Everything About Tap Water Testing Mississauga Homeowners Should Know About

Having clean drinking water may be an overlooked thought in Canada. However, clean drinking water is essential for your health, and making sure your tap water is uncontaminated is crucial. Sometimes contaminated water can be noticed by odours or colours coming from your fixtures, but in most cases, you will never be able to tell the difference until you perform a service for tap water testing. Mississauga homeowners may be wondering why they should be worried about the water coming in from the tap. After all, the city does its own water quality testing. Mississauga homes should have good water, right?

It is important to understand the basics of water quality testing, so you can maintain the health of you and your loved ones when drinking tap water. The Mississauga plumbers at Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Mississauga will suggest homeowners get tap water testing. Mississauga’s water supply, after all, may be fine at the water treatment plant, but it still has to travel through a maze of water pipes into your home before it gets to your tap, and there are plenty of ways throughout that journey that can lead to contamination of issues with your water supply. By getting tap water testing, Mississauga homeowners can take steps to protect the quality of water from the tap.

If you would like to learn more about testing your water sources, potential contaminant sources, and how to address those concerns with tap water testing. Mississauga residents can keep reading below.

Why Get Tap Water Testing? Mississauga Homeowners Guide:

You may wonder why you should ask a plumber about water quality testing. Mississauga tap water tastes fine, and the city says it’s safe, so why bother? However, water testing is necessary to ensure that you have safe drinking water. No home’s plumbing supply lines are created equal, nor are they always maintained the way they should.

You can't always tell if your water chemistry has elevated levels of substances by taste or by visual inspection, and by testing your drinking water, you will be provided with a detailed review of all the microorganisms present in your water supply. Additionally, Mississauga's water municipal supply comes from Lake Ontario, a surface water source that has faced issues in recent years due to algae blooms and infrastructure problems.

When it comes to understanding water quality testing, Mississauga homeowners should know that there are a few key aspects to keep in mind. There are two different types of tests for your drinking water supply, including a bacteria test and a chemical and metal test, that test for common contaminants.

During water quality testing, Mississauga professionals would typically check for the following:

Bacteria Testing

Bacteria tests look for harmful bacteria, including total coliform and E. coli. Testing for bacteria at least twice a year is recommended by professionals to ensure that you have high water quality. As the presence of bacteria is not easily noticeable without water quality testing, Mississauga homeowners who do not get these tests often expose themselves to great health risks.

Checking for bacteria contaminants such as coliforms is important because they are found everywhere and can get into your water supply very easily. Some potential sources of contamination for coliform bacteria can be found in soil, plants, sewage, and manure, making it a contaminant to look out for in your plumbing water system. Water quality testing in Mississauga for E. coli is additionally a routine procedure for testing for coliform contaminants. E. coli is also found in sewage and manure, but it also comes from the intestines of humans and animals. If you find traces of E. coli in your water, that means sewage lines, fecal matter, or agricultural runoff have contaminated your water supply, and you need to switch to bottled water immediately and take steps to address it and determine the route of exposure.

Chemical Testing

Chemical testing is used to find traces of common metals and chemicals found in water. Chemical tests also test the pH of your water and the hardness of your water, allowing you to better understand the quality of your water supply and take steps to make corrective measures is needed. For instance, even without getting tap water testing, Mississauga residents should be aware that the city has relatively moderate hard water. This means there is a potential for mineral buildup within your plumbing fixtures and appliances, and it may have a bitter or salty taste to it. Following tap water testing, Mississauga homeowners will get a better idea of just how hard their water supply is and be able to use that information to take steps to improve their water supply and water taste.

Additionally, chemical testing helps understand the amount of metals in your water. Chemical tests look for the common metals found in water supply, some good, while some harmful. For instance, fluoride is often added during the municipal drinking water process in an effort to prevent tooth decay and bone health. However, too high levels can have adverse health effects. Another metal that is tested for is lead. High levels of lead in your water supply often indicate the presence of a corroding lead pipe that needs to be addressed immediately following your tap water testing. Mississauga homes built before 1960 or have lead pipes or soldering are at particular risk, and you may be able to get free lead testing if you fit certain criteria in the Peel region.

