5 Reasons Why It Is Important To Get Water Tested Right Now

by Curtis Grossi | Last Updated: March 19, 2024

Water testing is a fundamental step towards maximizing the quality and standards of drinking water. Government organizations employ water testing technologies to regulate and safeguard water against health and environmental risks.

At domestic level, homeowners do so to sanitize water to make it ideal for human consumption. Regular water testing is crucial in water facilities, public municipalities, and offices.

What Do Water Tests Measure?

Water testing is the use of machines and solutions to measure the existence of contaminants. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, a contaminant is described as any radiological, physical, biological, or chemical substance found in water.

It’s anything in the form of matter that changes water properties and appearance. Water contaminants are either human-made or naturally occurring and include pharmaceutical, nitrogen, metal, and pesticide toxins.

Common Water Problems

Various issues require you to test your water. Most of these problems are caused by water infestation by viruses, bacteria, and minerals among other contaminants.

1. Hard Water

Water containing dissolved bicarbonate minerals is known as hard. It’s the hardness in water that affects its taste and efficiency. Hard water usually causes soap scum on dishes and faucets.

2. Rust Stains

Also water containing iron usually causes rust and black colored stains when used on showers, toilets, and sinks. It may as well cause stains on laundry. Water containing iron is characterized by yellowish or cloudy color.

3. Bad Odor & Taste

Whatever elements are available in water, they can make it taste and smell bad. Bacteria and viruses are some of the reasons water has a metallic taste or offensive odor.

Benefits Of Drinking Pure Water

Purified water quenches your thirst and adds to your body functionality. Testing water for purity using filtration systems or a water softening machine is essential to make it ideal for human consumption.

1. Pure water keeps you young – drinking plenty of pure and clean water will moisturize your skin, and reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. Not consuming enough water, on the other hand, usually forces your body to retain the existing water, which can make your skin puffy.
2. Increases your energy levels – as you work out, you’re bound to sweat a lot. Sweating deprives your body of water, and if you don’t drink enough, it may affect your physical health. Drinking enough water helps keep your energy levels at peak levels.
3. Improves your digestion and prevents constipation – drinking clean water helps improve your metabolism. It avoids instances when the colon has to draw water from your stool to remain hydrated. 
4. Gives you peace of mind – clean drinking water comes with the assurance that you aren’t adding toxins into your body. Since the water is pure, you don’t have to worry about introducing bacteria and viruses into your body.
5. Keeps your body healthy – when you drink clean water, you lower the risk of suffering from water-borne diseases. The fact that you aren’t introducing waterborne disease-causing viruses or bacteria to the body means that you keep these ailments at bay. 

Why Is It Crucial To Test Water?

Testing water before use is essential and can benefit your business or household in many ways. Getting the water tested by an expert with the aid of high-quality testing equipment is critical to achieving optimal results. These are the many reasons to get the water tested.

1. Water Viruses And Bacteria Aren’t Easy To Notice 

Tap water can be deceiving. You can’t tell whether or not it is pure simply by looking at it. Some viruses and bacteria don’t water a bad smell or taste. And that’s to say that they can lurk in your water for years without detection.

Getting water tested is crucial as it helps you identify these and other contaminants and harmful toxins. It lets you avoid drinking water that looks pure and clean, but it isn’t in real sense. Consider getting a laboratory test to confirm if your water is free of harmful viruses, parasites, and bacteria.

2. Improve Water Health

Drinking clean water is good for improving overall health. Everyone in your house, including visitors needs clean and pure water to stay hydrated and healthy. Drinking water right from the tap or source isn’t so good for your health. Getting it tested is the way to go to enhance its quality and purity.

The water everyone in your office or home drinks should be free from chemicals, pathogens, and other harmful toxins. Get a water test report to determine if the water in your facility and house is clean.

If you realize that the municipal tap water entering your business or home contains some pathogens or harmful toxins, you should consider investing in whole house water filters. These water filtration systems will clean your water and make it perfect for human consumption.

