How to Test Water Quality at Home Without a Kit

Is it Possible to Test Water Quality Without a Kit?

Yes, quality of the water can be checked without a test kit. The physical characteristics of water, like color, taste, and odor, can help assess the quality. However, there are some other ways too to check if the water coming to your home is soft and safe to use.

How Can We Do Water Quality Testing?

Water quality testing without a kit can be done via different methods. Those methods can help you assess if the water quality is good enough to use it or not. Some methods are as follows:

1. Assess Color, Taste, and Odor

Water has three qualitative characteristics. You can assess any impurities or contaminations in water by checking these. The characteristics are Color, Taste, and Odor. Pure water is colorless, tasteless, and odorless.

If you see any color, even the light tones, water is contaminated with impurities. Similarly, if there is any odor in the water, it is also a sign of contamination. So is the taste of water, when some substance gets mixed with it, its taste changes.

2. Conduct a Water Hardness Test

To check the presence of calcium and magnesium in water, you can conduct a water hardness test. Signs of hard water are as follows:

• Chalky stains in water containers and on plumbing fixtures
• Soap scum residue left behind even after rinsing with water
• Hard water doesn’t make good foam of soap
• Water pressure in the faucet decreases if the water is hard
• Your hands will feel dry and chalky after washing with hard water

3. Analyze With a Magnifying Glass

The particles that contaminate water are usually not visible to the naked eye. But a magnifying glass can help you assess the presence of impurities in water.

To analyze with magnifying glass, take some water in a glass container, place the container in a bright light, and use a magnifying glass to have a closer look at the water. If you notice any particles floating on the surface of the water or at the edges, the water is contaminated. Moreover, if you notice any foam or cloudiness in the water, the water is neither pure nor safe for drinking.

4. Boil Water for Dissolved Solid Test

The boiling method is also used to check if there are any solid contaminants present in the water. This test can be taken in the following steps:

• Add water in a washed saucepan
• Put it on the stove and let it boil
• When water starts to boil, let it evaporate
• Once half of the water has evaporated, turn off the stove
• Wait until the saucepan gets cooled
• Check the bottom and walls of the saucepan for residue

If you see any gritty or chalky residue in the saucepan, your water dissolves solids. 

Reasons of Impurities in Water

The water supply to homes is usually filtered water, yet there can be impurities. The impurities can get mixed in water due to different reasons. For example:

• If the water source got exposed to chemicals, i.e. fertilizers, pesticides, etc.
• If the sewage system interacts with the water supply system at some point
• If the water supply pipes are too old and rusted
• If the filters are too old to work properly

Conclusion

Water supplied to homes is usually filtered and fit to use, but in some cases, some impurities can get mixed into it. You can check if the water in your home is pure by water testing. Basic water testing can be done without any kit using the methods mentioned above. If there are any issues with water in your home and you want to get it tested along with the piping for water supply in your home, you can contact us for the best home inspection services in Texas.