Water Test
I just did a generic water test on our well water here. I don’t take the results as the “end all” results, as I know home tests kits are not as accurate, but it still gives me a basic idea.
Bacteria: negative. I’m apparently supposed to wait 48 hours for the results from this one, which is a discoloration of the water in the test tube of bacteria, but I recieved results right away. I don’t expect these results to change, only darken over the next 48 hours. Ideally the results should be negative, cause of the whole death/e.coli thing.
Lead: negative. Which causes developmental harm, neurological and kidney damage. Ideally the results should be less than 15 ppb (parts per billion). I never suspected lead in our water anyway.
Pesticides: negative. From agricultural uses, linked to cancer. Ideally you want below 3 ppb of atrazine and bellow 4 ppb of simazine. No one in our neighborhood really uses pestacides for anything. My dad likes his bugs, and we’re in the woods anyway so it would defeat the purpose of having an exterminination service.
Total Nitrate/Nitrite: best I could tell, between 2.0 and 5.0 ppm. These are usually from fertiliziers and animal waste and linked to developmental problems. I don’t live near any big dairy or pig farms, and our animals don’t produce enough waste to make any difference. But I’ll never live near a big dairy farm for this reason.
Chlorine: 0 ppm. Increases cancer risk, bad taste and smell. Ideally you want below 4 ppm. I wonder what causes most of the chlorine contamination for people?
Hardness: 50 ppm. Causes lime scale and higher detergent use. Ideally you want 50 ppm or less, so we’re pushing this one. I think most of the folks around here have hard water, and I don’t really have the time or money to invest in water softeners. So I suppose I will have to deal. I do use a filtered showerhead, which helps, but doesn’t completely eliminate it.
pH: 6.3 Can cause heavy metal leaching, plumbing damage. Ideally you want 6.5 to 8.5 ppm, so we’re under the radar here. Though our pipes are the old copper pipes and extremelly old, so there’s been some erosion over the years.
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