Dangerous Water?

[Zaphirah]

ugh. i am beside myself on this one. Quick background: we just moved to a tiny New England town. 2 of our 4 dc are on the autism spectrum. We chose this particular house because the town just put in a bajillion dollar water treatment/new reservoir. Then we heard thru the grapevine that the water was unsafe. We called the water commissioner and dh spoke to him for quite awhile asking about the water quality. (we are very concerned that our dc not be exposed to mercury, lead etc). Dh was satisfied that we recieved misinformation and that the water was great.

Then comes last night....

Dh just joined the volunteer fire dept. He went to a meeting last night and the subject of water quality came up. The fire chief said that he would NEVER drink the water in this town. He said that the water mains have ASBESTOS in them. Several of the other townies agreed. They said that this town has an unusually high level of cancer?????

HOW DO I UNCOVER THE TRUTH ABOUT THIS???? Call the DEP? I'm so confused.

[MommyB]

I think there are some at home tests that you can buy to test your water. I think you can also search the web and find a place that you can sent a sample of your water to have it tested. I hope you find the answer that you're looking for! Especially since you bought that house because you were under the impression that the water was safe!

[MommyB]

here is the link to one website that offers testing. Its not cheap - $149... but I'm pretty sure it's worth it! Hope this helps. There are a million others if you google.

http://www.discovertesting.com/?source=googleCPC&s_cid=299566559&gclid=CMuDxfjPz44CFRD9YAod8D7ViA

[Zaphirah]

Thank you. Yes-here is the ironic part. We had put a bid on another house BEFORE this one. We did extra water testing (at our expense) and found that the house had 13x the acceptable limit of mercury in the water. They don't test for mercury, lead, etc. in the regular test-you have to order additional testing. So we quickly withdrew our offer-and the guy refuses to return our deposit. Then we found this house-which is similar, 192 years old, just a little younger than our first mercury laden choice (circa 1790) LOL! The water system is what made us fall in love with this house. Safe safe safe water. The water commisioner told dh that this is the top of the line, probably one of the best in the state, maybe even country. They just put it in last year. we were thrilled to never have to worry about water.

and now this bombshell. Yeah, the water is safe, til it hits the water mains. sheesh.

[tinystrawberry]

that sounds soo scary! i hope you find something to help~

[Lady Green Jeans]

So sorry to hear of your water issue. (I, too adore older homes and would dearly love to live in one). I fear water quality will only get worse with time and will be more of a national issue. Personally, I do not drink tap water and don't like using it for any cooking/food prep. If money were not the issue for me, would install a whole-house filtration system. Many of my friends swear by a shower filter--the skin being our largest organ and all. Maybe you can check into costs and options of reverse osmosis or possibly some other filtration. My best thoughts are with you.

Kathy

[exurb]

OLDER HOMES are often an issue in water quality, no matter how good the water going in is, as the pipes can often be made of lead.

Why not get an RO or something? Or even a Brita to take out most of the lead.

IMO it doesn't matter how good the water is going in, what comes out of your tap could still be a problem, and you need to see what the pipes are in your house and plan accordingly. By the time you pay for testing, cancelled offers, etc., you could just hook yourself up with a good RO. I am told that bathing is not a problem if your water is high in lead, just your drinking water.

[luckitri]

I am sorry to hear of your dilemma. I wish you could just get out of the house and town. In my experience these "cancer clusters" take years to receive the attention and clean-up that they deserve. . . . . decades . . . .and it also requires dedicated community activists who have the time to keep pushing. In some cases the government is in collusion with the business that caused the problem and they want to hide it so they don't have to pay the clean-up cost. The volunteer fire department is a good place to get information but are they just talking about it or are they making plans to do something? They must feel stuck there.

[juliebove]

If I were you, I'd buy bottled water until I heard that the water was safe. When I lived on Cape Cod, our water was unsafe. Alas I couldn't afford to buy bottled water to wash dishes, clothing, myself, etc. So I still wonder if that didn't somehow cause many of the health problems I have today.