How to Protect Yourself Against Cheating on Water Bacteria Tests - Advice for home buyers, home owners, home inspectors InspectAPedia® -
How to detect and protect against someone cheating on water tests or septic tests
Cheating on Water Tests
Cheating on Septic Tests
How to Catch Dishonest Water or Septic Testing
How to Avoid Water Test & Septic Test Cheating Problems
What to Do About Questionable Water Test Results
Questions & answers about dishonest well water testing and test results
InspectAPedia offers impartial, unbiased advice without conflicts of interest.
We will block advertisements which we discover or readers inform us are associated with bad business practices,
false-advertising, or junk science. Our contact info is at
InspectAPedia.com/Contact.htm.
This article explains why people might do something that prevents you from obtaining an accurate water test,
how to detect this bad behavior, and what to do about it. Cheating on drinking water tests may come as a surprise to most folks - who would do such a thing, and why?
This article is part of our series on CHEATING ON WATER TESTS. Also see Choices of Water Tests & Fees: A Summary of Types of Water Tests,
Degrees of Comprehensive Water Testing, Details of Water Test Parameters.
and
Water Testing Advice based on information from Cornell University of Maryland with extensive edits, text additions, and
additional references.
CHEATING ON How to Avoid Well Water Test Cheats & Septic Test Dishonesty
Most people we've dealt with in the last 40 years of construction and building diagnosis & repair have been honest and decent. But on occasion the "pressure of the deal" or just downright dishonesty lead some folks to try to fool the buyers or occupants of a property, regardless of the possible consequences for their health or their wallet. Here are some things you can do to avoid tripping up over the bad apples:
Requests to Realtors/Sellers: ask that no "special" water treatment and no septic system work of any kind be performed in the two weeks before an inspection and test are scheduled.
Examine equipment supplying and treating water in the building. Note if a chlorinator, water softener, UV light system, or other "water purification" equipment is installed or has been installed (such as noting an equipment hookup or footprint even
if the equipment has been removed).
Water sampling strategy: might include collecting water samples from both before and after any water treatment equipment, but beware that dirty un-used faucets such as at a basement water tank or outdoors could be a point source of bacterial contamination of the water test.
How to avoid being duped by duplicitous well shockers: if we are collecting a water sample for bacterial testing we always conduct a Hach Test™ for chlorine before collecting my water sample.
Some inspectors use swimming pool test kits for this purpose. Unfortunately those tests are much less accurate in detection of low levels of chlorine that may be residual after a cheating well-shock and flush-out procedure.
In inspecting properties in the Northeastern U.S., particularly in the remote country
in areas of bad soils, we find that someone has subverted our water test perhaps 5 or 10 times a year.
The subversion by bleach ("well shocking") may have been done in ignorance, out of anxiety that a problem might be present, or out of an actual wish
to hide a known issue. We don't need to figure out motives, but it's wise to avoid a false "OK" on a water coliform test when a well has been shocked, or might have been.
How to Test the Water Supply or Septic Effluent for Evidence of the Presence of Chlorine
Use of Hach™ water tests for chlorine are
inexpensive, are more sensitive to chlorine than the old pool chlorine test kit we tried first, and are readily available.
The Hach company sells various chemical reagents including water tests for chlorine in foil packets or as inexpensive test strips sensitive
down to 0.5 mg/L.
I prefer tests sensitive to 0.1 mg/L or less. See the Hach Corporation website (hach.com) or call them at 800-227-4224 (To preserve my objectivity we have absolutely no financial relationship with the company or with any other companies or products you
may see mentioned here).
I use the little Hach chemical packets (sensitivity is 0 - 3.5 mg/L) shown in the photograph here. The reagent is poured in to the water sample which is in a plastic tube provided by Hach (or any clean container of appropriate size). The Hach company provides good instruction manuals for each of their test procedures.
A suitable Hach test strip product for testing the level of Free and Total Chlorine in water is their Free & Total Chlorine Test Strips, 0-10 mg/L, 50 tests Hach Product #:2745050 - a larger set of 250 test strips is also available as Hach Product #2793944
I've also used the AquaChek™ water test strips shown here. These strips do not have the same sensitivity as the Hach test but they have the advantage of ease of use.
Dip the strip into the water to be tested and compare it with the color chart on the test bottle.
The AquaChek™ water test procedure simultaneously tests for total chlorine, free chlorine, total hardness, total alkalinity, and pH of the water being sampled.
A supplier of these water test strips is Environmental Test Systems, Inc., PO Box 4659, Elkhart, Indiana 46514.
Here is a photo of the color comparison chart used with the AquaChek™ water testing strip.
