The results are in:
This water sample has PASSED and therefore meets the Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines (CDWQG) for bacteria in drinking water.
| L637829-2 | |||
| UNTREATED WELL DAN FETTER – 03-JUN-08 | |||
| Test Description | Result | Aesthetic Objective | Units of Measure |
| Zinc (Zn)-Extractable | 0.02 | 5 | mg/L |
| Copper (Cu)-Extractable | <0.0004 | 1 | mg/L |
| pH | 7.62 | pH units | |
| TDS (Calculated from EC) | 590 | mg/L | |
| Sulphate (SO4) – Soluble | 88 | 500 | mg/L |
| Calcium (Ca)-Extractable | 67.1 | mg/L | |
| Potassium (K)-Extractable | 4.08 | mg/L | |
| Magnesium (Mg)-Extractable | 85.3 | mg/L | |
| Sodium (Na)-Extractable | 22.1 | 200 | mg/L |
| Iron (Fe)-Extractable | 0.12 | 0.3 | mg/L |
| Manganese (Mn)-Extractable | 0.0115 | 0.05 | mg/L |
| Nitrate+Nitrite-N – Soluble | 0.022 | 10 | mg/L |
| Hardness (as CaCO3) | 519 | 500 | mg/L |
| Hardness-grains/USgal | 30.3 | grn/USgal | |
| Hardness-grains/IMPgal | 36.4 | grn/IMPgal | |
| Conductivity | 904 | umhos/cm | |
| Chloride (Cl) – Soluble | 13 | 250 | mg/L |
We got our well tested, it cost 79 dollars for the testing but I think it was worth it, at least it cured my curiosity.
From what I figure the Aesthetic objective column is the maximum guideline, and the Result column is of course what our water has.
It all looks good except the Hardness (as CaCO3) which is 519, Ideally hardness should be much less, as seen in the chart below.
- Soft: 0–20 mg/L as calcium
- Moderately soft: 20–40 mg/L as calcium
- Slightly hard: 40–60 mg/L as calcium
- Moderately hard: 60–80 mg/L as calcium
- Hard: 80–120 mg/L as calcium
- Very Hard >120 mg/L as calcium
It looks as though we will be getting a water softener. The water is drinkable though, The E.Coli and coliforms counts were both zero, so all is well.