More BS* + Beer
This episode of the BS* + Beer Show features Caroline Blazovsky of My Healthy Home talking about water, “the forgotten contaminant.” (WARNING: The yuck factor of this episode is off the charts.) Here’s the big takeaway right up front: TEST your water. Every. Single. Year.
Like all other elements/components in our homes, our water and its distribution system need regular inspection and maintenance. Here, Caroline advises on water testing, piping and fixtures, and treatments. She talks about the changes water undergoes as it travels from municipality to home; the problem of chlorination byproducts; how to avoid contaminant buildups in supply lines; measuring the corrosiveness of water using the Langelier Saturation Index; and PFAS chemicals, among other related points.
We know water is fundamental to life. As building professionals responsible for what goes into people’s homes, we should give water the attention it warrants. As Caroline says, “Our homes are an extension of how we are going to feel and be.”
Enjoy the show!
Bio
Caroline Blazovsky is known as “America’s Healthy Home Expert” and a self-described “house detective,” finding hidden problems including mold, allergens, water contamination and carcinogens. She is a Certified Mold Remediator, Environmental Allergen Consultant and Indoor Environmentalist Investigator, a NEHA Healthy Homes Specialist and serves on various boards in addition to running her business, My Healthy Home, focusing on IAQ products, consulting, and testing nationwide.
The BS* + Beer Show schedule
The next show is on May 2, 2023, from 6-7 p.m. ET.
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Kiley Jacques is senior editor at Green Building Advisor.
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9 Comments
Good show!
Test before you decide how to treat.
Malcolm, that's a better way to put the big takeaway.
Kiley,
Caroline's presentation was full of useful information and advice. The BS* + Beer are always worth watching.
I am happy to report she will be contributing to GBA in the near future. This topic doesn't get enough coverage, in my opinion. Like air (IAQ info is everywhere these days), water is fundamental to our good health, and building pros/homeowners have some control over it. That's what Caroline will write about, in part.
I enjoyed this episode but I want to know sooo much more! I am mid-construction on a new build right now, we drilled the well but have not tested it yet. It’s almost impossible to even figure out how to get it tested and analyzed properly… the private labs just provide a report without analysis, so they say they can’t interpret the results. Who interprets the results then? Our plumber will do the basic test with the municipality, but I think this is probably just for bacteria and hardness… I want to test more like VOCs, radon, etc.
Anyway, this is an underestimated issue and most people (including myself) have no idea how to even go about evaluating their water quality so they don’t bother. Like many building science related topics, there is a great public need for knowledge translation in this area. I consider myself moderately smart but I don’t know what I’ll be able to do with a list of numbers in a water report... I am not a water quality expert. And searching for one in my area online has been fruitless.
A concise article covering water testing and analysis would be great! What to test for, and what the results mean. It seems like info one should be able to simply look up and find, but this search only leads to a never-ending maze of government website pages that ultimately go nowhere. Caroline better get writing, we need this article ASAP! 😉
Same here--I learned a lot more than I thought I would, and was inspired to finally order test kits for our water. Caroline is a wealth of knowledge, and not just on water quality!
May I ask what kind of test kits you ordered/from where?
I remember recently freaking out about using PEX piping instead of copper… but the conclusion seemed to be that everyone uses PEX and it will be fine. When she started talking about always preferring copper, I was so filled with regret 😂
I am so glad to find out about the upcoming Healthy Home Summit though! That will be at once amazing and terrifying!
A small start is here:
https://www.epa.gov/privatewells/private-drinking-water-well-programs-your-state
Federal regulations established by the USEPA do not cover private wells. However, the standards set for municipal treatment plants (whether surface water or ground water sourced) may provide a reasonable set of benchmarks to compare your private well test to.
Many states, either at the state or county level, provide some support to private well owners. The 'agency' responsible in each state varies by state - health dept, environmental protection agencies, Indian Health Services, ag agencies...
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what to test for? the more scientists look, they more they find even when they would never suspect anything. The case of PFAS contamination in Unity, ME is hopefully an outlier, but still a cautionary story.
What was that about 5G radiation?
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