Water Testing

The testing is a broad description for various procedures used to analyze water quality. Millions of quality tests are carried out daily to fulfill regulatory requirements and to maintain safety. Oshnic Group’s company Meenesh Irrigation India Private Limited. also working for this Nobel cause for the benefits of Farmers, Industries as well as for the Domestic purposes.

• Ambient or environmental quality – the ability of a surface water body to support aquatic life as an ecosystem.
• Wastewater – characteristics of polluted water (domestic sewage or industrial waste) before treatment or after treatment.
• "Raw water" quality – characteristics of a source prior to treatment for domestic consumption (drinking).
• "Finished" water quality – It treated at a municipal purification plant.
• Suitability of it for Industrial uses such as laboratory, manufacturing or equipment cooling.

Out approach is to start by testing 'quality' factors. For example factors like pH, carbon dioxide and oxidizing potential are often indicators of deep seated problems which show up as bad tastes and smells, dirty looking or water that contains unwanted chemicals or metals.

• Irrigators are especially interested in dissolved solids and salts so we test for conductivity and all major ions like sodium, chloride, bicarbonate, aluminum, calcium and magnesium. A useful measure is one similar to sodium adsorption ratio in soils. If sodium is out of balance with calcium and magnesium then this test will give an early warning that good nutrients may be displaced and the soil structure may be affected if that water is used for irrigation without adequate leaching. Water that is either very alkaline or acidic can also affect nutrient availability in the soil.
• Corrosion can be a significant problem on farms and in homes. To determine if this could be problem we measure pH, REDOX potential, total salts, alkalinity and hardness. The result is an index the Langelier Index that shows if it is tending to be corrosive or scaling.
• Food and beverage manufacturers are interested in input quality. Overall quality factors are important but chlorination products like free and combined chlorine need to be monitored. Different types of salts and hardness can affect tastes especially in brewing.
  Most filters and treatment have 'working limits' of salts and other chemicals. For example if you want to install a reverse osmosis unit then the hardness has to be below certain limits. Critical factors for monitoring the effectiveness of filters include total salts, UV absorption and aerobic plate count. It is quite followed method in Bhopal (MP).
• Fish farmers should check the quality in dams and fish tanks. This is important at all stages. Input water, conditions within the tanks or dams and output / pre filter, all need monitoring. Like aquarists they often monitor pH and salts in tank. They also take care not to use water which contains chlorine. New aquariums need to be monitored closely to make sure ammonia and nitrites are kept at bay. Aqua culturists measure or monitor a wide range of factors including turbidity, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, nitrites, ammonia, REDOX, phosphate, copper, hardness and alkalinity.
• Household water supplies in rural areas are monitored for the basic quality indicators dissolved organics index, turbidity, oxidizing potential, carbon dioxide and pH. Guidelines for bacterial quality that includes levels of E coli, coliforms and total aerobic bacteria are found in the Australian Drinking Guidelines. Convenient test kits are available for testing these groups at home or in the lab.
• To do an assessment of environmental quality or health we measure turbidity, nitrates, phosphates, ammonia and reactive silica. Organic matter loading is often measured indirectly by ammonia, nitrites, carbon dioxide and UV absorption. Depleted dissolved oxygen can indicate pollution from organic matter.

REDOX potential and pH are a good way to predict what chemical reactions (which affect its quality) are likely to be significant. For further information on REDOX and many other factors see the terminology page and our online notes What do your water test results mean? At Oshnic Laboratories we often get out the microscope and look at the algae in it. This gives us extra clues about whether it is healthy or not because the types of algae present can indicate stressed or polluted conditions.