Test Your Water for Over 90 Harmful Contaminants Including Pesticides

What should I test my water for?

This question can have many different answers and will likely vary from one individual to the next. The quality of the water that you consume depends on many different factors. Factors such as geology,  geography, water treatment processes, local regulations, and weather patterns are only a few of the things that can effect the quality of your drinking water.

For example if you have a well and you live in a rural area it is a good idea to have your water tested for things such as pesticides, herbicides, and nitrates. If you are connected to a municipal source that chlorinates (and most do) you would want to pay attention to a group of compounds known as Trihalomethanes (THM's), Chlorine, Flouride and lead from your home plumbing system. Often times you can call your municipality and get data about the water that they are producing.  One thing to bear in mind though is that there is no guarantee that water leaving the treatment plant will be of the same quality once it comes out of your faucet.  One of the reasons for this is that the municipality does not have control over the entire distribution system.  Once that water enters your house there is a lot of pipe that the water still has to travel through before it comes out of your tap.  If your pipes were put together using lead solder you could have a potential problem.

The best thing to do is to ask yourself what it is you are trying to accomplish by testing your water. If you are curious about the overall quality of the water then you should get a wider range of testing done. If you need to find out something specific then you can narrow down the testing that you need. For instance, if you are selling your home you may be required to have your water tested for Total Coliforms. If that is all you need then that is all you should get. Be wary of anyone trying to scare you into paying for testing that you don't need.  That being said that no one can really say that your water is safe without testing. The other thing to bear in mind when you get your water tested is that the data you receive back from your test pertains only to the analysis that was done. In other words let's say you perform a lead test and it comes back clean. That does not necessarily mean that your water is safe to drink, it means that your water meets the standards as set forth by the EPA for lead. You need to decide what level is safe and comfortable for YOU. 

How much is that going to cost me?

We test for more than 90 parameters analyzed including;

1. Bacterialogicals
2. Metals
3. Inorganic and Physical Properties
4. THM's
5. VOC's
6. Pesticides, Herbicides and PCB's

Our current price for this test is $145.95 plus shipping & handling (return shipping is not included). When you place an order we send you a sampling kit that contains sampling instructions, sampling containers, and all of the necessary paperwork.  Once you've filled the bottles according to the instructions and completed the paperwork, you simply put the bottles and paperwork back into the kit and send it off to the lab using your preferred overnight carrier.

How long will it take for me to get my results?

Generally speaking it takes about three weeks from the time you send in your water to the time you receive a report. The reason for this is that there are a lot of factors that go into issuing you a report other than simply analyzing your water. The first step after you have sampled your water and filled out your paperwork is that you must send the sample in to us. If you use an overnight carrier as we strongly urge you to do then that adds only one day to the process. After we receive your sample it must be analyzed. The typical water test takes approximately 10 business days.  Since the test is complicated it can sometimes take a few days longer.  Once the data is complete, a review of the data is done so as to ensure the validity of the data and to find any typographical errors. The data is then electronically sent to our corporate headquarters where the report is generated and undergoes another review process. Finally after the report is approved it is sent to you by first class mail.

How do I read this report?

When you get your report there will be four main items that you will need to concern yourself with. These items will be prepared in a column format so as to make the review of your test easier. The first item is the name of the analyte being tested, for example lead. The next item will be the maximum contamination level (MCL). The MCL is the limit as set forth by the EPA as the highest allowable amount of that parameter that can be in drinking water.  If that column does not have a value for that parameter then there is no set guideline for that parameter (yet). The next item of concern is the detection limit.  This is the lowest amount of that particular parameter that the lab will report out.  

It is strongly emphasized is that there is no such thing as zero in analytical chemistry. A laboratory can only tell you that you have less than the detection limit of any particular parameter. There is not a laboratory in the world that can tell you that you have zero of anything in your water. Finally the last item is your result. This is the amount of that particular parameter that you have in your water. If there is something noteworthy with that value it will be flagged. For example, if you had a value that exceeded the MCL this would be flagged so as to draw your attention to it.