Water Quality

Water Quality

I'm an avid user of Volvic bottled water and have been for years after discovering I'm sensitive to calcium. Other brands have higher concentrations and I break out in eczema when I drink to much dairy / calcium or after drinking gallons of milk which I was able to in my younger years!

I wanted to move away from the supermarket trip and start using the new metal water containers I bought but I need a clean water source. There are lots of options but a good starting place is to get your water tested. Yes, it's drinking water but can you trust it? I guess the reason a lot of people buy bottled or filter is that they don't! Fluoride, Chlorine, aluminium, lead, and the list goes on!

I found a local lab that does testing. I also looked up the county council who conduct their own tests to see what info was there. They tell you their findings but not in the detail I would like. Do you live in a hard or soft water area? With the pressure on Dublin water did you know the water you assumed was soft is being mixed with hard water due to demand?

Hard water contains a significant amount of minerals such as calcium and magnesium. It reacts with soap to create a film and not suds. It leaves a scale deposit and doesn't form a lather with detergents. This damages appliances over time and many people down the country prefer to treat their water as it enters the building as a result.

I never considered that I might be getting Hard Water in Dublin but as they are proposing pumping water from the Shannon now we're more likely going to see hard water appearing. Currently where I live it's mixed 3 parts soft to 1 hard but this is subject to Irish Water of course!

Of course you can always reduce your demand, use low flow taps and shower heads, install a Rainwater Harvesting system which is naturally soft but you still need mains for drinking, cooking, washing (dishes) and showering. The Rainwater is good for clothes washing and flushing the toilets.

There are a lot more elements to water and the EU has a standard it sets out S.I. 439. It can be tested against and there are two standard tests available. One is simpler and is carried out monthly by the councils at various locations. The more stringent test is done yearly. They publish the results but only the summary, rather than all the data.

The Tests are laid out here:
http://www.publicanalystdublin.ie/en/EnvironmentalHealthService/WaterAnalyticalServices/

The Check Monitoring is for drinking water and would be equivalent to that monthly check mentioned earlier. The Audit Monitoring is probably the yearly check.

Check Monitoring:

Audit Monitoring:

The are a number of labs around Dublin & Ireland that offer tests ranging from €50-€200+ depending on options. They post you out a test kit. You fill up the bottles according to instructions provided and get them back to the Lab within 6 hours. Pick a nearby site! there are postal options and self test kits also.

My own test kit arrived recently and I've dropped it back to awaiting the results - typically emailed to you within 10 working days or so. Once I have the results I can determine what, if any, filtering would be best for my new build house. A filter at point of entry, a brita jug or something else. It helps because you need to know what you intend to filter. Is it just for taste or is there something more sinister around? There should be no lead in the pipes I'm currently using as it's a new housing estate, they are typically plastic but I've added that test and Calcium also just for kicks!

The Councils have pages where you can review water quality test results for your area:
http://www.dlrcoco.ie/aboutus/councildepartments/wateranddrainage/findit/drinkingwaterqualityresults/
http://www.sdcc.ie/services/environmental-health/water-services/drinking-water
http://www.fingalcoco.ie/water-and-drainage/water-quality/water-quality-reports/
http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/waterservices/watersupply/waterquality/

The water testing laboratories will inform you immediately if they see any bacteria etc but if other tests are around the EU limits they will just send on the whole lot to you when they are ready.

A sample from the Dublin City Council water testing 2015 is shown below:

This gives you an idea what problems there may be in your area. Coolock was subject to a boil notice 3 years ago so Dublin isn't as safe as you might assume so it's worth once a year checking the reports for your area and ringing the Council if you have any concerns.

I take fresh clean water for granted. Think it's easy as turning a tap - I bet there's a whole TV Programme around how they manage the water supply. Unfortunately with Irish Water on the game there's a lot of flux around who controls what so you may end up running between them and the councils but it should sort itself out in the next few years (hopefully!).

I looked into the cost of a Hot Tub once and saw the effort it takes to regulate the water, a relatively small amount (maybe that's the problem, low volume compared to reservoirs). There were chemicals for everything and lots of PH strips and other test kits required. So - hats off to the Council for keeping an ageing water system in play!

I'll post the results when I get them to give you an idea of what comes back. Some Labs that offer testing are as follows (in no particular order):
http://www.watertesting.ie
http://www.cityanalysts.ie
http://www.alswatertesting.ie
https://irishwatertesting.com

There are kits you can post back or do yourself, google away - I prefer a Lab as I wanted a Professional to have a look mine and avoid installing a whole house water filtration system when I sneezed into the test kit - that wouldn't be good!!

Happy Gurgling on a glass of the good clear stuff!

Update 18/01/16

I got the water test results:

They send you  a doc with a list of normal value ranges for comparison:

pH: Should be between 6.5 and 9.5
Nitrates: Below 10mg/l
Conductivity: Less than 2500 uS/cm @ 20 degrees C
Iron: Less than 0.20 mg/l
Total Coliforms: limit of 0 cfu/100ml
E-Coli: limit of 0 cfu/100ml
Total Hardness: No Limit Applies
Apparent Colour: "Limit=Acceptable to customers and no abnormal change"
Flouride: Less than 0.8mg/lF in flouridated Supplies
Turbidity: Recommended value under 1 NTU

Extra Tests I Ordered:
Calcium: Not sure but the value I got I compare to bottled water where I know what levels affect me personally.
Lead: under 10 ug per litre

So, all good more or less. Good to know the Council is keeping a good watch on things.....