Boise, ID water analysis

[Ike]

Not sure exactly where to post this, but this seemed as good a place as any. I figure it will show up if somebody uses the right search terms.

I live in the Bench, near Vista and Overland, just over the interstate from the airport. This is a water analysis I sent into Ward labs this month. United Water says they have over 80 source wells in the Idaho service area; when I called the best analysis they could give me was the annual report that summarized their testing, which included all their sources and had HUGE swings in the numbers, so if you don't live right in my area I'm not sure how confident you can be that your water report would match mine. That said, if you think it will help, then cheers!

View attachment BoiseID.pdf

 

[illogicallyovercome]

Cool! We are at Overland and Cloverdale, so a little bit west of you. I wonder if we are fed by the same reservoir.

 

[motosapiens]

it seems like every water report I've seen for the area (5-ish now) is pretty similar. some sodium, very low sulfate and chloride, some calcium, and moderately high alkalinity. the alkalinity seems to be the thing that varies the most.

 

[jammin]

Not sure exactly where to post this, but this seemed as good a place as any. I figure it will show up if somebody uses the right search terms.

I live in the Bench, near Vista and Overland, just over the interstate from the airport. This is a water analysis I sent into Ward labs this month. United Water says they have over 80 source wells in the Idaho service area; when I called the best analysis they could give me was the annual report that summarized their testing, which included all their sources and had HUGE swings in the numbers, so if you don't live right in my area I'm not sure how confident you can be that your water report would match mine. That said, if you think it will help, then cheers!

Go down to Chinden near the connector. The U-Haul place by the fireplace shop sells R/O D/I water for .25/gal. It's always less than 1ppm. Self serving so you can fill up whenever. Just shove your "donation" through the slot in the window

 

[Ike]

I can NOT put my finger on why, but I just have a fundamental distrust of the RO systems that are just sitting out in public places. The paranoiac in me is always thinking "what if some ******* f-ed with the dispenser?"

...kinda like people who use a public restroom, walk out without washing, then go right over to the drinking fountain.

I've been using distilled water from the store. It's $1/gal, but it helps me sleep better.

REGARDING THE BOISE TAP WATER: here at my place (Vista and Overland) I've noticed a distinct change in the taste/color of the tap water from time to time. It seems to happen more in the winter, and usually doesn't last more than a day, although earlier this winter I had a stretch of brownish water for about three days. I'll also see changes in the amount of chlorine odor I get. Anyone else have the problem? I worry that with the dozens of different sources that Suez is pulling from, that they may just change the one that supplies me from time to time, and I'm seeing the fallout of that. This makes me worry about the validity of my original analysis.

 

[yourlastchance89]

Not sure exactly where to post this, but this seemed as good a place as any. I figure it will show up if somebody uses the right search terms.

I live in the Bench, near Vista and Overland, just over the interstate from the airport. This is a water analysis I sent into Ward labs this month. United Water says they have over 80 source wells in the Idaho service area; when I called the best analysis they could give me was the annual report that summarized their testing, which included all their sources and had HUGE swings in the numbers, so if you don't live right in my area I'm not sure how confident you can be that your water report would match mine. That said, if you think it will help, then cheers!

Sorry to revive this, but what would you define living in your area? I live downtown off warmsprings by St Lukes. Would this report suffice for my place as well?

 

[Ike]

Sorry to revive this, but what would you define living in your area? I live downtown off warmsprings by St Lukes. Would this report suffice for my place as well?

It's a tough call. The issue is that Suez has a PHENOMENAL number (literally dozens) of water sources that they use to feed the area. I dug around the site a bit and the gist I got was "we have so many sites that we really can't tell you EXACTLY which one you're getting, so we're going to post a water quality report that summarizes ALL of them." It showed a list of ranges for each variable, but since all the points in the range were "within normal limits" they ended it there. Their water quality reports are obviously aimed at the average user who just wants to know it's ok to drink, and doesn't care EXACTLY what the concentration of each ion is, as we do.

Side issue: I've also noticed some changes in the clarity and taste of the tap water, over time. It will go brownish for a while during the winter; and every so often year-round the chlorine taste will go WAY up for a few days, then everything is fine again. This worries me that I'm getting water pumped from different sources, and would see different chemistry if I checked.

SO, between the apparent changes from time to time, and the fact that minerals and RO water are as cheap as they are, I've been building my water from distilled or RO water rather than trusting the tap. However, I've talked to folks at Brewer's Haven who brew with the water that comes straight out of their garden hose, so I may be in the minority.

 

[yourlastchance89]

It's a tough call. The issue is that Suez has a PHENOMENAL number (literally dozens) of water sources that they use to feed the area. I dug around the site a bit and the gist I got was "we have so many sites that we really can't tell you EXACTLY which one you're getting, so we're going to post a water quality report that summarizes ALL of them." It showed a list of ranges for each variable, but since all the points in the range were "within normal limits" they ended it there. Their water quality reports are obviously aimed at the average user who just wants to know it's ok to drink, and doesn't care EXACTLY what the concentration of each ion is, as we do.

Side issue: I've also noticed some changes in the clarity and taste of the tap water, over time. It will go brownish for a while during the winter; and every so often year-round the chlorine taste will go WAY up for a few days, then everything is fine again. This worries me that I'm getting water pumped from different sources, and would see different chemistry if I checked.

SO, between the apparent changes from time to time, and the fact that minerals and RO water are as cheap as they are, I've been building my water from distilled or RO water rather than trusting the tap. However, I've talked to folks at Brewer's Haven who brew with the water that comes straight out of their garden hose, so I may be in the minority.

Thanks. I should just do the tap and try it. I am going to be doing an English Old Ale recipe and it calls for adding gypsum. I was just curious if it would even be needed at all.

 

[matchrocket]

I had my tap water tested by WardLabs, west Meridian area. Results are below.

Thing of note, my pH moves around a lot, like a full point... Due to alkalinity, I use RO (WinCo) 90% of the time unless I'm making stouts, browns etc.


pH 6.6
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 193
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.32
Cations / Anions, me/L 3.3 / 3.0
ppm
Sodium, Na 23
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 36
Magnesium, Mg 5
Total Hardness, CaCO3 111
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 16
Chloride, Cl 19
Carbonate, CO3 < 1.0
Bicarbonate, HCO3 89
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 73
Total Phosphorus, P 0.06
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01
"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit

 

[jammin]

@matchrocket - are you north or south of the freeway?

 

[matchrocket]

North, blackcat and cherry lane area.

 

[jammin]

Gotcha, ive heard the water on your side is not as hard as the water south of the freeway. I get scale like crazy over there

 

[matchrocket]

Gotcha, ive heard the water on your side is not as hard as the water south of the freeway. I get scale like crazy over there

I have some friends that live off victory and amity between Meridian and eagle and they have HUGE scale issues.

Not that far away from me either..

 

[Ike]

When I started this thread, I was at Vista/Overland. Now, I'm in Harris Ranch and, while I haven't run any chemistries out here, I can state that we've been here three months and I haven't even seen a WHIFF of scale. ...and having lived in AZ (where scaling is so bad a water softener is basically mandatory) has made me very scale-aware. It's amazing how much the water chemistry varies around here!

 

[slayer021175666]

So... Does anyone know what the profile is in Nampa?

 

[yourlastchance89]

This is the water that goes into Mother Earth Brew Co in Nampa.

 

[slayer021175666]

Hey. Thank you, man. And, just to clarify, that's the water that enters the brewery not, the water that they adjust it to?

 

[yourlastchance89]

That is the water that enters the brewery.