When Melinda and Bill Reich last had the well water at their home just outside Tolono tested 11 years ago, nobody was checking for arsenic.

But the national standard for the level of arsenic – a toxic element now linked to several cancers and other health hazards – considered safe in drinking water has changed since then.

So when the Reichs had their well water retested this past October, they decided to find out just how much arsenic has been coming out of their faucets.

Quite a lot, they were stunned to learn.

The new national standard for arsenic in public drinking water is now 10 parts per billion, but even under the old, more liberal 1942 standard of 50 parts per billion, the arsenic level in the Reichs' well would be considered very high, according to the Illinois State Water Survey.

According to the results of the first private lab test done last October, and a retest confirmed recently by the state water survey, Melinda Reich said the arsenic level in her family's well was about 154 parts per billion for the indoor water supply – which goes through a softener and filter before it comes into the house – and about 344 parts per billion for the outdoor water supply, which comes straight from the well.

She and her family have been using bottled water for cooking and drinking since October and are now waiting to hook up to an Illinois American Water line. Public water supplies have had to meet the new EPA standard for maximum arsenic level in drinking water since 2006.

The state water survey staff told her and her husband their well water is safe to bathe in, but nobody in the family is soaking in the tub these days.

"We're taking quick showers," she said.

One of the first things Reich did when her family's arsenic level results were confirmed was to notify about 20 neighbors who are also on well water, and many have also sent the state water survey their own well water samples to test for arsenic.

Two other wells in the area have also tested high for arsenic levels, and five other well owners are waiting on results in the lab, said Dan Webb, with the state water survey's Center for Chemistry & Technology.

The water survey has also sent out a groundwater testing team to draw another sample from the Reichs' well to test it again and test about a half-dozen other wells in the area to verify accurate samples and get some idea of how widespread high arsenic levels might be in this area, said Kent Smothers, head of the Center for Chemistry and Technology.

The arsenic level at the Reichs' well was "exceptionally high for the state of Illinois," he said.

The Reichs had last tested their well water in 1996 when they adopted their son and again in 1999 when they adopted their daughter, and they hadn't thought of testing it again until last fall when they changed their water softener, Melinda Reich said.

Now, she wonders what these test results might mean to her children's health, she said, especially since the family's swimming pool was filled with the outdoor higher-arsenic water source.

"This is the first time we've ever had to deal with something like this," she said.

A naturally occuring element, arsenic can get into groundwater either through dissolving mineral deposits or the improper disposal of hazardous waste containing arsenic, according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

It is odorless and tasteless, so the only way to detect it is through testing.

The U.S. EPA established the new maximum level for arsenic in public water supplies in 2001, but gave them five years to meet the new standard.

Private wells and water supplies aren't regulated, but Tom Holm, a groundwater geochemist at the state water survey's Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability, encourages well owners to check for arsenic levels in their water. Arsenic concentration can vary widely, even in a small area, he said.

Holm said it's also important to remember that the health effects from arsenic are from long-term exposure.

"People have to realize their neighbors and they aren't going to come down with cancer in the next year just from drinking the water," he added.

Over many years, exposure to arsenic raises the risk for cancers of the skin, bladder, liver, lung and kidney, prostate, and nasal passages along with cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, reproductive, immune system and endocrine system effects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Awais Vaid, epidemiologist with the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, said the effects of arsenic on the body depend on how much, how long the exposure, whether you're an adult or child, whether you have other underlying health conditions and other factors.

First signs of arsenic poisoning might be headaches, neurological effects, confusion and a change in fingernail pigmentation, he said. Vaid says anyone learning about a high arsenic level in their well water can consult a doctor for blood and urine tests for arsenic toxicity.

Pat Meller, a neighbor of the Reichs, said she and her husband, David, have already gotten those tests after they got their well water tested through the state water survey and found out their water's arsenic level was seven times the acceptable limit for their indoor water and eight times the limit for their outdoor water.

Meller said she was both relieved and concerned when she got her well water test results.

Relieved because it's not as high as the Reichs' down the road, she said, and concerned "because I don't know how long we've been consuming this."

She and her husband also have switched to bottled water and are waiting to hook up to Illinois American Water service.

Reich said she and her family have been sick with colds recently, but they also plan to undergo lab tests for arsenic toxicity as soon as they can.

Meanwhile, she hopes anyone with well water will take her family's and neighbors' experiences to heart and test for arsenic.

"I feel it would be safe for everybody to test – anybody who has well water," she said. "If not, you just don't know. We thought ours was safe."