Contaminated water....

[FranDoc]

Hope both you and Beth are OK.

A few thoughts from one of the resident medics (ex Haz Mat chemist ...)

- notify both the store where you purchased the product (taking with the manager should be OK) AND the 'home office' (in writing). That's CYA, if nothing else.

- hang onto the suspect product. If you're not asking for a refund, that shouldn't be a problem

- see if the county health department will test it for you. If not, look in the Yellow Pages for an independent lab. See what they'd charge for a preliminary screen. If nothing else, that's peace of mind. You may also find that you are not be the first person to identify a problem with this water.

- unlikely that biomass (bacteria, yeast, fungi, algae) will pass through a good RO system, same for large molecules like glycol ethers. Proper RO systems take out elemental ions (sodium, calcium, metals, etc). That's not to say that the RO media (resin that the water filters through) or some other part of the water flow path between the media and the bottle can't be contaminated. Same for the inside of the containers.

If you left a bottle in a warm, sunny spot, did anything 'bloom'?

Does the taste/smell of the water change if you leave a glass of it open to air overnight (question is looking for volatiles)?

Think about a filter system that attaches to the sink faucet or one of the filter/pitcher combinations. That's an inexpensive option while you're deciding on a whole-kitchen remodel.

Also, if you can get harder water that you can stand to drink, consume that when you can. "Hard" water actually has a protective effect -- saponifies fats in your digestive tract, reduces fat absorbtion at some low level (remember, I know about the bacon ). Fluoride is protective for your teeth, as above.

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

ETA: if nothing hazardous is identified, it's probably OK to water the plants with it.

Edited April 9, 2009 by FranDoc

[XRe]

Thanks, Kevin and Fran

Haven't tried the "bloom" test, as I don't have an unopened container. Beth opened them all along the way to finding them, so there's no potentially otherwise uncontaminated source, at this point. But, it might still be a worthwhile test.

I'll look into having it tested Haven't run it up to the store, yet, so I still have all of it - in total, we had four gallons that were not good.