrogen could have served as the origin of Earth’s water.””

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-11-geoscientists-overlooked-source-earth.html#jCp

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PFOS in Water – Is there are formal drinking water standard?

Source: New Hamphire Public Radio – 11/5/2018

“Right now, state regulators are doing something they’ve never done before: writing their own limit on a chemical contaminant in drinking water.

It’s called a maximum contaminant level, or MCL. In the past, like most states, New Hampshire has used federal standards as its default MCLs.

Now, the legislature has told the Department of Environmental Services for the first time to write its own MCL, from scratch.

It’ll require public water systems to routinely test and treat drinking water for four types of likely toxic PFAS chemicals – known as PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS and PFNA.

The MCLs will also become the state’s new ambient groundwater quality standard for the chemicals, meaning if cleanup will be required if they’re found in groundwater at a higher level.

Right now, the state uses the federal government’s advice of 70 parts per trillion as its groundwater cleanup standard. The state has no formal MCL for PFAS in drinking water.

The new MCL is expected to be more stringent than that EPA guidance, and will require costly new testing and treatment protocols for drinking water systems around the state.

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, were once common in a range of industrial and household products. They have been linked to serious health problems and have contaminated water supplies across the state and country……..”

Read More.



Get Your Drinking Water Tested for PFOS/PFAS

This Year- Asked About Reverse Osmosis Treatment System

For some reason, this year we received a lot of questions from individuals looking to purchase or install a reverse osmosis treatment system.  The first question they all ask was about the features, models, and other details, but none answer the question why?  What was the problem or purpose?  They assumed they needed this system.

So my questions went as follows:

Question 1: Why?  What is the Problem – their answer in all cases was they thought it would be better.

Answer 1: They all thought they needed to install a reverse osmosis unit on their drinking water to protect their family.   They did not identify a problem such as salty water, metallic taste, etc.  When this happens, my first assumption is something went wrong somewhere or there is a new water treatment ad on TV pushing citizens to drink “Pure Water”, i.e., H20 or dihydrogen monoxide, only.  First – Drinking absolutely pure water for the long-term is not wise.

Question 2:  Where does your water originate?  Well water, City or Public water, or shared spring.

Answer 2:  80% said city or public water, 10 % said private well, and 10% said a local spring.

For the city and public water users, I said it was unlikely you needed a reverse osmosis unit because your source is regulated and must meet the state and federal drinking water standards, but after Flint and other cases this may not be true 100 % of the time.  I ask them if they look at the Consumer Confidence Report for their system and they had no idea what I was describing.  I pointed them in the direction of the EPA Consumer Confidence Report  (NOTE: If there is no report online, you will need to call your water supplier) and in every instance the water source was meeting drinking water standards, but they had some occasional problems with trihalomethanes, i.e., chlorine by-products, bacteria, and a few with copper, arsenic,  fluoride, and lead or corrosion issues.   For these individuals, I recommended the following:

a. Get a Comprehensive City Water Information Analysis

b. Based on the initial information and assuming the primary issue was trihalomethanes and chlorine by-products, the primary need most individuals was an under the counter “Point-of-Use” Carbon Filtration System for the Sink, Refrigerator, and/or Shower and in some cases for older homes I suggested a first flush test for lead and copper and then have a plumbing contractor inspect the service lines and plumbing in the home.  In one case, the homeowner found a slimy bacterial growth in the toilet tank reservoir, so we suggested they flush the system and suggested the installation of a water filter canister so they could flush and shock disinfect the water lines in the home.  For a small office, I might suggest a water cooler model.   I do not recommend a Whole House Reverse Osmosis unit.

c. Reverse Osmosis Treatment was not needed in ALL cases.

For the well water users (POE Systems- UV disinfection), I asked them when was the last time they tested their water and if the water had any aesthetic problems.  One complained of a salty taste, one was just concerned because of health issues, and the rest reported aesthetic problems ranging from odors to discoloration to staining.   If they did not have a recent water test, we recommended the appropriate water testing based on their description of the problem and surrounding land-use activities.

