The quality of water that flows through your house plumbing lines will depend on where it is coming from. If you have city water, your water is provided by your local municipality. The water is often pre-treated at a water treatment facility and then delivered to your home.
If you have well water, your water comes out of the ground from a well and is pumped directly into your home. There is no pre-treatment of the water in a standard well water plumbing configuration. If there is anything in the water, it flows right into the home’s plumbing lines.
Regardless of where your water comes from, you want to make sure you have the best quality of water flowing into your home. If not, you could face one or more common quality issues, including:
- Unpleasant Taste – If your water tastes bitter, acidic, or has a funny taste to it, you won’t want to drink it, let alone use it for cooking, cleaning, showering, and so on.
- Unpleasant Odor – If your water smells funky, you won’t want to use it at all. Certain types of smells could indicate bigger issues like mold or rust. Not to mention, if you drink the water, it could create health risks.
- Hard Water – Hard water is common when you have well water. Calcium and other minerals in the water will leave scale deposits. While these are not a health issue, they do result in having to use more detergent, soap, and shampoo for laundry, cleaning, and bathing and will build up on heating coils.
How Do I Find Out the Quality of Water in My Home?
The easiest way to find out the quality of water in your home is to contact your plumber and ask them to perform a water quality test. This test evaluates different things and their levels in the water, such as:
- Calcium
- Other Minerals
- Lead
- Chlorine
- Chloramine
- Iron
- Sulfate/Sulfur
- Microorganisms
- Bacteria
- Dissolved Solids
- Copper
- pH
- VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) & More!
If you have city water, you can request a water quality report, and they must provide one. However, you may still want your plumber to perform an independent test since there could be things in your home’s plumbing lines that would not show up in the city’s water quality report.
How Do I Improve the Quality of Water in My Home?
After having your water tested, you can determine if you need to make any improvements to the quality of water in your home. Talk to your plumber to find out if you need water filtration and water treatment systems.
It is important to remember there are differences between water filtration and water treatment systems. People often assume they are one and the same. Yet, they are not. Water filtration systems remove impurities from the water like chlorine, dissolved solids, microorganisms, etc.
A water treatment system is used to soften the water and remove calcium and minerals from hard water, common with well water. If you have hard water and impurities in the water, then a whole-house water filtration and treatment system is best.
On the other hand, if you have city water that is already softened at the water treatment facility, then you would only need a water filtration system to remove other impurities from the water.
To request a water quality test or to learn more about water filtration and treatment systems and which one is best for your home, please feel free to contact the plumbers at KCs 23 ½ Hour Plumbing by calling 760-327-8718 today!
We also offer other 24-hour plumbing services, including drain cleaning, plumbing repairs, new fixture installation, bathroom and kitchen renovations, and more!
