Radon in Your Water: Test the Air First ($15) — the Sequencing Trick That Saves $85
Quick answer: Water radon has no federal limit — EPA proposed 300 pCi/L in 1991 and never finalized it, so state guidance carries the l...
VOCs in Your Water: the 21 Regulated Compounds, Breakthrough Physics & the Gas-Station Radius Check
Quick answer: VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are a family of 21 EPA-regulated solvents and fuel chemicals — benzene, TCE, MTBE, carb...
Coliform in Your Water: Reading the Report Right — total vs. fecal vs. E. coli, and the Retest That Saves $800
Quick answer: Total coliform by itself is an indicator, not a pathogen — its presence says "a pathway to contamination exists," not "yo...
Mercury in Your Water: 2 ppb, Where Exposure Actually Comes From & the Heavy-Metal Trio Table
Quick answer: Inorganic mercury's drinking-water limit is 2 ppb (0.002 mg/L) — and the honest context most pages omit: drinking water i...
Chromium-6 in Your Water: the Federal 100 ppb vs. California’s 10 ppb — Two Standards Explained
Quick answer: The federal limit regulates total chromium at 100 ppb; hexavalent chromium (Cr6, the "Erin Brockovich chemical") has no f...
Well Water Problems: Your Well, Your Responsibility — the Symptom Router & the Annual Test That Catches Everything
Quick answer: Private wells have no EPA oversight — no utility tests your water, no CCR arrives in the mail, and "the water's always be...
Cloudy Tap Water: the One-Minute Glass Test That Separates Air from Everything Else
Quick answer: Fill a clear glass straight from the tap and watch it for one minute. If the cloudiness clears from the bottom up and the...
Algae in Your Water: the Fridge-Tank Kind vs. the Lake-Bloom Kind — and Why Boiling Blue-Green Algae Is Dangerous
Quick answer: Household algae — the green film in water bottles, fridge reservoirs, and clear tanks — is a light problem, and the first...
Chloramine in Your Water: Why Your Carbon Filter Might Be Doing Half a Job
Quick answer: Chloramine (chlorine + ammonia) is the other municipal disinfectant — serving on the order of one in five Americans and t...
Tannins in Your Water: Tea-Colored Water, the Three-Color Test & the Anion Resin That Works
Quick answer: Tannins are dissolved organic matter from decaying vegetation — they turn well water tea-colored or coffee-colored (trans...