Homeowners that reported – Salty Water Taste and not near a gasoline station or farming area we recommended a basic water quality test with bacteria.

Homeowners that reported discoloration that was red, black, green, and/or a metallic taste we recommended a basic water quality test.

Homeowners that reported a chemical odor or metallic sheen and located in an area surrounded by agricultural activities or petrochemicals we recommended a test that included bacteria, metals, Volatile Organics, herbicides, and pesticides.  If they reported slimy coatings or films, we added a nuisance bacteria test.

We also directed a few of these users to our Phone App and Diagnose It for a self Diagnose.

At this point, NOT one of these individuals has installed a reverse osmosis unit, but it looks like the guy with the salty water may need a system.  We did find out that about 90% of the well owners needed to shock disinfect their well, 50% needed to install a UV disinfection System, 30% had a corrosion related problem, and 20% had to treat the water for an iron, manganese, or sulfur problem.

For the “Spring User” – we recommend the water be tested for total coliform and E. coli. and general water quality.  If the samples come back positive and there was a concern iron and manganese content we recommended a water test that included bacteria (including standard plate count and nuisance bacteria, iron, manganese, and total dissolved solids).  Some of the users complained about getting diarrhea, so we recommend the equivalent of a Pathogenic Screen Test for Your Drinking Water.

Guess What ! – the diarrhea case was positive for 1 pathogenic organism.   Our recommendation was to not use that spring and if possible have the spring properly abandon.   If you want to use a local spring source, plan on boiling the water at a minimum and use a water pitcher filter (test regularly at least quarterly).

For the guy that needed a reverse osmosis system, he also needed a pretreatment system to deal with the bacteria, hardness, and prepare the water for the R/O unit.    For individuals on city water that want a point of use R/O, we have found that is is typically necessary to prefilter the water to remove particles, add a carbon unit to remove chlorine, and is some cases reduce the hardness of the water.    Please keep in mind both applications are for Point-of-Use and not – Wholehouse RO treatment.

Looking for a Reverse Osmosis Unit – Questions?

  1. How much water do I need per day?
  2. Does my water require pretreatment?  If you do not have recent water testing data, we recommend this comprehensive assessment (Complete RO screen).  Testing for silica is critical.
  3. How much water will be “wasted” per day and where will this water go?   Some R/O units process 2 to 4 units of water to make 1 unit.  Therefore, you may waste 1 to 3 gallons of water to make 1 gallon.
  4. Do I need to install a booster pump- Do I have the proper pressure in my system?
  5. Do you need to re-mineralize the water for taste or to increase the pH?

Interesting R/O Unit with Booster Pump

Finally -You may want to be looking for an NSF/ANSI 58 approved systems – You can try this product search. “NSF/ANSI 58 establishes the minimum requirements for the certification of point-of-use (POU) reverse osmosis systems designed to reduce contaminants that may be present in public or private drinking water.  The scope of NSF/ANSI 58 includes material safety, structural integrity, total dissolved solids (TDS) reduction and other optional contaminant reduction claims. The most common optional claims addressed by NSF/ANSI 58 include cyst reduction, hexavalent and trivalent chromium reduction, arsenic reduction, nitrate/nitrite reduction, and cadmium and lead reduction.”  and you most likely want to hire a local trained professional to assist with product selection and install. If your looking for a treatment system to remove Pfas/Pfos (meets NSF P473)

Training
If you are looking for Training on the Subject – Visit :  Basic Water Treatment Course (Search Water Supply
(Topics: Desalination, Disinfection, Membrane Filtration)

More -Training – Visit Training Professionals 

Please share the site – We try to be as fact based as possible and try to provide solid information.

Manufacturers

Crystal Quest
US Water Systems

Earth Science Week’s 2018 Contest American Geosciences Institute

Participate in Earth Science Week’s 2018 Contests

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – For this year’s Earth Science Week (October 14-20, 2018), the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is sponsoring four contests honoring this year’s theme, “Earth as Inspiration.” This year’s competitions will feature the traditional video, photography, visual arts, and essay contests:

  • Teams and individuals of any age are invited to submit brief videos that tell viewers about artistic expression that stems from the natural world for the video contest, “Earth Expressions.”
  • The photography contest, also open to all ages, explores how people are “Inspired by Earth.”
  • Open to students in grades K-5, the visual arts contest is titled “Earth and Art.”
  • Finally, students in grades 6-9 are eligible to enter the essay contest, “Finding ‘Art’ in Earth.”

