Our Local Water

[Just-a-Guy]

Water in my town is provided by the Westchester Joint Water Works. Here's a quote from their website:

Water taken by WJWW from Shaft 22 is fluoridated and chlorinated by NYCDEP at Kensico Reservoir. Subsequently, at its Larchmont Station, WJWW provides additional chlorination, adds caustic soda to increase pH, and adds a blended poly-orthophosphate as a corrosion inhibitor.

Water taken by WJWW from the Kensico Reservoir at its Rye Lake Station is fluoridated, chlorinated and provided with a blended poly-orthophosphate at the source. After the water passes through WJWW’s Purchase Tanks, caustic soda is added for pH control.

Does this tell you anything useful? I have been using spring water (Poland Springs 5 gallon bottles) for brewing, but I use tap water for cleaning, mixing with StarSan, etc. And sometimes I use a little tap water filtered thru my refrigerator water dispenser for topping up. Just wondering if I should stop the use of the tap water altogether...

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Jayhem]

I wouldn't use tap water that has chlorine. Why risk ruining a batch of brew to save $3 on bottled water. Just buy the cheapest gallon jugs of bottled drinking water you can find...it's usually $0.89/gal.

 

[CPFITNESS]

Jayhem, almost all municipal water is treated. NYC is known for having some of the best tap water around. I've used our tapwater with great results. I've heard that you can take a sample of your water and send it away for analysis and know exactly whats in it but I'm not sure wehre. someone may have the link

 

[Jayhem]

Jayhem, almost all municipal water is treated. NYC is known for having some of the best tap water around. I've used our tapwater with great results. I've heard that you can take a sample of your water and send it away for analysis and know exactly whats in it but I'm not sure wehre. someone may have the link

There are labs all over the place that will run a water analysis for you. I had my well water done just because I wanted to be sure of no heavy metals or bacteria. It's nice to know the mineral content and PH of your water too.