Drinking
Water
EDC has several
options for sampling
drinking water.
For example:
- A comprehensive
74 parameter
test can be
conducted.
- A coliform
bacteria - Ecoli
test can be
conducted for
well water.
The Safe Drinking Water Act of December 16, 1974 mandated the establishment of drinking water regulations. The U.S. EPA was authorized to set national drinking water regulations and oversee the implementation of the SDWA. State governments through their health departments or environmental agencies were to accept the responsibility for the implementation and enforcement of the SDWA's provisions.
Most community water suppliers deliver high quality drinking water to millions of Americans every day. Drinking water systems have spent hundreds of billions of dollars to build drinking water treatment and distribution systems. In addition, there is a network of government agencies whose job it is to ensure that public water supplies are safe. Nonetheless, microbiological and chemical contaminants enter water supplies.
The EPA has issued drinking water standards or Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for many water contaminants. The standards limit the amount of each substance allowed to be present in drinking water. Local governments, public water systems, the states and the EPA work together towards a goal of ensuring that all public water supplies are safe. But, it is generally up to the building owner to maintain the quality of the drinking water.
Routinely sampling and analyzing the water being delivered to a building from a public water system establishes a baseline from which it can be reasonably assumed that similar water is being supplied to the entire facility. In addition, sampling and analyzing water from various drinking water sources within the building can yield information regarding such contaminants as lead and copper that may have been introduced to the water supply system within the building.
| Parameter | EPA MCLs |
| Aluminum | 0.05-0.2 mg/l |
| Antimony | 0.006 mg/l |
| Arsenic | 0.05 mg/l |
| Barium | 2.0 mg/l |
| Cadmium | 0.005 mg/l |
| Chloride | 250 mg/l |
| Chromium | 0.1 mg/l |
| Coliforms (Total) | <=5% positive |
| Coliforms (E. coli) | 0 |
| Copper | 1.0 mg/l |
| Cyanides | 0.2 mg/l |
| Fluorides | 2.0-4.0 mg/l |
| Iron | 0.3 mg/l |
| Lead | 15 ppb |
| Manganese | 0.05 mg/l |
| Mercury | 0.002 mg/l |
| Nickel | 0.1 mg/l |
| Nitrate/Nitrite (Total) | 10.0 mg/l |
| Nitrates | 10.0 mg/l |
| Nitrites | 1.0 mg/l |
| pH | 6.5-8.5 |
| Selenium | 0.05 mg/l |
| Silver | 0.1 mg/l |
| Solids, Total Dissolved | 500 mg/l |
| Sodium | 20 mg/l |
| Sulfate | 250 mg/l |
| Turbidity | 0.5-5 NTU |
| Zinc | 5 mg/l |
All values subject to change without notice.
