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Herbicide poisoning from tap water?

728 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Bert H
I recently noticed some odd deficiencies in my tank (posted pictures and details here.)
Today, after going swimming at the large lake that surrounds my town, i noticed signs about herbicide dosing to control Eurasian Milfoil, and it hit me. Could this be connected to my tank issues? I did some research, and the local government switched watersheds to a run-off source supposedly 3 weeks ago, and will continue until herbicides are "at a level safe for human consumption." No date given. As far as I can tell, some herbicide was put into the lake before they switched sources, by a couple weeks. My API tests are giving me the same readings for my tap water as I've had for the last 6 months: 1 dKH, 1 dGH, 6.8 pH. Wouldn't those readings change with the watershed being changed?

I'm guessing that the level of toxicity for me is a wee bit higher than what will kill my aquatic plants.
I couldn't get anyone at the water dept. to answer the phone, and I plan on visiting them tomorrow to get some more concrete details.

Any advice on what to do? My first thought is just to buy distilled water for a while, but I think that would get expensive quickly with 50% weekly water changes. Will an RO/DI unit filter out herbicides? If so, does anyone have any recommendations on a good mid-range unit?
Thank you for the help!
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If they swiched watersheds wouldnt the new water be safe for human/plant consumption? And just out of curiousity what state are you from?
If they swiched watersheds wouldnt the new water be safe for human/plant consumption? And just out of curiousity what state are you from?
I would think so, but I would also assume my water parameters would change when they changed watersheds. I'm more worried about when they change the water back to the lake. They are basing their water quality assumptions off of human consumption, and I'm concerned the herbicide level will still be high enough to harm my plants, since the herbicide is (I'm assuming) designed to target aquatic plants.

I live in N. Idaho... here, to be exact.
Most municipal water supplies are thoroughly tested, and I would doubt your problem is due to any herbicidal presence. I would agree more with the advice from that thread than thinking it's an herbicide.
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