According to the Environmental Protection Agency, several testing facilities or services provide sample containers to anyone who want to have their water analyzed. However, the question of when to test the water remains. According to the EPA, certain conditions and activities may necessitate having the water tested for the presence of different items that can make people sick.
• Illness: recurring gastrointestinal illness
• Coliform bacteria is a recommended test.
• Situation: Lead is present in household plumbing.
• Pit, lead, and copper tests are recommended.
Scaly residues, soaps that do not lather
• Hardness is a recommended test.
• Situation: A water softener is required to treat hardness.
• Manganese and iron tests are recommended.
• State of repair: stained plumbing fixtures, laundry
• Iron, copper, and manganese tests are recommended.
• Condition: Bad taste or odor
• Recommended tests include hydrogen sulfide, corrosion, and metals.
• Water that is cloudy, foamy, or tinted
• Color and detergent tests are recommended.
• Condition: Pipe and plumbing corrosion
• Corrosion, pH, and lead testing are all recommended.
• Condition: Water treatment equipment wears down quickly.
• pH and corrosion tests are recommended.
• Situation: Nearby heavy agricultural areas
• Nitrate, pesticides, and coliform bacteria tests are recommended.
• Situation: There is a coal or other mining operation nearby.
• Metals, pH, and corrosion tests are recommended.
• Odor of gas or fuel oil, and proximity to a gas station or buried storage tanks
• Volatile organic compounds are a recommended test (VOCs)
• State: salty taste and ocean, or a severely salted road nearby
• Chloride, TDS, and sodium tests are recommended.
A contaminated water source might manifest itself in a variety of ways. When such conditions exist, people should not be afraid to have their water tested.
