Welcome to our September Newsletter!
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Autumn in New England is famous for its glorious foliage as billions of leaves change from green to a kaleidoscope of colors. The air is crisp and cool — perfect for hiking, biking or a classic drive break along back roads, where farm stands are piled high with crunchy apples and orange pumpkins. We hope you enjoy your last few days of summer and are excited for the cool weather to come!
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In this Edition
Contaminants in the Kitchen
The Androscoggin River
Senate Bill 247
Industry News
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Contaminants in the Kitchen
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If a chef is successful in the kitchen, they are most likely heating water on the stove. Whether it is used to steam, brew, or boil, heating water sends splendid aromas into the air and blends several components into new flavors. However, when the water source that is used becomes contaminated, cooks may be inclined to say, “RIP boiled water, it will be mist.” That was a pretty great pun, but boiling contaminated water is no joke.
When water is boiled and it is contaminated with larger inorganic compounds, the water can become more harmful than it was before it was heated. As the water evaporates into the air as water vapor, harmful molecules and elements, such as lead, copper, arsenic, and nitrate get left behind. With less water in the food, these inorganics become highly concentrated, meaning that consumers will be harmed more by eating the food than they would be by just drinking the water.
If a well is contaminated with microorganisms,
it is
recommended by the CDC to get the water on a rolling boil for one minute then to allow it to cool in a sanitized container with a lid. Boiling water contaminated with these organism kills or deactivates them, making the water safe to consume. Working with inorganic materials is a different story, as they cannot be killed or deactivated, and they cannot be removed from the water by evaporation because of their size.
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The Androscoggin River is Maine’s 3
rd largest river running 164 miles long, starting in Northern Maine, winding into New Hampshire then back into Maine. Due to its rapid flow, the Androscoggin River has always been a major industrial river as well as an excellent power source for the state but what has been the environmental cost to the river? Once a flourishing river filled with Salmon and many other species of aquatic wildlife it turned into “one of the most polluted rivers in America.” This ultimately lead to The Clean Water Act in 1972 by U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie, who grew up in Rumford, Maine. He was angered and motivated into action by the way Maine’s rivers were being mistreated; he felt they were being used as open sewers, companies freely dumping their untreated waste directly into the river. His determination resulted in one of the nation’s most important environmental laws.
Forty seven years later, the Androscoggin River is cleaner today thanks to the Clean Water Act. It gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to force polluting industries and towns to treat waste and sewage before discharging it. However because of the long-term damage over years and years of toxic discharge the Androscoggin River may never fully regain what was lost so long ago.
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If you’ve visited Granite State Analytical this summer you may have noticed crates of samples being wheeled in the door and staff members nearly swimming in 1-liter bottles. This was the successful result of Senate Bill 247. In February 2018, the New Hampshire bill was adopted to protect children from lead poisoning, and schools across the state were busy collecting samples from all fountains and faucets that offer water to children for consumption.
Lead is a toxic metal, which can be very damaging to the human body, even in small amounts, as it can accumulate in the body over time. Lead is especially hazardous to developing children and babies, as it can stunt their growth, damage their nervous system and can affect their learning development, among many other complications. It is no wonder why the granite state pushed for this bill. As parents send their children to school, they should not have to worry about the water provided to them.
Even though lead is a naturally occurring element that can be found in trace amounts in soils, its because of human uses such as paint and gasoline that it has made its way into the environment and our homes. Older or worn-down pipes and fixtures containing lead make it possible for the element to end up in our water, especially if the water has a low pH or low mineral content and is able to corrode older plumbing. The current limit set by the EPA for lead in drinking water is 15 parts per billion, and any school samples testing higher than this limit were required to notify parents and have the faucets and fountains out of commission and remedied within 30 days of notification.
Granite State Analytical saw a booming number of samples coming in from schools and daycares across the state as they strived to meet their compliance deadline of July 2019. The New Hampshire Department of Education was secured a grant, allowing them to reimburse schools 50% of the costs of lead remediation to help replace fountains, fixtures, piping and so forth. NHDES was even raffling off a new water bottle filling station to schools that brought their samples in on time. Results of these tests were compiled to a map and there were some areas that needed addressing. The schools and their operators have worked diligently through the summer to ensure children have clean water to drink for the new school year.
For more information about Lead in Drinking water visit the
NHDES website.
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NEWS THROUGHOUT OUR INDUSTRY
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