Water is an essential part of everybody’s life and clean water is necessary. We use water to drink, to bathe, to plant trees, and to clean our homes. Have you ever thought of testing the water quality at home by using a home test kit checking water quality report? Harmful levels of bacteria, pesticides, chlorine, etc. can pollute water and which is not suitable for your day-to-day activity. Let’s see the methods of testing water quality:
METHOD #1
Using a Home Testing Kit
Test the quality of water in terms of concentration of bacteria, pesticides, chlorine, hardness and pH level of water. Purchase a home water quality test kit. Read the directions to know how to use the kit at home. It will guide you on how to expose each strip to water, how to remove the strip from the water and then determine the quality of water. If you notice an unexpected result then perform the test again to ensure it’s not a human fault. If the test shows a hazardous result a second time, immediately contact your local municipality.
METHOD #2
Using your senses
- Check the water smell: You can decide whether the water is pure or impure by using your one of the most important sense organs. Try to recognize the impurity in water through your sense and smell.
- Bleach smell – This kind of smell comes from the chlorine your local treatment plant must supplement to your water to make it safe. This scent often scatters if the water is exposed to air for some time. Otherwise, you can purchase a filter for your home water to get rid of it. Generally, this bleach smell is not injurious.
- Smell like rotten-egg – This kind of smell indicates that the bacteria are growing. To test this kind of smell, you can do this experiment and it works. First, take a glass of water and take that water glass to the other part of your house then wait for some time, and smell it. If the water does not smell again, then it means the bacteria is growing inside your sewer and should be cleaned. If you still get a strong smell of rotten egg with both hot and cold water then immediately contact your local municipality.
- Musty or earthy smell – This smell again either be inside the drain or in the water itself. This kind of smell is mostly harmless because it shows organic matter is getting decayed.
- Taste the water: Because of low pH levels, your tap water might be having a metallic taste, or due to rusty pipes excess mineral taste could come. Excess of chlorine will give you a bleach taste and salty water indicates chloride ion or sulphates presence because of industrial waste.
- Cross-check the cloudiness and particles: Contact your local municipality if you notice cloudiness or particles in your water.
- Inspect the color: examine the color of your water which will tell you about the upstream pollution, rusty pipes or something else. Contact your nearest municipal corporation
- Check your pipes for corrosion or build-up
METHOD #3
Obtaining a water quality report for your area
- Get in touch with the local municipality
- Visit the website for your city
- Search the national drinking water database
- Communicate with your water company