For all contests, entries may be submitted any time up to the Friday of Earth Science Week, October 19, 2018. These contests allow both students and the general public to participate in the celebration, learn about Earth science, and compete for prizes. The first-place prize for each contest is $300 and a copy of AGI’s Geoscience Handbook.

To learn more about these contests, including how to enter, visit http://www.earthsciweek.org/contests.

Reaching over 50 million people annually, AGI leads Earth Science Week in cooperation with its sponsors and the geoscience community as a service to the public. Each October, community groups, educators, and interested citizens organize celebratory events. Earth Science Week offers opportunities to discover the Earth sciences and engage in responsible stewardship of the Earth. Learn more at http://www.earthsciweek.org.

About AGI
The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is a nonprofit federation of 52 scientific and professional associations that represents more than 260,000 geoscientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geoscience education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role the geosciences play in society’s use of resources, resiliency to natural hazards, and interaction with the environment.

AGI is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to serving the geoscience community and addressing the needs of society. AGI headquarters are in Alexandria, Virginia.

The American Geosciences Institute represents and serves the geoscience community by providing collaborative leadership and information to connect Earth, science, and people.

More Student Project Options

New Question – Looking for Filter to Remove Giardia and Cryptosporidium

During the last week, we received multiple calls about testing for Giardia and Cryptosporidum in Well Water and City Water.  Our response is yes we can help, but is that the best course of action?

We first asked why? Is someone sick – Response – NO!
Then why the interested?
The repsonses:
Newspaper Article about a problem in different area. (2 people)
A friend as this problem. (1)
They saw something on social media.(8)
A water treatment person (plumber) mentioned that my system does not remove. (2)

What is your water source?   Well Water (3 people), City Water (10 people).

Have you had your water testing for Total Coliform Bacteria and general water quality?  Yes (2 people) and NO (11 people).

Do you have a copy of your “city water” annual report?  NO (10 people)

 

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My suggestions:

1. Get a copy of the “city water annual report” by calling the water company or going to their website or go to https://www.epa.gov/ccr.   If you need help reviewing, contact the Keystone Clean Water Team.

2. Get your water tested or run at a minimum a self testing.   At a minimum, go to https://watertestingkits.com/ref/10/.

3. Try a point of use filter – Should meet NSF Standards 42 & 53 for contaminant reduction, such as PUR Classic Clear FM-3333B filtration system, see https://amzn.to/2QN6hQU using the PUR RF-3375 2-stage filter https://amzn.to/2xwtU9p

As always, we hope this helps – someone.

Water Treatment – “The Salt Free Water Softener”

The Keystone Clean Water Team is a 501c3 and the main goal of the organization is to educate and inform the public on issues related to watershed management, water quality, groundwater, conservation, and the links between the environment, economy, and living within a community.    As a group, we provide educational outreach via are webportals, workshops, and other training programs.  During the past year, one of the most common questions we get ask is:  “What do you think of the “Salt Free Water Softener”,  my normal answer is “It depends”.

For some “salt free water treatment” systems by most common answer is quackery.  I will not mention these systems, but I will refer you to a great website so we do not have to worry about liability  (H20.com).   Of the softener and “salt-free” systems we have been able to seen the field the ones that appear interesting would include the following:

Water Softener (Conventional and With A Twist)

