DangerChristensen
Member
I spent entirely too long today looking for some resource that could show me water profiles in my area. The good news is I found a site so you don't have to go looking! The USGS actually made this really cool map here. I should warn you now, this won't give you the water profile for your actual tap water. It's just going to give you data on the water in a particular well. In my case, this is exactly what I wanted. I get my brew water from an old Mormon church public spring! It's always fun to go fill the Ale Pale buckets and tell the others in line that I'm going to make beer with their water :rockin:
Click the button labeled "Mapper" and it loads a map of the US:
Type in your whereabouts up at the top (I also make sure to sure to only include active sites in the drop-down to the left, makes quite a difference.) and it will focus in on you and begin loading registered surface water sites (lakes, streams, etc.) for selection. Kinda cool, but most of us don't get our water from streams. Anyway, you'll want to check the groundwater and spring sites locator on the left. After doing so your computer will quickly develop chicken pox, like so:
Now you can just hover over your well of choice and click it's access data link. This is where things get tough. Most well I clicked on in my are were last quality checked back in the 50's and 60's! Anyway if your well is a public well that gets lots of use, it'll probably have more recent samples. Mine actually had a sample from 2011, but YMMV. Once you've clicked the link for "Field/Lab water-quality/samples" it will ask you how you want your data presented. The easiest to read option is down at the bottom where it says "Table of data"
It'll display all the samples and a huge bunch of parameters. In towards the middle you'll find the calcium, magnesium, sodium and other levels.
Again, this only works for specific wells and springs. However, it is a good tool to get an idea of the general make-up of your local water. This isn't a replacement for an actual water profile from a lab but it definately points you in the right direction!
Click the button labeled "Mapper" and it loads a map of the US:
Type in your whereabouts up at the top (I also make sure to sure to only include active sites in the drop-down to the left, makes quite a difference.) and it will focus in on you and begin loading registered surface water sites (lakes, streams, etc.) for selection. Kinda cool, but most of us don't get our water from streams. Anyway, you'll want to check the groundwater and spring sites locator on the left. After doing so your computer will quickly develop chicken pox, like so:
Now you can just hover over your well of choice and click it's access data link. This is where things get tough. Most well I clicked on in my are were last quality checked back in the 50's and 60's! Anyway if your well is a public well that gets lots of use, it'll probably have more recent samples. Mine actually had a sample from 2011, but YMMV. Once you've clicked the link for "Field/Lab water-quality/samples" it will ask you how you want your data presented. The easiest to read option is down at the bottom where it says "Table of data"
It'll display all the samples and a huge bunch of parameters. In towards the middle you'll find the calcium, magnesium, sodium and other levels.
Again, this only works for specific wells and springs. However, it is a good tool to get an idea of the general make-up of your local water. This isn't a replacement for an actual water profile from a lab but it definately points you in the right direction!
