Drinking Water Safety
When you turn on the tap or reach for that bottled water on the store shelf you rarely if ever think of drinking water safety testing. However, lab testing of both tap and bottled water is an ongoing practice designed to keep you safe regardless of where or what type of water you consume.
The body of an average person is made up of 60 percent water, which needs to be replenished on a daily basis. The Mayo Clinic recommends that the averagely active individual needs to drink approximately 8 eight ounce glasses of water per day to stay properly hydrated. Drinking water that has contaminants, heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, drug residues or even bacterial contaminants needs to be removed from use immediately to prevent both short term illness and long term health problems.
Testing drinking water in the lab includes completing complex chemical analysis on samples that are take from the water source. These tests are done on a variety of samples using highly sensitive equipment that can detect synthetic and industrial chemicals and contaminants. The standards used for testing tap water are developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States with bottled water being monitored and tested under regulations developed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)