Tap Water

TAP:
Private wells should be tested on a regular basis for Herbicides, Pesticides, Metals, Organic and Inorganic chemicals and volatiles. A base line test should be preformed, and then tested again at least once per year. There are daily risks of contamination so note that one day after testing and finding "no contaminants", your source could become contaminated. What should you test for? Lead is now known to leach from older sweat joints in copper pipe. As the water sits in the pipes, small amounts of lead 'dissolve' into the water, contaminating it. Lead is particularly harmful to pets as they more rapidly absorb the toxic substance into their systems.. Coliform bacteria .The presence of these organisms in drinking water suggest contamination from a surface or shallow subsurface source such as cesspool leakage, or animal waste. Cysts and viruses are microbiological contaminants, usually found in surface water supplies. Giardia lamblia cysts can cause Giardia which are microscopic parasites that can live in your bird’s intestines. Nitrates. Unlike other types of bacteria, boiling the water will actually INCREASE the amount of nitrate remaining in the water, increasing the danger. If you have high nitrate water, either treat it with an approved treatment method or find another source: Boiling will make it worse!

City Water or Public Supply, as in a municipal supply, The frequency of the testing is based on the number of people served, and may vary from more than once per week to once per month, maybe even less depending on city and state regulations. If a problem is found, when they do the testing on their end, they will notify you via mail of the problem, and what steps were taken to correct it. With that said, often the problem has been “handled” before you even were made aware of the problem. That comes with its own set of risks. We personally had a Reverse Osmosis with a UV light hooked into our City Water supply, due to a few “late” notices.

Either City and or private wells are often hooked into water softener which reduces the “hard water” by dissolving the calcium and magnesium. Some conventional water-softening devices intended for household use work by replacing the calcium and magnesium in the water with sodium . The main consern is the increase in sodium levels in the water can be significant, especially when treating very hard water. High sodium intake increases your chances of developing cardiovascular and kidney diseases. We all have been taught that high sodium intake is a no-no for birds. We were concerned with the added sodium in the water by our water softener and had one faucet in the house that by passed the softener, and went to the reverse osmosis unit installed for our drinking water.