•  Distillation Units •  Faucet Filters •  Fitness & Nutrition •  Poll: Do You Think Your Water is Safe? •  Pour-Through Carafes •  Reverse Osmosis Filters •  Water Safety

It's not easy. You can rely on your senses to warn you about a few of the more unappetizing things that spill into your drinking glass, like sulfur, with its distinctive rotten-egg smell, or too much chlorine. But some of the most serious (and most common) contaminants, such as viruses, lead, and other chemicals, can't be tasted or smelled. Although most municipal supplies are safe, there's only one sure way to find out what's in your water, and that's to have it tested.

If you're on a public or municipal water line, call your local water supplier (the number is right on your water bill). By law, the supplier must test its processed water regularly and provide you with a copy of the results upon demand. While you're at it, ask for a test of the water from your own faucets (some suppliers will do this free of charge) to find out whether any contaminants are getting into the water between the treatment plant and your glass. If the water supplier won't test your water, you'll need to have the test done by a state-certified lab. To find one, call the Environmental Protection Agency's Safe Drinking Water hotline at 800/426-4791, or look in the yellow pages under "Laboratories -- Testing."

In either case, be sure to test what's called first-draw water -- the stuff that comes out of your faucet when you first turn on the tap in the morning. If contaminants are leaching into your water from the plumbing pipes, the level of contamination will be highest after the water has sat in the pipes overnight.

Have your water tested for lead if you have lead pipes or brass faucets (which may contain lead), and for copper if you have copper pipes. Lead solder could legally be used to join plumbing pipes until 1986, but lead is a concern even if you live in a brand-new home. Faucets are still allowed to be as much as 8 percent lead, and these faucets have been shown to leach the metal in significant amounts.

If you're on a private well, you'll have to pay for the testing yourself. (To find a testing lab, call the EPA's Safe Drinking Water hotline at 800/426-4791. Or look in the yellow pages under "Laboratories-Testing.")

Your county sanitation or health department can advise you about possible well-water contamination in your area. In general, you'll want the lab to run a heavy-metal test, an organic-pesticide test, a test for nitrates, and a test for bacteria. All of these should be performed at least once, and the bacteria and nitrates test should be repeated a minimum of once a year. The full gamut of tests usually costs less than $200 (about half of that goes for the pesticide test).

Not necessarily. One Los Angeles County Bureau of Environmental Toxicology study showed that some bottled water produced in that county contained levels of known carcinogens that were higher than the state's public health goals. Another study, published in 2008 by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), reported that 10 popular brands of bottled water contained a variety of pollutants, including bacteria. The EWG recommends consumers drink filtered tap water instead.

However, if you choose to drink bottled water, you can check to make sure you're getting clean water. The Food and Drug Administration regulates bottled water in conjunction with state agencies and trade organizations like the International Bottled Water Association. Some bottled water is certified by NSF International, an independent, third-party monitor; call 877/NSF-HELP (877/867-3435) to learn which brands.

-- Tonia Moore is a freelance health writer and editor based in the San Francisco Bay Area. A former senior editor at Consumer Health Interactive, she has also served as copy chief for Health magazine.

References

First published March 3, 1999
Last updated November 11, 2008
Copyright © 1999 Consumer Health Interactive

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