Madison, WI Well Water Reports
 

Madison Brewers:

While searching for a way to secure a more accurate report for my tap water (aside from sending a sample to WardLabs--which I will do shortly...), I came across the following links that might be of help to those in the Madison, WI area.

This one allows you to plug in your street address and access the water report for the well from which your water is drawn.

This one allows you to browse by the various wells in the city and links to their reports.

For my address, it lists the dates for which my water is drawn from specific wells, the transition time between those wells, and much of the pertinent data needed to adjust brewing water.

However, the latest report up there is from 2010, and it is again the average of samples taken--tho at least it is an average from that one well as opposed an average taken from all the wells across the city. Not as accurate as sending a sample to the lab, but these numbers will get you closer than anything else I've found.

Happy Brewing!

Just moved from Madison about a year ago after finishing grad school. The one issue about Madison is that given areas get their water from a number of different wells. I called the water utility and tried to figure out what well was being used at any specific time. They said they could not tell me that with any certainty, as the well is constantly changing, or they are drawing from several wells at a time for a given area. All you can really do is average all the wells, and hope for the best. Turned out well for me (no pun intended).

I just posted this up on the Wine & Hop Shop Facebook page, and I'll put it here too (should help you zero in on which well you're drawing from):

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If you're interested in all the brewing-relevant minerals/ions/elements in the water coming from your tap at home, take a look at the following links provided by the folks at the City of Madison Water Utility and the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene:


This link will tell you the well from which your tap water is drawn -- and during which time of year/season. Just plug in your street address:
http://www.cityofmadison.com/water/waterQuality/testing/inorganics.cfm

Then, here's the 2011 Inorganic Analyses Summary for all the wells in Madison:
http://www.cityofmadison.com/water/waterQuality/testing/documents/IOC.2011.0811.pdf.

In a few weeks, the 2012 reports will be found here:
http://www.cityofmadison.com/water/waterQuality/testing/inorganics.cfm

One note: The Inorganic Analyses Summary is still the averages of samples drawn from the wells, so it may not be exactly the numbers coming out of your faucet. But, it gets you much closer to what's in your water than the annual city-wide averages of all the wells sent out in the mail.

Once again, a big thanks to the folks at the Madison Water Utility and the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene!