There are a lot of components to inspect when moving into a new house. Although an inspection is a pretty inclusive service that gives you information about your house?s appliances, structure, and electrical, it often does not include a water quality analysis. You will use your new house?s water for many things including cleaning, drinking, and bathing. It is important to understand what is in your water.
At home water quality kits
You can initially test your new house?s water quality with at home water kits. These home water kits measure a variety of water components including water resistivity measurements and also conductivity. Conductivity is a measure of the ability of water to pass an electrical current. Conductivity in water is affected by the presence of inorganic dissolved solids, but not organic compounds do not conduct electrical current well. It is also affected by the temperature and the warmer the water, the higher the conductivity. For this reason, conductivity is reported as conductivity at 25 degrees Celsius (25 C). It might be important to hire a professional water service to receive more advanced water quality tests.
Multiple measurement abilities
While at home water test kits do give you a basic understanding of your water quality, they do not give you a full picture. The problem with at home water tests is that they are often completed with pure water. Ultrapure water is actually not a good electrical conductor as evidenced by the 18 megohm cm resistivity. Conductivity and resistivity are simply inverses of each other. The water resistivity measurement is used exclusively for high purity water applications, while conductivity measurement is employed for the entire spectrum of water quality monitoring.
Why water quality testing is so important
Many new homeowners make the mistake of assuming that the previous homeowners were fine with the current water. However, problematic water sources do not always present symptoms immediately. The majority of health problems that occur from a poor water quality affect people in the form of health symptoms of a long period of time. Additionally, poor water quality might not affect you if you use water filters for consumption, but it can cause damage to your household piping and hard surfaces. There are many water quality indicators that can give you a full analysis of water quality including water resistivity measurements.
The frequent pollution of public waterways
Another common mistake is assuming that because a house is on a public water system that the water is safe. Every day, about 2 million tons of sewage and industrial and agricultural waste is discharged into the world?s water. A lot of these waterways are connected to public water sources. There have also been many cities in the media that have not enacted proper water testing. This has resulted in dangerous water sources for homes that are also on city water and public water sources.
How to protect yourself from problematic water
While you cannot necessarily improve your water if your house is on a public water source, you can increase awareness. First, complete an at home test to get an idea of your water?s ingredients. If the at home test indicates any problems, then it is time to schedule a professional water analysis with water resistivity measurements. From here, you can implicate change by increasing awareness of the problematic water.
Home water testing and analysis services are often one of the last things on the mind of a new homeowner. Yet, its potential to health problems and damaged house structures mean it should be an important component. Before you move into your new house and begin using the water, make sure you find out exactly what is in it.