BIAB city water profile

[ap0352]

Posted in the beginner section so please delete if not allowed.
Received a report from my parish water department and curious on what its telling me. Currently reading the chapter in Palmer's book.
Not a lot of variables to work with:
Chloramine 3.1 ppm
Arsenic 1.1 ppm
Barium .045 ppm
Dalapon 3.2 ppb
Fluoride 0.7 ppm
Nitrate-Nitrite 1.4 ppm
Copper 0.2 ppm
Lead 2 ppb
Chloride 23.7 MG/L
PH 7.8
Sulfate 38.9 MG/L
Zinc 0.021 MG/L

 

[VikeMan]

To understand your water in relation to brewing, you need...

Ca (Calcium)
Mg (Magnesium)
Na (Sodium)
Cl (Cloride)
SO4 (Sulfate)
Total Alkalinity

Of those, your parish report only includes Cl and SO4. See if your water authority has the other information available. If not, you could send a sample of your water to Ward Lab for analysis.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Not a lot of variables to work with:

What about hardness or total dissolved solids? Those would at least give you some clues on the state of your water. You at least know that you have Chloramine to deal with (usually treated with a campden tablet).

In my case I reached out to my local water company. They called me back and directed me to data provided by the neighboring county that uses the same water source and treatment. I also sent off a sample to Ward Labs.

The general positive of using data from the water supplier is that it is often updated each month, where a water report is an analysis of your tap water at a specific moment. The downside of water supplier data is that it comes from some central testing location and may or may not be an accurate measure of what comes out of your tap.