Help with Water Profile Report

Hello all,

Can anyone tell me if this is enough information to determine if my tap water is good for brewing? Any feedback would be appreciated!


Alkalinity (total) ppm none 17.1
Aluminum ppb none 16
Boron ppb none < 5
Calcium Hardness (as CaCO3) ppm none 9
Cryptosporidium spp oocysts/L none 0.002
Giardia lamblia cysts/L none 0.007
Molybdenum ppb none < 0.5
pH (distribution system) s.u. none 7.4 - 9.1
pH (plant effluent) s.u. &#8805;&#61472;7.4 7.2 - 8.5
Silica (dissolved SiO2) ppm none 4.1
Sodium ppm none 6.3
Temperature (varies seasonally) °C none 4.5 - 21.8
Total Hardness (as CaCO3) ppm none 11
Total Organic Carbon (TOC) ppm none 0.6
UV-254 absorbance cm-1 none 0.009

You are missing most of the info needed for brewing. Such as: Calcium, sulfate, chloride.
you do have the total hardness as CaCO3 and the sodium. If you want a complete picture of your water, you'll probably have to send off a sample to http://www.wardlab.com

Sorry, copy and paste missed the rest of the report, here is the rest, maybe that helps?

Regulated Parameters
Substance Units Standard Result
PHYSICAL/MICROBIOLOGICAL
Asbestos MF/L>10&#956;m 7 ND
Coliform bacteria (total) % positive/month 5% 0%
Color c.u. 15 < 5
Conductivity &#956;mhos/cm 700 52
Dissolved solids (total) ppm 500 31
Turbidity NTU 0.1 0.04
RADIONUCLIDES
Gross Alpha pCi/l 15 < 1.99
Gross Beta pCi/l 50 < 3.48
Radium-228 pCi/l 5 < 0.47
INORGANICS
Antimony ppb 6 < 0.5
Arsenic ppb 10 < 0.5
Barium ppm 2 0.004
Beryllium ppb 4 < 0.5
Cadmium ppb 5 < 0.2
Chloride ppm 250 2.4
Chromium ppb 100 < 0.5
Copper ppm 1.3 0.07
Cyanide ppb 200 < 40
Free Chlorine Residual ppm 4 0.11 - 0.89
Fluoride ppm 4 1.0
Iron ppb 300 < 20
Lead ppb 15 3
Manganese ppb 50 2.9
Mercury ppb 2 < 0.1
Nickel ppb 100 < 0.5
Nitrate (NO3) ppm 10 0.097
Nitrite (NO2) ppm 1 < 0.002
Selenium ppb 50 < 0.5
Silver ppb 100 < 0.5
Sulfate ppm 250 3.5
Thallium ppb 2 < 0.5
Zinc ppm 5 < 0.005
SYNTHETIC ORGANICS
2,4,D ppb 70 ND
2,4,5-TP (Silvex) ppb 50 ND
2,3,7,8-TCDD (Dioxin) ppm 3x10-8 ND
Alachlor (Lasso) ppb 2 ND
Aldicarb (Temik)* ppb 3 ND
Aldicarb sulfone* ppb 2 ND
Aldicarb sulfoxide* ppb 4 ND
Atrazine ppb 3 ND
Benzo(a)pyrene ppt 200 ND
Carbofuran ppb 40 ND
Chlordane ppb 2 ND
Dalapon ppb 200 ND

These are some of the ones you need, you're still missing magnesium and calcium. The calcium is quite important. What are the 2 columns of numbers for? Is one an amount and the other a maximum or something like that?


Chloride ppm 250 2.4
Sulfate ppm 250 3.5
Total Hardness (as CaCO3) ppm none 11
Sodium ppm none 6.3

enderwig said:

You are missing most of the info needed for brewing. Such as: Calcium, sulfate, chloride.
you do have the total hardness as CaCO3 and the sodium. If you want a complete picture of your water, you'll probably have to send off a sample to http://www.wardlab.com

Click to expand...

Does Ward provide a comprehensive list or do you have to specify the criteria you are looking for?

Others are right that you definitely want your Ca++ and Mg++ concentrations. But, judging by your low sulfate, low alkalinity, and low chloride levels, I'll bet Ca and Mg concentrations are fairly low as well. From what you have, I'm guessing it's very soft water and low alkalinity. Might be good pilsner water

To get my water report I just called the local water authority and told them specifically what I was looking for. They test each year for the EPA, so they should have the information and you should have access to it as a customer. And also find out if and how often they switch their water source. The alkalinity of my tap water here ranges between 100-220 ppm depending on where it's coming from. Makes things a little tricky.

Here's a list of the more important items you should pay attention to:

Calcium
Magnesium
Alkalinity
Sulfate
Sodium
Chloride
Chlorine
Chloramine

Great, thanks for the reply. I'll just give them a call and ask for specific information.

Elaelap said:

Great, thanks for the reply. I'll just give them a call and ask for specific information.

Click to expand...

So, did you get the specific numbers? since we're in the same area, would you mind sharing your results?

thanks

Hey Kevy,

Since posting this, I've actually moved out to Monroe, so I'm in the process of getting the snohomish county report. I didn't call for the Kirkland report, sorry!

no worries. i'll be moving soon as well, but who knows if i'll be in kirkland.