Testing our Tap Water

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This post is by Bernie Carr, apartmentprepper.com

I received a home Water Analysis Test Kit from watertestingkits.com.  They make a variety of at home water test kits that test for ten different contaminants, including lead and bacteria.

With the recent news about many city water being contaminated, I was curious to see if our own drinking water has bacteria or pesticides.

The testing kit I received included tests for bacteria, lead, pesticide, iron, copper, alkalinity, nitrites and nitrates and chlorine.

Water testing kit1

My main concern was for bacteria and pesticides so I tried out those particular components.

Bacteria Test

The first test I tried was for bacteria.  It was an easy one to do.  Just pour water into the bacteria testing kit, seal, shake, and leave it alone for 48 hours.

After 48 hours, I checked the result.  Purple means negative for bacteria, and yellow means positive.

Result

Here is the result.  Purple means negative for bacteria.  I was happy our water is bacteria free.

Water testing kit2

 

Pesticide Test

The next test I tried was for pesticides.  It also included a test for lead.  Per the directions, I added two droppers of water into the container then placed the test strips in the vial.  I then left it alone for 10 minutes.

Water testing kit3

 

Result

After 10 minutes, I checked the result.  This time, the result was not as easy to read.  The directions said find the lines between the numbers on the strip if the left line was darker than the one on the right, then it is negative.  The lines were a little hard to spot.

The blue pesticide strip showed the left line (next to the 1) was darker than the right (next to the 2), which means negative for pesticides.

Water testing kit4

However, the yellow lead test strip did not show any lines at all (in between 1 and 2) or they were too light to see.  According to the directions, if this happens, then the test result is not valid.

Because I was more concerned about pesticides, I was fine with the test.  To be on the safe side, I use my Berkey water filtration system on a daily basis.  My black Berkey filters can remove lead and other heavy metals along with pesticides, VOCs, chemicals, bacteria and viruses.   I can see using a water testing kit can be helpful for testing well water, municipal water, or in an emergency if you wanted to check out the safety of a water source.

I posted this water test in my new Apartment Prepper Quick and Honest Review series on YouTube.  Here’s the link:  https://youtu.be/iK3PZVXIZSY

If you like the video, please Like, Comment and Subscribe to my new channel.  There is more to come!

 

© Apartment Prepper 2016

 

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