Tap Water

[KCR4]

OK can we talk water? tap water that is.

I'm worried that we have excessive minerals in our water - or something else? Our dishwasher (a 2 yr old Bosch, low end model) gets "caked" up with a white residue (and doesn't seem to clean too well, but that is another matter I assume).

It's not that I'm using too much detergent. And I do put the rinse aid in the container. I realize that my hot water tank is too far away from the kitchen but I do run the hot water before starting the washer.

How do I get my water tested? We tend to get drinking water from the fridge (filtered) dispenser - but not every bit of water we drink or use.

What are the options here? Is water testing a public service? Private service? What do you do about it next?

Educate me! Thank you so much.

Karen

DS #1 7-01
DS #2 10-03
DS #3 7-06

[s7714]

Do you get your water through the city, or do you have a well? If you're connected to a public water works, then they should have the water quality reports available for you to look at. (Ours sends them out about once a year as required by law.)

We had my grandmother's water tested, because she has a well and the water was pretty nasty. I know I've seen kits you can buy to test your own water, but I don't know if they're reliable or not. We used a state "official" lab--you can find your state labs on the EPA's website: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/labs/index.html#o I think it was a $30 fee or something along those lines, but that was a couple years ago.

ETA: Our public water system always checks out as "o.k.", but considering some questionable events that have taken place in the area, we still wonder how safe the water actually is. We use bottled water for cooking and drinking.

Jennifer
Mommy to
Miss Pure Energy 3/03
Miss Limit Tester 6/05

Our bones may be brittle, but our spirit is unbreakable.
Osteogenesis Imperfecta www.oif.org

[MarisaSF]

From what you describe of your dishwasher, it sounds like you might have "hard water" -- water with calcium and other minerals in it. We used to throw some vinegar in with the dishes and that helped the issue a bit. Talk to your neighbors and see if they have a similar problem. Do you see a lot of white build-up in your showers too? A water softener was our ultimate solution and has made our water so much better.

[babyready]

Call the city. They can tell you. We have horrible water where we just moved. The dishwasher was caked with the gunk and it was due to hard water and it also has lots of minerals. Oh, and it occasionally runs brown. Nasty.

Anyway, I found this lemon dishwasher cleaner at Walmart and ran it about a dozen times and it did finally clean a lot of it out. Hopefully, the water softener we installed will help in the future.

Good luck!

[DebbieJ]

Get a water softener.

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
Breastfeeding After Reduction is possible! www.bfar.org

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