HOW DO I GET MY WATER TESTED?

It's all very well saying you need to know what's in your tap or well water - but how do you find out what's actually there?

Contact your water supplier. Let them know that you are not complaining about the drinking water but that you need technical water information so you can 'sort' the water quality for your fish (aquarium or pond).

Remember that water suppliers do not have a responsibility to supply 'fish' water quality and they should not be blamed for not doing so.

It 's often better to talk to the technical staff of water suppliers if possible, you will find they are highly professional and some of them will even be fishkeepers!

Tapwater

ENGLAND & WALES

Approach your Water Company (the telephone number will be on your water bill). U.K. water companies mainly use three different names for water reports:
(a) Drinking Water Quality Reports (DWR)
(b) Schedule 4 Reports
(c) PWZ Reports (Yorkshire Water Company)

Make sure you ask for a report for your SUPPLY ZONE for your own, home address. You need LOCAL water information. You do not want general averages about water supplied in all different areas by one supplier.

SCOTLAND

Approach your local council.

FRANCE

Approach your town mayor's office.

EUROPE IN GENERAL

Approach water company or local authority.

U.S.A. & CANADA

(Thanks to Daniel, Dick, Terrie, Bob, Paula, Roark, Tom, Linda, Bonnie Lee, Norman, Grady, Virginia and many others.)

Town, city, county or Municipal Utility District (MUD). It was reported that anybody can request a detailed report from the local water supplier and there is a possibility that Federal Law may require the supplier to provide a written report.

Some suppliers provide information on the web.

Well Water

Wells used to supply drinking water normally come under the control of your local town council or municipal authority.

Metals Testing

Tapwater reports cannot always be relied on to supply accurate data on toxic metals. This is because of such things like one part of a watermains network may be iron pipe while another part could be polypropylene. Your own household plumbing (e.g. copper, zinc-plated or lead pipes) can also add metals to the water. Some tapwater reports do not show low enough test values, although they are fine for humans, e.g. iron tested to the lowest value of <400 ug/l is nowhere near low enough for fish.

If you are experiencing fish health problems (refer to substance table under the sub-section heading WHAT?) or your report only shows ambiguous toxic metal information - get a sample of your tap/well water tested at a laboratory.

Get an accredited laboratory to test for aluminium, copper, iron, lead, manganese and zinc (have values reported in ug/l - parts per billion). Also test for total hardness and total alkalinity as water hardness affects the solubility of metals (have values reported in mg/l - parts per billion).

Shop around to find a keen price, laboratory costs can vary enormously.

Armed with your 'water' information, use AllClear's free advisory service.