In general water softeners reduce the level of total hardness in the water and when this hardness is removed it is replaced with ions of sodium or potassium. The total hardness can include elements like calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, and other divalent/or mulivalent cations, i.e., ions that have a positive charge of more than one.  These ions are replaced by ions with a positive charge of one.   The system requires an internal resign that acts as the treatment area and a brine tank that is used to backwash and recharge the resin.   These have a long-history of use, but can increase the level of sodium and potassium in the water.  These systems can be vulnerable to bacterial regrowth, chlorine interaction, and in some cases “Iron Out” needs to be added to the brine tank.   A water softener can add in dealing with issues related to more significant scale formation and problems with iron and manganese.  If you are considering this treatment system, we recommend that you conduct a comprehensive water quality test and seek the advice of a local expert.  If you are a DIY, get your water tested and  please visit this portal (Whole House Water Softener / Alternative No-salt Softener (just reduces hardness- Using a Crystal Eagle Anti-scale media ) ).   For the record, we have seen problems when a water softener is added to an older home and system. In these cases, we have seen that water softener was typically removing too much of the water hardness.  When this softened water was introduced to the system, the system experience elevated levels of lead, copper, and other trace metals and because the line was not properly shock disinfected intermittent water quality problems with “dirty and discolored water” (PS: this is Flint Michigan in a nutshell).

Crystal Quest Systems

US Water Systems

Aquios Systems (Aquios FS-220)  (Salt Free)

The Aquios technology uses a polyphosphate/silicate additive in the media to bind or sequester the hardness as a mineral form.  The media is known as Siliphos Data Sheet. Rather than feeding a polyphosphate chemical into the water like is done for corrosion control and sequestering for some municipal water sources, this is accomplished using a point of entry or use treatment system.  The filter has a fixed capacity for hardness reduction, so it is critical to get a detailed water quality test so the system can be properly sized.  In addition, the system normally included prefiltration to reduce or remove sediment and chlorine.

Nuvo H20 (Salt Free)

This systems uses a chelatin approach to reducing the total hardness of the water. Therefore, the hardness is bound and sequestered within the media, which is very similar to the Aquios approach, but they use CitraCharge.  CitraCharge appears to be an additive that includes citric acid, which is a weak organic acid.  From the companies website, “The chelant in CitraCharge creates a ring structure to bind the ions to the CitraCharge instead of to other ions, which is what typically causes scale and hard-water deposits.”

Other Products

Lemi Shine Natural Dishwasher Cleaner – Citric Acid Cleaner  (Dishwasher, etc)

Citic Acid based cleaner-Food Grade Citric Acid Powder Natural Cleaner & Descaler

Please make sure to get your water quality tested.  For this problem we would recommend, the following for  Well Water or City Water.

Master Watershed Steward Program Monroe County Pennsylvania

January 8, 2018
Penn State Extension and the Monroe County Conservation District are excited to launch the Master Watershed Steward Program.
The Master Watershed Steward program is a collaborative effort between Penn State Extension, Monroe County Conservation District, and local conservation groups. It is similar to the Master Gardener program and is designed to train people in a formal way about the basics of water resource stewardship, creating an energized and educated group of citizens. Currently, the MWS program is in 13 counties across the state and has 194 volunteers that have contributed over 7,500 volunteer hours in 2017.
We are recruiting 20-25 interested people for the class of 2018. The class will consist of 40 hours of training on various topics, including water quality, stream health, groundwater, native plants, and recreational resources. Once this part of the training is complete, trainees perform 50 hours of volunteer service on selected projects such as:
– Organizing and executing stream cleanups.
– Designing and installing demonstration rain gardens.
– Assist in stream restorations.
– Organize educational workshops addressing topics such as rain barrels, pollution prevention, invasive plant control, and stormwater management.

 

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Applicants are welcome from all walks of life. If under 18, you must be accompanied by a guardian or adult. The program will start on Thursday, March 1, 2018, 6:00-8:30 pm and will continue every Thursday through May. There will be several Saturday field trips.
An informational session at 6:30 pm will be held on January18 at:
Monroe County Conservation District
8050 Running Valley Rd.
Stroudsburg, Pa.
If interested, please contact:

Jim Vogt
Phone: 570-421-6430
Email: jav45@psu.edu
Web: extension.psu.edu/programs/watershed-stewards/counties/monroe
Penn State Extension
Monroe County
724 Phillips Street, Suite 201
Stroudsburg, PA 18360