Opinion of Ward water report?

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tuskenraider

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So I sent in a sample last week in a rinsed disposable water bottle(I didn't use soap, just filled it a third, three times, and shook it for 15 secs or so). I also have a dual charcoal filter on a separate tap used for brewing water, but pulled the sample straight from the tap, without an aerator. This is what was reported:

pH 7.8
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 197
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.33
Cations / Anions, me/L 3.7 / 3.2

ppm

Sodium, Na 12
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 39
Magnesium, Mg 14
Total Hardness, CaCO3 156
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.2 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 10
Chloride, Cl 18
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 122
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 100
Total Phosphorus, P 0.42
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01

I plug these numbers into Bru'n Water and get 1.15 for the ion (in)balance. Is it possible that since I didn't use soap to clean the bottle it may have been contaminated and caused this imbalance or are these readings possible/normal? Thanks for any feedback.
 
There will always be some imbalance as Ward Labs calculates bicarbonate from alkalinity using an approximate formula, there are some errors in the measured concentrations of all ions and there will be some ions in the sample which are not measured and thus not accounted for. Unless the imbalance amounts to more than 0.3 mEq/L I wouldn't worry about it, If it is more than that I think you would be justified in asking Ward for a retest
 
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