Ultimately, by getting water quality testing, Mississauga homeowners will be able to better understand both the health and safety of their water, as well as the aesthetic of your water, including taste, colour, and smell.

For Tap Water Testing, Mississauga Homeowners Should Get It How Often?

When it comes to how often you should get or do water quality testing, Mississauga plumbers and public health inspectors of Canada recommend that you should test your water for bacteria twice a year and test for chemicals every three years. Our professional plumbers provide services for tap water testing. Mississauga homeowners can call us when they suspect something is wrong with their water. Additionally, there are water sample testing kits available to buy if you would like to test your water quality on a more regular basis.

Can I DIY Water Quality Testing?

Mississauga homeowners can do their own water testing with the help of a test kit. You can get water quality tests online from trusted suppliers, bring a sample to your Peel Public Health unit or Public Health Ontario, or you can get our professional plumbers to test the water for you. If your water comes from the municipal water supply, then your water utility is required to send a report to you. This annual water quality report will provide you with information about the water running through your plumbing system.

You can also test the quality of water in your home by buying water test kits online. You can collect your own sample and see what is in your water; however, it is always best to get a professional report on your water quality. Our local professionals are happy to help test your water quality. If you are interested in testing the water quality at home, drinking water quality test kits are readily available to homeowners, the most popular type being test strips.

How Do I Collect a Water Sample for Tap Water Testing?

Mississauga residents may be surprised to learn that there is a wide range of water quality testing kits available for use. One popular type of tap water testing Mississauga residents may get is testing strips, which are chemical strips that change colour depending on the amount of a certain containment within your water. If you are using testing strips, collect water from your home and dip the test strip into it. There are also reagent drop tests for your water quality, another popular type of water quality testing Mississauga homeowners can get, which will have you add a chemical reagent to a container of water to check for the presence of different chemicals and contaminants.

Whatever type of test you get, you will get a set of specific instructions that you must follow carefully. Once you have read through the instructions, collect your water sample using the sample bottle and from your cold water tap. To prevent contamination, make sure that you do not open the sample bottle until you are collecting your water sample. Also, make sure that you don’t overfill the sample bottle, and don’t let the cap and bottle touch any of your bathroom countertops. Once you have collected your sample, follow the instructions and test the water sample you acquired immediately, as letting it sit can cause inaccurate results due to airborne contaminants. While your water testing methods vary, it is crucial to be wary of cross-contamination of your water sample.

What Do My Water Quality Test Results Mean?

Once you have received the results from tap water testing, Mississauga homeowners should look for key components that may be an immediate concern for your water supply. It is also important to recognize that finding trace amounts of certain chemicals and metals in your drinking water chemistry is not harmful. However, if there are any concerns following tap water quality testing, Mississauga homeowners can discuss them with our plumbers on how to address them.

In Canada, drinking water guidelines can vary from province to province; however, all Canadian drinking water is based on Health Canada's “Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality.” Public Health Ontario and the Mississauga water authority will have further acceptable concentrations in drinking water guidelines or regulations.

Understanding Chemical Test Results:

Using maximum acceptable concentration (MAC) and aesthetic objective (AO) as a guideline for your water quality test results can make for easy understanding. Here are some of the common guidelines for the chemical composition water quality test:

