bassmaster911
Well-Known Member
Will a water source change over time or with the seasons enough to have water sampled multiple times? If so how often?
How often to have water analyzed?
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That very much depends on the water source. Some are quite constant, some are quite variable. Snow melt in the spring, application of salt to roads in winter, water utilities that buy from other utilities as demand requires, droughts, periods of heavy rain etc are the kinds of things that lead to variations. Required frequency of testing depends on how much the water varies and on what you are doing with it. If you are running it through an RO system it doesn't much matter that the source is varying. If, OTOH, you are lime softening, for example, it does.
Testing for the critical parameter, alkalinity, is very easy to do. Good kits can be had at modest cost from Hach and other suppliers. Most home brewers go an even cheaper route and use alkalinity test kits from aquarium suppliers. These are good enough. Same comments apply to hardness which is probably the second most important parameter. Unfortunately there are no simple tests for sodium and sulfate and chloride tests involve mercury salts.
Testing for the critical parameter, alkalinity, is very easy to do. Good kits can be had at modest cost from Hach and other suppliers. Most home brewers go an even cheaper route and use alkalinity test kits from aquarium suppliers. These are good enough. Same comments apply to hardness which is probably the second most important parameter. Unfortunately there are no simple tests for sodium and sulfate and chloride tests involve mercury salts.
municipal water sources change constantly. chlorine/chloramine or other chemicals are used more heavily in the summer time (due to increased temperatures) than winter time. sometimes chlorine is used in winter and chloramine in summer. in winter, you might have salt contamination from roads so sodium might go up. there are lots of factors depending on your particular water shed.
if you have well water, it depends on the characteristics of the well; how many people draw from it, the size of the aquifer, the water source feeding it, how deep it is, etc.
if you have well water, it depends on the characteristics of the well; how many people draw from it, the size of the aquifer, the water source feeding it, how deep it is, etc.
It depends on the water system. Some systems have only one source. If its a groundwater source, its less likely that there will be much variation in quality. If the system has groundwater and surface water sources, then the variation could be frequent.
Get aquarium test kits for hardness and alkalinity if you have a suspicion that the source and quality vary.