3. Protect Equipment And Pipes

Changing irrigation or hot water systems is always a costly affair for most homeowners. These systems need proper care and maintenance to stay in shape. One of such ways is to get the water passing through these systems tested and confirmed to be safe and soft.

Existence of calcium salts in water tends to cause the formation of calcium carbonate crust. The more these deposits accrue around these systems, the bigger they become. In the long run, they will block irrigation systems as well as affect hot water systems.

Equally, some types of waters are very destructive and will likely corrode metals such as aluminum and copper. Getting water tested is simply a great way to improve the aesthetics of your water supply equipment. Water tanks and boreholes should be checked regularly to avoid contamination by insect nymphs, parasites, and bacteria, which can cause sour taste and smell.

4. Minimize Outbreaks In Pools

Infectious disease outbreaks are quite widespread in public places like spas and swimming pools. Getting pools and spas tested by NATA accredited officers is the best way to avoid waterborne disease outbreaks.

For more accurate results, get the water samples taken during times of optimal bathe load. Get your swimming pool tested for heterotrophic plate count, pseudomonas, E. coli, and aeruginosa. This helps to minimize the spread of infections and parasitic diseases. 

5. Peace Of Mind

When water is tested, you get to know its quality and purity. Having assurance that everyone in the house or office is drinking clean water is assuring. Once you get the water tested, it becomes easy to get it disinfected and purified.

And with the wide variety of high-quality and affordable water filtration systems, you have the assurance that the quality of water used within your house will be clean and safe for human consumption.

When To Get Your Household Water Tested?

Based on EPA standards and regulation, household water should be tested annually. Water testing lets you know when there is a need to use water filter pitchers to clean and purify the water ready for human consumption. However, you may be prompted to test your water before the year ends in case of the below-outlined circumstances.

• Frequent digestive and stomach problems – if family members and friends keep complaining of stomach or digestive issues when they drink water, that might be a sign of bacterial or parasitic contamination. Get the water tested immediately to determine if it has any parasites, viruses, or bacteria. If you don’t have the resources to get the water tested, you should consider investing in a whole house water filter.
• If you live in an old house – if you just moved into a new home or you’ve been living in an old house, it is recommended to get the municipal water channeled in the house tested. Old plumbing systems tend to leach lead and copper into the drinking water. And as you know, water contaminated with copper and lead is not safe for human consumption.
• Living close to dry cleaners, landfills, industrial plants, and gas stations – in case your house is located close to any of these facilities, you have to get your water tested often. Toxic substances can leak into the ground and end up contaminating water supplies.
• Nearby coal, agricultural activities, and gas mines – the activities in these industrial facilities are likely to trigger the release of herbicides, pesticides, and solvents, which can end up contaminating drinking water.
• Rust-colored or red stains on your clothing and sink – when water exhibits these signs, it’s an indication that it has minerals and iron.

How Water Gets Contaminated

Water gets contaminated through a variety of ways and from various sources. One-way contaminants get into the water is through the dumping of chemicals and other toxins into toilets and wastewater lines.

Water as well gets contaminated when chemicals in plants, landfills, and mines get channeled to rivers and lakes. While some water contaminants are removed while sewage is being treated, some contaminants don’t. 

Bottom Line

Scheduling water treatment is not an easy process. It’s quite involving and needs real-time dedication. No matter how tricky and complex it is to keep a schedule for water testing: you’ve to do it regularly.

If you detect contaminants in your drinking water, you should use the right techniques and machines to purify and sanitize it.

There are many machines you can use to clean and purify water, including but not limited to water filters, ozone machines, reverse osmosis machines, and many more. Use the right countertop water filter to boost the quality and purity of the water used in your household or office.

Curtis is the founder and owner of softeningwater.com. He is the lead guy concerning all the water-softening accessories in this site's guides and reviews. If he is not writing a reviews, guides or any other useful tips, you will find him testing them to find out their suitability. He is passionate about softening water. You will find him extremely helpful and always willing to educate the general populace all there is concerning water and its effects on their health and appliances.