Potential of hydrogen (pH levels): When it comes to your pH level, the guideline is 7 to 10.5. In Canada, higher pH is not uncommon, hence limescale and mineral buildup from our hard water, but too high can be dangerous.
Sodium levels: Sodium should be at an AO of 200mg/L or less. This means that for every litre of water, there should be a maximum level of 200mg of sodium present in your water before it begins to have a salty taste.
Chloride levels: Chloride levels should remain at an AO of 250mg/L or less, otherwise your water may taste salty. If chloride levels have drastically jumped beyond the acceptable guideline, this can indicate a polluted water supply.
Sulphates levels: Sulphates need to remain at an AO of 500mg/L or less; otherwise, your water may have a gaseous, rotten egg smell.
Fluoride levels: For fluoride, having an MAC of 1.5mg/L is the guideline for quality water testing. This means that for every litre of water, a maximum of 1.5 milligrams should be present. If higher, it can pose a health hazard, which can impact your bones, joints, and teeth over time.
Iron levels: Iron should be at an AO of 0.3mg/L or less. Iron levels higher than this ratio can cause red or brown water flow and make your water taste metallic.
Nitrate and nitrite levels: Nitrates and nitrites need to remain at a low level for proper MAC guidelines. For nitrates, MAC must be at 10mg/L and for nitrites, the MAC must be at 1mg/L. High levels can cause health hazards in your blood, such as the inability to properly pump oxygen through your body.
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS levels): This refers to the amount of organic and inorganic materials, or metals, minerals, salts, and ions, that are dissolved in your water. A detectable level of between 50-150 PPM is considered excellent for drinking, while 150-250 is considered good, 250-300 is considered fair, and anything over 300 is poor and not suitable for drinking.
Lead levels: Ontario’s drinking water quality standard in terms of lead levels in your water supply is 10mg/l. High detectable levels in your drinking water can have serious health risks, especially for young children and pregnant women, and have been linked to chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, immune system issues, and other health problems.
Hardness levels: Missasaga’s water supply is moderately hard and may have an off-taste and leave residue on your plumbing fixtures and appliances. As water hardness levels above 170mg/l can have an impact on human health, testing your water for hardness will help you determine what steps you need to take to mitigate it and, if you have one installed in your home, ensure your water softener is working.

Understanding Bacteria Water Sampling Tests:

Understanding your bacteria tests is much simpler than chemical and trace metal tests. For E. coli and coliforms, your test result will either be absent/nil or present, meaning it runs as a pass/fail test. Either there is bacterial contamination, or there isn’t because the guideline systems for bacteria are not the same as chemicals. To prevent contact with water that has been contaminated by animal waste, livestock watering, or septic systems, bacterial tests are treated as an emergency.

What Do I Do If I Failed My Water Quality Test?

If you have received results that you were not expecting (the presence of bacteria or high levels of chemicals), remember not to panic. One test does not always properly reflect the health risk of your water supply. However, taking precautions is necessary and urgent. To protect you and your family, follow these steps:

Discontinue the use of water supply for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, and washing produce.
Call our professional plumber immediately so you can get immediate water line repair services. Our emergency services are available 24/7, so you can rely on us no matter when you discover a water line issue. Dealing with cross-contamination can occur from faulty valves, leaking pipes, or sewer backup. We have the expertise and skills to address all of these plumbing problems.

If you are looking to improve your water quality for cleaner, better-tasting water, we have services to reduce water hardness, such as an under-sink water filtration system. Contact Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Mississauga today to get started immediately.

Get Professional Water Quality Testing, Mississauga! For a Healthy Canadian Drinking Water Supply, Call Mr. Rooter Plumbing

If you want to get your water quality tested by our professional plumbers in Mississauga, then call us today to schedule an appointment. Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Mississauga can provide a variety of solutions for your water quality problems, including the installation of water filters and water softeners, as well as emergency repair services for pipeline problems.

If you are interested in getting your routine water quality testing in Mississauga from our water treatment professionals, you can get in touch with our friendly customer service team via phone or email. Remember that accurate water testing is the first step in getting cleaner, better-tasting water. Whether you’re in Mississauga or the surrounding neighborhoods of Erin Mills, Lakeview, or Mineola, schedule a service and get your water tested today!