Water report and changing water

[satph]

My town operates some wells that serve my neighborhood. They test the water once per year. I entered the figures into the Bru'n Water spreadsheet (thank you Martin). My reports did not provide Magnesium, so I added it until the Cation/Anion Ratio balanced.

This looks like a pretty substantial change. Both readings were taken in July. It might be even more different in December. I'm not sure how I would treat the water if I have little confidence on what it is to begin with. If I were to get a RO system, would the treated water always be the same regardless of what it was before treating?

Also, the report lists Chloride, Potable at 110 mg/L. Does this shed light on if it's chloride or chloramine?

 

[mabrungard]

No, its chloride. If either chlorine or chloramine were that high, you couldn't drink it.

That is not that bad of a water, however the variation in quality will make it difficult to plan your water adjustments. RO is always a possibility and it will significantly reduce the quality variation. Its a tough call.

 

[dca]

RO is fine for purifying water, but it takes out all the mineral content that is beneficial for taste. If you go to RO, you will probably want to mix some less filtered water in, or add minerals.

 

[Leithoa]

If you did buy an RO system the water would be very consistent. So long as you replace the filters as the manufacturer indicates there will be very little in the way of minerals. As dca said you will have to add minerals back to get the appropriate mineral profile.

 

[ajdelange]

My reports did not provide Magnesium, so I added it until the Cation/Anion Ratio balanced.

Your report actually does contain data on the magnesium content. The total hardness is the sum of the magnesium and calcium hardnesses.

Calcium at 53.9 mg/L corresponds to a calcium hardness of 2.695 mVal. Total hardness of 188 ppm as CaCO3 corresponds to 3.76 mVal so the magnesium is the difference of the two or 1.065 mVal corresponding to 13 mg/L.

For the other readings the numbers are 75.2~3.76 Total 258 ~5.16 -->1.4~17 mg/L for the magnesium.

Note that these numbers are the same as the ones you got by balancing the total charge. Balancing charge is iffy for various reasons but using total hardness data can be iffy too.

 

[satph]

Thanks for the info.

I think this variation is too much to know what I have. So I need to use the RO and add back minerals if I want to know what's in my water and manipulate it.

The other option I see is getting a pH meter and adding acidulated malt or mineral acids. If the water changed over time, the amount of acid I'd need to add to the grist would change. And I would ignore the rest of the minerals.