Water Quality Report
WATER QUALITY
ARIZONA WATER COMPANY
If you live in Sedona, AZ, you will be served by a private water company. See our related post. Knowing and understanding the potential health affects of Sedona’s drinking and bathing water should be investigated prior to purchasing property in Arizona, particularly if you are purchasing a property that has a well or if you are planning to drill a well. Water quality is important.
Here is a report concerning the new Arizona Water Company surcharge and its relevance to new arsenic standards.
Arsenic levels in the US.
EPA’s Arsenic Information: Click here.
EPA’s drinking water quality standards:
“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for inorganic arsenic in drinking water at 0.05 mg/L (mg/L = parts per million or ppm). Drinking water that meets the current standard is associated with little or no risk and should be considered safe with respect to arsenic. However, this standard is currently under review and the MCL may be decreased in the future.”
Removal of arsenic: ”The most reliable water treatment processes for arsenic removal are reverse osmosis and distillation. Of the two processes, reverse osmosis devices are less costly, take less time, and use less energy than distillation devices. Reverse osmosis devices can be installed at the point of entry (for the entire household water supply) or for drinking water only. Treating all of the household water will be considerably more expensive than treating drinking water only. Many water treatment companies sell or rent reverse osmosis devices and offer maintainence agreements.”
Click here for the Coconino Water Quality Report (including Sedona) which rates Sedona 6 out of 10. Many options are available to improve your water quality and remove arsenic and we have listed but a few resources in this post. A starting place. Before you purchase, do your independent research.
FYI. If you have a septic system or an alternative waste system, check with experts on what affect the filtration system might have on the waste facility. Depending on who you talk to or which side of the issue you read, there will be many varied opinions. One thing that does seem to be common: raising the salt water discharge into the waste system may upset the ph level necessary for the bacteria do do their job. Ask an expert.
WATER QUALITY MATTERS
From the Arizona Department of Health Services comes this brochure on arsenic in Arizona. Click here.
From the University of Arizona comes this water quality warning (especially if you are going to own or drill a well):
- Determine if you have an Arsenic problem
- Research the technology….will it handle your Arsenic problem?
- Contact a responsible, ethical vendor/provider and discuss your needs.
- Get an estimate of costs……water chemistry testing by vendor,
- installation, routine periodic maintenance and monitoring……..in writing.
- Periodically have your treated water “product” tested by an independent,
- certified lab to be sure your technology does what it claims to do
And then:
- Test your well water regularly….including Arsenic
- Determine the level of Arsenic contamination and what is your exposure level to Arsenic.
- If you are experiencing any health problems which could be caused by excessive exposure to Arsenic…. consult your family physician or Arizona Department of Health Services.
- If your well water Arsenic tests exceed 10ppb, stop drinking it…move to a safer source of water for drinking and cooking while you come up with a plan
The full report: click here.
Contact numbers:
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality 3033 N. Central Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85012 1–800–234–5677 ext 4536 1–602–207–4536
From the EPA, more Arizona phone numbers: Click here.
Kathy Howe
Owner/Broker how2arizona real estate LLC
- 928-274-4088
- kathy@kathyhowe.com