The water test strip is simply aligned with the color chart on the bottle label. The colors of the wet test squares on the strip are compared with the range of colors in the chart to read the level of total chlorine, free chlorine, total hardness, total alkalinity, and pH of the water being tested.
When to re-test a well that has been shocked with chlorine, Clorox™ or other disinfectants: This question is explained at" When to re-test a well that has been shocked with chlorine bleach or some other
disinfectant". Watch out! Testing too soon or testing water improperly after chlorine or other disinfectants have been in use is likely to give false results.
Critique, contributions wanted: Contact Us to suggest corrections or additions to articles at this website, and if you wish, to receive online listing and credit as a contributor. Particular thanks are due to the many experts and also consumers who read and critique technical articles at InspectAPedia.com.
Additional technical contributors & reference sources for this article are listed below.
Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.
Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair
Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
The Home Reference Book - the Encyclopedia of Homes, Carson Dunlop & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, 2010, $69.00 U.S., is available from Carson Dunlop, and from the InspectAPedia bookstore. The 2010 edition of the Home Reference Book is a bound volume of more than 450 illustrated pages that assist home inspectors and home owners in the inspection and detection of problems on buildings. The text is intended as a reference guide to help building owners operate and maintain their home effectively. InspectAPedia.com ® author/editor Daniel Friedman is a contributing author. Field inspection worksheets are included at the back of the volume.
Crystal Clear Supply provides portable ceramic water filter purifiers and portable reverse osmosis water treatment equipment - see http://www.crystalclearsupply.com/category_s/7.htm
Handbook of Disinfectants and Antiseptics, Joseph M. Ascenzi (Editor), CRC, 1995, ISBN-10: 0824795245 ISBN-13: 978-0824795245 "The evaluation of chemical germicides predates the golden age of microbiology..." -
This well-focused, up-to-date reference details the current medical uses of antiseptics and disinfectants -- particularly in the control of hospital-acquired infections -- presenting methods for evaluating products to obtain regulatory approval and examining chemical, physical, and microbiological properties as well as the toxicology of the most widely used commercial chemicals.
Potable Aqua® emergency drinking water germicidal tablets are produced by the Wisconsin Pharmacal Co., Jackson WI 53037. 800-558-6614 pharmacalway.com
Principles and Practice of Disinfection, Preservation and Sterilization (Hardcover)
by A. D. Russell (Editor), W. B. Hugo (Editor), G. A. J. Ayliffe (Editor), Blackwell Science, 2004. ISBN-10: 1405101997, ISBN-13: 978-1405101998.
"This superb book is the best of its kind available and one that will undoubtedly be useful, if not essential, to workers in a variety of industries. Thirty-one distinguished specialists deal comprehensively with the subject matter indicated by the title ... The book is produced with care, is very readable with useful selected references at the end of each chapter and an excellent index. It is an essential source book for everyone interested in this field. For pharmacy undergraduates, it will complement the excellent text on pharmaceutical microbiology by two of the present editors."
The Pharmaceutical Journal: "This is an excellent book. It deals comprehensively and authoritatively with its subject with contributions from 31 distinguished specialists. There is a great deal to interest all those involved in hospital infection ... This book is exceptionally well laid out. There are well chosen references for each chapter and an excellent index. It is highly recommended." The Journal of Hospital Infection.: "The editors and authors must be congratulated for this excellent treatise on nonantibiotic antimicrobial measures in hospitals and industry ... The publication is highly recommended to hospital and research personnel, especially to clinical microbiologists, infection-control and environmental-safety specialists, pharmacists, and dieticians."
New England Journal of Medicine: City Hospital, Birmingham, UK. Covers the many methods of the elimination or prevention of microbial growth. Provides an historical overview, descriptions of the types of antimicrobial agents, factors affecting efficacy, evaluation methods, and types of resistance. Features sterilization methods, and more. Previous edition: c1999. DNLM: Sterilization--methods.
U.S. Army Field Manual 21-10, Field Hygiene and Sanitation, 1988, web search 07/02/2010, original source: http://www.enlisted.info/field-manuals/fm-21-10-field-hygiene-and-sanitation.shtml The purpose of this manual is to assist individual soldiers, unit commanders, leaders and field sanitation teams in preventing disease and environmental injuries. The manual provides information on preventive medicine measures (PMM) to the individual soldier as well as essential information for the unit commander, unit leaders, and the unit field sanitation team on applying unit level PMM.
When Technology Fails, Matthew Stein, Chelsea Green Publisher, 2008,493 pages. ISBN-10: 1933392452 ISBN-13: 978-1933392455, "... how to find and sterilize water in the face of utility failure, as well as practical information for dealing with water-quality issues even when the public tap water is still flowing". Mr. Stein's website is www.whentechfails.com/
Mobile View
