Water Testing
Is your area known to have hardness or iron in its water? Does your water smell like sulfur? Are you concerned about bacteria or other chemicals in the water that’s coming into your home? And what’s this about PFAS and forever chemicals? Are they in your water too? These are all very real concerns. But do you know if any of these are in your water? It’s better to know whether there is a problem and what can be done about it than to be harmed by what you don’t know.
What’s so significant about having chemicals or bacteria in your city or well water? These can change the taste of your water, make you sick, or have other negative effects on your quality of life. Although you might get used to it after a while, if your water tastes bad or odd, or you feel embarrassed offering it to guests in your home, then there could be a higher concentration of these chemicals than is healthy or ideal.
Water Testing for Hard Water and More
It’s not just the taste either. Water that is “hard,” or has high concentrations of calcium and magnesium, can stain your hair, skin and clothes, and it reduces the effectiveness of cleaning products, further resulting in stains on dishware. Even more than this, hard water can leave mineral deposits in pipes, resulting in clogging and damage to these. That’s expensive to replace! And that’s just from hard water!
On top of this, new research is indicating that “forever chemicals,” or ones that are extremely difficult to break down, can be found in many homes’ water. These include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, abbreviated to PFAS. The US Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA for short, provides more information on these substances.
Water-borne illnesses can be some of the most dangerous in the world. Even in the United States, illnesses like E. coli infection and giardiasis can come through the water if it’s not purified. Where health is concerned, water should be your ally, not your enemy. So, do you know what’s in your water?
Get it Tested!
This is where water testing comes into play. We test water for all kinds of things from iron, lead, and forever chemicals to bacteria, pH level, and water hardness. When you submit water samples to be tested, you can know what is and is not in your water. Negley’s Water offers water testing and treatment so you get it all in one place! Click below to schedule your water testing analysis and gain water confidence today!
Hold on, what does that actually include?
So what does a water test look like? Well, there are water testing kits that you can find at your local hardware store, for one. You can run out, purchase one, follow the instructions, and find out some information on the contaminants those tests are designed for. There are at-home test kits for water hardness, for heavy metals, etc. These might seem simple, easy and low-cost, but one article from a member of the Water Quality Association (WQA) reports that these kits are very easy to misuse, frequently resulting in inaccuracies in the tests. Additionally, multiple kits may be required to cover the broad array of potential contaminants in your water.
However, there are some tests you can do at home to confirm whether there is a problem. These home tests just won’t tell you the severity of the problem. One simple test for water hardness, for instance, is filling a small see-through container with water, adding about a squeeze of soap, and shaking the container. If there are lots of foamy bubbles and the water is still pretty clear five to ten seconds after you’re done shaking the container, you may not have a huge problem with water hardness.
However, if there are no bubbles or if they quickly go away and the water is murky five to ten seconds after you’re done shaking the container, it is quite probable that you have a problem with water hardness. But this alone will not indicate what can be done to fix the problem. Additionally, it only considers one element, where water issues often tie into each other, as do their solutions.
In Home Water Testing
As an alternative, most water treatment companies offer professional water testing. Often, a water company will do some of the testing in house and send other samples off to partnering labs for more detailed analysis. This enables you as our customers to get the most out of your water testing experience and be able to take the most appropriate steps to treat your water.
For example, at Negley’s Water, our water testing process uses in-house testing for hardness, total dissolved minerals (TDS), chlorine, iron, magnesium, manganese, pH, sulfur, and nitrates. These tests don’t take a whole lot of time, and you can have results in a matter of minutes. Our process also includes outsourced lab tests to provide further reporting on lead, copper, PFOS and PFAS, bacteria, and more conclusive nitrate testing. These results may take a few days to get back.
That sounds like a lot. How much will this cost?
At Negley’s Water, we can test for a wide variety of water contaminants from chemical to biological. For all that testing to be done, you might be wondering how much this water testing will cost. An in-house water test from Negley’s Water is free. If you think water testing kits will keep your costs low, you can’t get lower than free.
That said, there is a cost for including outsourced lab testing, since we use accredited labs known for their reliable results. The costs for these tests can range from just under $100 to over $300 depending on the tests, the lab, and the state. A reliable test is worth the cost.
But I have a unique water situation…
Are you wondering if maybe we do not offer water testing for your specific situation? Think again! We offer commercial and business water testing, residential or domestic water testing, drinking water testing, ground water testing, manufacturing water testing, water testing for irrigation, and the list goes on! If you have a well and you are concerned about contamination from backflow, we test for that, too. The only thing we don’t test is wastewater. We test and treat water to be used, not once it’s been used.
If you are in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland or northern Virginia, the odds are high that Negley’s Water can serve you. We offer local water testing and treatment based out of Mechanicsburg, Greencastle, Newburg, Martinsburg, and Hagerstown, and we reach the surrounding areas, too! And remember, this can be drinking water, water from your boiler, business water, well water, ground water, or any water that you are using. We can test it.
How trustworthy are the results?
Okay, so a water test for your city or well water sounds like a good idea. Why should you get it from Negley’s Water? Negley’s Water has been in the water treatment industry since 2003, and our consultants have been doing water testing for as long or longer. Several of our consultants are Certified Water Specialists under the WQA, and we, as a company, are a member of the WQA. Here at Negley’s Water, our water testing methods meet the requirements of the EPA and of the PA Department of Environmental Protection, or DEP. So we know what we’re about, and we know what to look for.
Additionally, the labs we submit water samples to for outsourced testing are certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and follow federal and state guidelines for testing. One even has the ISO9000 certification. They are also state-certified and accredited laboratories, and they hold high standards of testing. You can see the qualifications of the labs Negley’s Water partners with here: FTL Labs, PaceLabs, Franklin Analytical Inc., and ResinTech. All of us are well qualified to determine what’s in your water and help you to know what can be done about it.
Sign me up!
Now that you’ve seen what could potentially be in your water and what to expect from a test from Negley’s Water, what’s stopping you from scheduling a test? Click below to start the path to water confidence through water testing and treatment.