What's In Your Water Wednesday: Xylene

Today we'll be finishing up the BTEX chemicals! Here's a quick recap in case you missed the previous blogs:

• BTEX stands for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene.

• The BTEX chemicals are volatile organic compounds (VOCs for short), which means they readily move between liquid and gaseous states.

• VOCs are a more hazardous pollutant because they can easily contaminate both air and water.

• BTEX is naturally occurring in crude oil and found in some fracking fluid mixtures, giving it a lot of chances to enter the environment.

Xylene is a sweet-smelling flammable liquid and is one of the top 30 chemicals produced in the United States according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry. Common items in which xylene is found include paint thinners, paints and varnishes, and cleaning agents. It's a little more complicated than it's BTEX counterparts because there are three different types of this chemical called isomers. 

However, the different versions have been found to have the same effects on health.They are all regulated under the EPA's Safe Water Drinking Act and Clean Air Act. It can be harmful through inhalation, ingestion, and skin contact alike. Short-term exposure can cause nose and throat irritation, nausea, trouble balancing, altered reaction time, and short-term memory impairment.

Long-term health effects include:

• dizziness
• fatigue
• headaches
• incoordination
• tremors
• anxiety
• inability to concentrate
• impaired short-term memory
• central nervous system damage

Ew! If you are concerned about contaminants in your water supply related to oil and drilling activity in your area, go to www.fractest.com to learn how you can get a homeowner report. As always, it is the aim of the Fractest Platform Blog to educate our readers about potential water contaminants and their possible effects on human health.

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What's In Your Water Wednesday: Ethylbenzene

Over the past couple of weeks we've been talking about the BTEX compounds. As you know, if you've been following the blog, BTEX stands for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene. These are volatile organic compounds, or VOCs for short. That means they can change from liquid to gas states very easily. This makes BTEX and other VOCs more hazardous pollutants because they can contaminate both the air and water supplies. BTEX is naturally occurring in crude oil, as well as used in some fracking fluid mixtures, which means there is an increased number of chances for it to enter our environment. While a small amount of these chemicals is present in the atmosphere, exposure to them can be very dangerous in larger amounts.

We've already taken a closer look at benzene and toluene, so today we're moving on to ethylbenzene.

Ethylbenzene is a highly flammable, colorless liquid that smells like gasoline. It is mainly used in the production of styrene, which is another organic liquid that is a building block of plastic. Ethylbenzene is also used as a solvent for paints and coatings and added to fuel.

This VOC is considered a hazardous air pollutant and is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. Short-term exposure through ingestion, inhalation, or skin contact results in respiratory effects such as sore throat, constricted chest, and dizziness. Long-term or overexposure could lead to kidney and liver damage and possibly affect the blood. It is not certain whether the chemical causes cancer, but it has been shown that ethylbenzene exposure leads to tumors in animals such as mice and rats. Animal studies have also shown adverse effects on fetal development.



If you are concerned about water contamination due to fracking activity near your home, visit www.fractest.com to find out how you can get a homeowner report. The FracTest Platform Blog aims to educate our readers about the potential effects of these contaminants. Thanks for reading, and be sure to subscribe!

What's In Your Water Wednesday: Toluene

As the last blog post mentioned, we're exploring the BTEX chemicals over the next couple of weeks. BTEX stands for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene. These are a set of volatile organic compounds, which means they readily turn from liquid to gas. VOCs are especially dangerous contaminants for this reason. BTEX is naturally occurring in crude oil, as well as used in some fracking fluids, giving it a lot of chances to escape into the environment during the fracking process.

Today, we'll be taking a closer look at toluene. This chemical is a flammable, sweet-smelling liquid that is mainly used as a solvent in paint thinners and an additive to gasoline as an octane-booster. It can be inhaled, ingested, and even absorbed through the skin. It's short-term effects on human health include dizziness, headache, fatigue, nausea, coma, and can even be fatal. Overexposure and long-term health effects include:

• Central nervous system damage 
• Kidney damage and/or failure
• Liver damage
• Fetal development 

If you are concerned about contaminant levels in your drinking water, go to www.fractest.com to find out how you can get a homeowner's report about fracking activity in your area. As always, the Fractest Platform Blog aims to inform our readers of the potential harmful effects of water contaminants. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to subscribe by entering your email in the subscription box!

What's In Your Water Wednesday: Benzene

What's In Your Water Wednesday is back from last week's hiatus with benzene!

BTEX is the acronym that stands for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene. These are all volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which means they readily evaporate into a gaseous state. This is bad news because they can easily contaminate water and air simultaneously. BTEX and other volatile organic compounds must be monitored very closely for this reason. 

The BTEX compounds are naturally occurring in crude oil and used in some fracking fluid mixtures, giving it a lot of opportunities to escape into the environment throughout the fracking process. We'll break the different compounds down over the next few weeks. Today we'll start with benzene.

Benzene is a colorless chemical that has a sweet odor. It can be man-made or naturally occurring. According to the National Library of Medicine website, it is one of the 20 most widely used chemicals in the United States. It is used to produce an array of everyday products as well as released from cigarette and forest fire smoke. Because it is a natural part of crude oil, it is also found in small amounts in gasoline, diesel, and plane fuel.

If you are exposed to high levels of benzene, you will experience a range of symptoms including dizziness, drowsiness, headache, and confusion. If you are exposed to benzene over a long period of time, the long-term health effects of benzene are extremely serious and affect the blood most dramatically. It can lead to:

• bone marrow malfunction
• anemia
• low white blood cell count
• damaged immune system
• leukemia

It is classified as a known human carcinogen and is regulated under the Safe Water Drinking Act and Clean Air Act.

If you would like to get a report about the fracking activity going on near your home, go to www.fractest.com to find out how you can get a homeowner report. The FracTest Platform Blog aims to educate homeowners about the potential contamination threats to their water supply from fracking processes. Thanks for reading and be sure to subscribe!