If you are wondering how to check if your water is safe for drinking, there are a few things you should do. Begin with taking a look at how clear your water is. If it is murky, there could be something wrong with the quality of your H20. But if you have been using this source for some time and notice that ever since then everything has seemed all right, you should not panic too much about cloudy or muddy-looking drinking water. Keep reading to learn more about how to check if your water is safe for drinking!
Check the color of your water
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If it is yellow, orange, brown, or has a strong odor, don’t drink it. These are all signs of trouble and the water should be tested, boiled, or filtered before you drink it.
First-time users may not think anything is wrong with their drinking water if they see a color like this right off the bat. But over time, harmful elements build up in your H20 source so even more discoloration will occur.
If you have an older well that has been neglected for years, there could be rust in your system which would produce dark orange or brown liquid instead of clear H20 when poured into a glass to drink. Perhaps old pipes are allowing sewage waste to mix in with clean spring’s pure mineral water? Either way, do not attempt to use this secondhand resource again until testing proves it safe or you install water filtration systems for your own protection. When it comes to discoloration, one thing you should never do is assume your H20 has an off-color due to the minerals inside. This means that natural “hard” water may not be safe for drinking because of its high concentration of calcium and magnesium carbonates (two elements linked to health problems).
Check for taste
How does your water taste? If it has a metallic flavor even after you filter, boil, or let sit for a while, there is something wrong with the quality of H20. Use that second glass to check how it tastes before making any decisions about whether or not to drink this source again in the future. Some people will be able to tell if their H20 lacks minerals better than others because they are used to having certain flavors when drinking tap water versus filtered water.
But no matter how sensitive your palate may be, only use spring’s purest mineral resource when cooking and taking showers so long as you have tested your well each time beforehand!
Check the water’s pH level
The optimal pH for drinking is between six and eight. If your H20 falls outside this range, don’t drink it. Perhaps you have a well that has been polluted by acidic rainwater or chemical runoff? Either way, if the testing says your tap water should be within these limits but fails to meet them, use a filtration system instead of trying to boil or filter out all impurities on your own in order to make safe-to-drink H20 from questionable sources.
Check for bacteria
If the pH of your water is within normal limits, it may be safe to drink. But keep in mind that not all contaminants are easily seen or tasted. After you have tested your H20 and found it acceptable for drinking, don’t forget to ask yourself whether or not there could be bacteria lurking inside this clean resource. If so, boil before use!
Either way, if you see signs of impurities like slime-like substances on rocks at the bottom of a pool where water has collected (when filling up an above ground swimming pool), do not swim directly into these waters nor let animals who love cool baths play with their paws in muddy puddles near these pools because they can carry E Coli without even knowing it until something goes wrong.
Other ways to check your water
There are other indicators that could help you decide if it is safe for drinking. If there’s a strong smell that doesn’t go away after boiling, filtering, or letting the H20 sit out in an open container (not inside closed jugs like milk), this source may be contaminated with methane gas and should not be used as-is! There can also be heavy metals such as lead present even when testing proves pH levels and bacterial counts are normal because of how these elements build up over time without anyone ever realizing they’re slowly poisoning them each time they drink from their well again and again for years on end.
If the water has a color, taste, or pH level that is not safe for drinking, it’s time to find out why. Contact your local county health department and ask them how you can test your water at home. You may also want to invest in a filter if you are uncertain about the quality of your tap water.
