There is no question that the well water in Prenter is bad. When tap water runs red, orange or black, you don’t need a scientist to tell you that it’s not safe to drink. The water that stands in back of people’s toilets often has a shiny mineral sheen on the surface of it or a strange waxy substance floating in it. Check out the slideshow for some images from homes in Prenter.

Qualitatively, the problems are obviously.  Unfortunately as yet, we have very little quantitative information about exactly what is in the water and in what concentrations.  (If you are a scientist, student, or someone with access to water testing resources, click here for information on how you can help change this!).   The limited testing completed thus far has found beryllium, antimony, barium, copper, lead, aluminum, manganese, iron, nickel, zinc, and sodium, often in concentrations that exceed safe drinking water standards by 10 to 250 times.  Many of these metals are toxic in any amount, and many more are toxic at the doses Prenter residents have been exposed to.  A list of known health effects from exposure to a variety of water contaminants is available here.

blackwater running from a hot water heater.

In addition to the metals, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a major contaminant and health risk.  Hydrogen sulfide is the substance that makes water smell like rotten eggs; everybody has smelt it at some point.  The smell occurs at concentrations as low as 0.02 ppm.  At that level, it’s just a nuisance.  At some homes in Prenter concentrations as high as 30 ppm have been detected.  At these levels, the gas is highly corrosive and neurotoxic also causing such diverse symptoms as eye irritation, a sore throat cough, nausea, shortness of breath, and fluid in the lungs.  Long-term, low-level exposure may result in fatigue, loss of appetite, headaches, irritability, poor memory, and dizziness.  The gas corrodes every metal object in people’s homes, sometimes eating right through hot water heaters in less than a year.  Go to the penny trick video to see what H2S can do.

It is believed that a variety of toxic and carcinogenic organic compounds, particularly acrylamide are also likely in the water in Prenter, but due to the difficulties of organics testing, there is no evidence as yet.