Common Water Tests For City Water Or Private Wells
Many people who experience water problems are unsure what to do. The first thing to do is determine what type of common water tests are normally needed for determining how to correct that sort of issue. If you have city water or some sort of municipal water supply, those water supplies are normally chlorinated. If the water is chlorinated it will be treated differently than if it has no chlorine, such as most private water wells. We normally consider all water that is chlorinated to be in the city water group. And all water that is not we consider well water when we are considering what water testing may be needed.
Common Water Tests for City Water Systems
The most common two tests for city water are for hardness and chlorine.
Hardness means mineral hardness and normally consist for the most part of calcium and magnesium. The test itself is simply called a hardness test and is one of the most common tests performed on any type of water. We do that test for free, or you can check with your local water provider to ask them what that number is. Be sure you ask them “what is the hardest our water gets each year”. Water often fluctuates in quality from season to season. If you determine that a water softener is required, you will need to know the maximum hardness in order to set it properly.
Chlorine is what most water providers use to disinfect your water. Most people are surprised when they do common water tests that the chlorine levels are often as high, or even much higher, than swimming pool water. As the need for more and more disinfection rises, many municipalities are now using something called chlorimines instead of simple chlorine. The reason is that it is much stronger but does not smell as strong as regular chlorine. When they use chlorimines to treat and disinfect the water, people do not complain of the smell as much. Though when it is tested it is easy to determine that there is far more chemical in the water. Chlorimines are much harder to remove than chlorine.
Other common water tests for city water:
In some cases a particular contaminant will be an ogling issue for a particular water supply. In Zelienople, PA each year they have an elevated level of nitrates in the water and send out warnings that pregnant women can’t drink the water. Therefore, you may want to test for nitrates (Human or animal waste). Flint Michigan in October of 2015 determined that people where getting high levels of lead in their bodies. It was such an issue that the local water provider started issuing lead filters to residents. That might be a time where a lead test would be appropriate.
You can test for just about anything as long as you know what it is you are looking for. Most of these common tests are free, but there are some that require extra steps performed in the lab so they require a charge for that service.
Some of the common water tests for private wells are:
Water Test Meter
Hardness
pH
Iron
TDS (Total Dissolved Solids)
Nitrates
Tannins
IB (Iron Bacteria)
In most case a water test is the place to start when trying to correct water problems in private wells. The more water test information you have, the better understanding you will have of how to correct whatever problem there may be.