Help Reading City Water Report and Filter Recommendations

Water analysis, treatment, and mineral recipes for optimum taste and equipment health.
MobileSuit09
Posts: 1
Joined: 3 years ago

#1: Post by MobileSuit09 »

Can you help me read my city's water report?

http://www.buenapark.com/home/showdocument?id=19191

I don't think I am reading it correctly. It seems like the ranges vary widely. What would you recommend? Should I purchase testing equipment to test my tap water or does the report have enough information so I can look into filtering the water?

What equipment would you recommend for water testing and/or water filtration? I don't have an espresso machine that can be plumbed in so I was thinking of purchasing an under the sink water filtration with a water dispenser faucet and I could use that refill my espresso machine. Would I need an RO filter or a water softener or other system.

I'm currently using distilled water and third wave mineral packs but I hate having to throw away an empty plastic gallon every week.

Thanks

User avatar
homeburrero
Team HB
Posts: 4863
Joined: 13 years ago

#2: Post by homeburrero »

That's a pretty complete water report. It's not unusual for water utility numbers to be so variable. In your case you have two sources that the city may switch between, or supply differently to different neighborhoods, and each source may be subject to seasonal variation.

The water has calcium hardness and alkalinity numbers that would make it very scale prone if not softened. But more importantly it has chloride numbers that are above most recommendations and the only practical way to cut down on that would be to use RO. If it were me and I wanted plumb-in, I would go with RO and a re-mineralizing cartridge.

For a reservoir, your most convenient water would be mixing minerals into purified water. TWW espresso formula would work, as would the popular 'rpavlis' recipe -- 100 mg of potassium bicarbonate added to each liter of purified (distilled, de-ionized, or RO) water.

MobileSuit09 wrote:I'm currently using distilled water and third wave mineral packs but I hate having to throw away an empty plastic gallon every week.
I agree. My solution to that is to re-use a container that I fill at the grocery store water station. 2 gallon is easy to carry, and I can get de-ionized at my grocery for 39 cents per gallon. When filling at kiosks, de-ionized is usually a good bet. So-called 'alkaline' water costs more and has minerals you don't want. Plain RO at a kiosk may be inefficiently filtered or may even have some minerals added for taste. If in doubt you can check your water with an inexpensive conductivity 'TDS meter' to verify that it has very low mineral content.

P.S.
looking over those numbers, you have:
Calcium hardness between 70 - 230 ppm CaCO3 equivalent
Alkalinity between 70 - 190 ppm CaCO3 equivalent
Even at the low end, those numbers would indicate a need to soften or deal with scale.

Chloride ion between 23 - 60 ppm, likely averaging somewhere between 40 - 55 ppm.
Chloride is a corrosion issue, especially for brass and copper. Some vendors, including La Marzocco recommend going to RO if you have over 30 ppm or more chloride. Synesso recommends going to RO if you have over 15 ppm chloride.
Pat
nínádiishʼnahgo gohwééh náshdlį́į́h