Water Report in St Louis - Any Useful Info?

[chapa]

Just actually got this in the mail. It's not a test of the water straight from my tap, just a report they sent out to people in the area. I don't have a clue what I'm looking at, is there any helpful data here?

I hear from all the local brewers that our water is fine out here, and that some of the local breweries don't use any kind of filters. I at least use a whole house filter with my potable hose, so its better than nothing.

I don't even see the PH on it...?

 

[ajdelange]

In terms of brewing there is nothing of use in this report. When will these people understand that we don't care about cancer as long as the water makes good beer?

 

[chapa]

In terms of brewing there is nothing of use in this report. When will these people understand that we don't care about cancer as long as the water makes good beer?

Haha! Yeah I didn't think there was anything usable on there.

 

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I hear from all the local brewers that our water is fine out here, and that some of the local breweries don't use any kind of filters. I at least use a whole house filter with my potable hose, so its better than nothing.

What type of filter do you have? If it's an RO filter, it actually is not better than nothing, as it removes the minerals that make StL water great for brewing beer of pretty much any style.

Anyway, if you're interested in the real info:
http://www.amwater.com/moaw/customer-service/water-quality-reports.html

http://www.stlwater.com/confidence.php

 

[chapa]

My filter is simply a whole house filter that you buy from lowes, that you would hook to your main water line. It's not actually an RO filter. Thanks for the links!!

 

[a_potter]

What you have here is called a Consumer Confidence Report. As far as I can tell, the only purpose they serve is to freak out people when they see reports for compounds they have never heard of and have no idea what they are. I work in public drinking water treatment in Michigan and these stupid reports have caused me more greif than they have ever done good. They don't have anything usefull and give some people the impression that the things they have listed are the only things we test for. I think ajdelange is absolutley correct. At least they could throw something on there that would be of use.

 

[pinkfloyd4ever]

a_potter, if you scroll down those both have the info relevant to brewing.

chapa, if it's something to filter out just chlorine and chloramine (which it sounds like yours is) that's a good thing. You don't want something that removes all the minerals though, at least with StL water.

 

[a_potter]

I see what you mean there but I was refering to the CCRs that the water dept sends out to it's customers once a year. At least in Michigan it's mandated by the Safe Drinking Water Act. The reports we send out (dispite the fact that we sample and test for literally thousands of compounds) have about a half dozen contaminants listed with the MCLs and our detection level. We get tons of calls for about a month after they hit the mailbox because people don't read it, they just see the word arsenic and freak out.