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Nitrates
About Nitrates
High concentrations of nitrates in well water is a common problem in this area, due to agricultural run-off that eventually reaches the groundwater. Shallow wells, dug wells, and wells with damaged or leaking casings are the most vulnerable to nitrate contamination.
Health Effects
Nitrates can cause Blue Baby Syndrome in bottle-fed infants under 6 months old, a potentially deadly condition (yet another reason to breastfeed your baby!). It is also known to be dangerous for pregnant women, and suspected to cause various long-term health problems in older children and healthy adults (including increased risk for cancers like non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma). If a well's nitrate level is 10 parts per million or higher, it should not be consumed by infants or pregnant women.
Testing
Drinking water from private wells should be tested annually for nitrate levels to ensure the health of the residents. On the day of the testing:
1. Run the tap water for 3 minutes
2. Collect 1 cup of water.
3. Keep the sample cool until it can be tested at a "Test Your Well" event or sent to a lab.
You may collect the sample above or below a water softener - this equipment does not affect the nitrate levels. You may also collect above and below a reverse osmosis filtration system to ensure that the system is working to sufficiently remove nitrates.
Filtration - removing the nitrates
Boiling water only makes the nitrate levels go up, because pure water evaporates off leaving the nitrates behind in the pan. Nitrates are too small to be removed by traditional carbon-filtration systems.
Reverse osmosis, distillation, or ion exchange filtration systems will reduce the nitrate level if properly maintained, but each is very costly to install. These systems can also fail, so water should still be tested annually (even twice per year) to make sure things are working properly.
Other options are digging a new well (tested nitrate levels before using, of course), or using only bottled water for drinking, cooking, and baby formula preparation.
For more information call 888-310-0565.
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