Ward Labs Water Report

[1971hemicuda]

Not sure if this exists elsewhere. Forum's can get so cluttered. So, I figured I would post this. If others want to follow they can

Here is my Ward Labs water analysis for 2015

Location : Aurora, Illinois

pH 8.7
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 407
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.68
Cations / Anions, me/L 6.1 / 6.0
ppm
Sodium, Na 70
Potassium, K 6
Calcium, Ca 25
Magnesium, Mg 19
Total Hardness, CaCO3 142
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.9 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 16
Chloride, Cl 123
Carbonate, CO3 2.6
Bicarbonate, HCO3 83
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 72
Total Phosphorus, P < 0.01
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01

View attachment Water1.pdf

 

[FourSeasonAngler]

You should add that here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zGlCuJj4bXSc.kjCSuYRmKATI

 

[ajdelange]

Rats! This is the first report with pH well above 8.3 and while they have gotten the bicarbonate right (based on pH and measured alkalinity) the carbonate is still a bit off. Do I want to go another round with them on this or is this close enough given the rarity of such high pH?

 

[FourSeasonAngler]

Rats! This is the first report with pH well above 8.3 and while they have gotten the bicarbonate right (based on pH and measured alkalinity) the carbonate is still a bit off. Do I want to go another round with them on this or is this close enough given the rarity of such high pH?

They should be called out if they make a mistake.

Their customers are spending money for their expertise. If you can't trust their work why even bother sending your water in to them.

 

[1971hemicuda]

So, this is the 2nd time i've gotten my water tested. The first time, it read 9.1! When I plug all the numbers into Bru'n Water, all the numbers appear right. Yep, i have high pH for my water! When I use my pH meter it read 8.9 so i has to be close

 

[1971hemicuda]

You should add that here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zGlCuJj4bXSc.kjCSuYRmKATI

I made sure to add it!

 

[ajdelange]

They should be called out if they make a mistake.

Their customers are spending money for their expertise. If you can't trust their work why even bother sending your water in to them.

After some thought I have decided not to go back to Ward Labs with this because I wouldn't know what to tell them they should do. This report gives respectively 2.6 mg/L and 83 mg/L for, respectively, carbonate and bicarbonate based on alkalinity measurement alone. Using the traditional formulas one would report 2.0 and 83.8 mg/L for carbonate and bicarbonate. The 'right' answer is 2.25 and 82.21 taking ionic strength into effect. Using the chemistry of ideal solutions the numbers are 1.73 and 83.33. Which method would I advise them to use? I put 'right' in quotes because the Debye-Huckle theory is only a theory. Furthermore the Ward numbers are within 1 mg on both bicarb and carbonate and the brewer doesn't really care about what these are anyway. Their previous error was a big one because they were measuring P alkalinity to 8.1 end point. Clearly they have fixed that and now get much better numbers. Here, given the complexity of implementing the 'right' solution I think better really is the enemy of good enough.

 

[edroberts]

One thing of note on water reports in general, they never stay the same. Another brewer in town had his city water tested with Ward within a day or two of mine. Same water supply, same testing company. Our bicarbonates were about 50ppm apart. This is with well water with generally has less variance than with surface water (which will exhibit more seasonal variance).

Lesson... water reports should be used as a baseline, not an exact measurement of the water you are pouring out of your faucet today.

 

[1971hemicuda]

Lesson... water reports should be used as a baseline, not an exact measurement of the water you are pouring out of your faucet today.

This is how I'm looking at it. I know "roughly" where i'm at. My pH meter reads within .2 of what they reported I should have, so i'm close. I know that adding some water salts can bring down pH and I can test, and add acid for the rest. If done right, I should still get great beer every time. But knowing "roughly" where I stand is better better than blind folding myself and throwing a dart at a wall.

 

[ajdelange]

Here's some example data from my well - just the three parameters I can measure without basically having to lift a finger but Alkalinity is no doubt the most important parameter to the brewer. You can be assured that hardness is varying by about the same amount as the alkalinity as the sulfate and chloride don't change much with this well. Alkalinity is ppm as CaCO3.

Date Alkalinity PO4 NO3-N
11/06/14 111 0.64 4.95
11/13/14 93.8 0.41 4.82
11/24/14 135 0.33 4.14
12/08/14 122
11/29/14 145
04/26/15 134
05/22/15 69.325 0.16 4.73
05/26/15 82.3 0.15 4.48

n 8 5 5
Average 111.553125 0.338 4.624
Standard Deviation 27.34929627 0.2021633 0.32051521
Max 145 0.64 4.95
Min 69.325 0.15 4.14
Range 75.675 0.49 0.81