Water Quality
Health Issues
PRIMARY MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT
LEVEL
A Primary Maximum Contaminate
Level is a health related issue that is a legally enforceable
national standard set
by the EPA to protect the public from exposure to water
contamination hazards. Standards only apply to public drinking
water systems,
but they serve as a guide for individual water supplies.
ESS laboratories can test all Primary Maximum Contaminants.
COPPER
The EPA drinking water standard for copper is 1.3 mg/l,
or parts per million. Levels above this may cause acute
gastrointestinal
illness or nervous disorders. Lower levels of dissolved
copper may give water a bitter or metallic taste and produce
blue-green
stains on plumbing fixtures. The copper content of the
source water is generally quite low or non-existent, rather;
it
typically comes from the plumbing materials of the house.
The leaching of copper from copper and brass materials
is generally accelerated when the water is acidic, or has
a
low pH value. Any excessive amounts of copper from the
water source itself may indicate contamination from industrial
wastes or landfills.
FECAL COLIFORM BACTERIA
A test for fecal coliform is necessary when a Total Coliform
Bacteria is present. This is typically waste of humans
and/or other warm-blooded animals (mammals and birds).
A positive
result reported as “present” indicates that waste
from a septic system or animal may be contaminating the water
supply and should be treated as a major health concern.
TOTAL COLIFORM BACTERIA
Microbiological contamination of drinking water may cause
short-term gastrointestinal disorders, resulting in cramps
and diarrhea that may be mild to severe. Other diseases
of concern are viral hepatitis A, salmonella infections,
dysentery,
typhoid fever and cholera. Coliform bacteria are always
present in the digestive systems of humans and animals
and do not
themselves cause disease. However, when present in drinking
water, they indicate the possible presence of disease bacteria.
Soil or decaying vegetation may also be a source for coliform
contamination of water supplies. Analysis for total coliform
bacteria is the EPA standard test for microbiological contamination
of a water supply. A positive test result reported as “present” indicates
the presence of coliform bacteria.
LEAD
The primary source of lead in drinking
water is leaching from lead faucets and lead solders used in
plumbing, especially
if the water is acidic. Lead is also found naturally in some
areas in ground water. In 1986, the federal Safe Drinking
Water Act banned the use of lead on public drinking water
systems and limited to 8% the amount of lead permissible
in brass fixtures. Children and fetuses are especially sensitive
to lead poisoning, and the EPA maximum contaminant level
is 15 µg/l, or parts per billion.
NITRATE
Nitrates occur naturally in water, but the major sources of
nitrate include commercial fertilizers, the wastes from grazing
land and feedlots, and septic systems. Although the EPA has
set a maximum contaminant level for nitrate at 10 mg/l, it
is recommended that water with levels greater than 1 mg/l be
used with caution for feeding infants. High levels of nitrate
may cause methemoglobinemia (“blue-baby” syndrome)
in infants.
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Actual equipment recommended is based on overall
water test results. Please contact us (info@countrywatersystems.com or 540-825-2781) with any questions regarding which equipment
may be right for your water problem.
GLOSSARY
EPA: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
mg/1: Concentration unit of milligrams per liter of water,
equivalent to parts per million (ppm)
µg/l: Concentration unit of micrograms per liter of water,
equivalent to parts per billion (ppb)
