Alkalinity and Bicarbonate levels no longer tested and info given out

[The Baron]

Hi I have just had a conversation with my water authority (Yorkshire) of which I requested my alkalinity and bicarbonate levels as they are on not on the standard water report which I need for the water calc on Brewers Friend. They have informed me that these 2 items are no longer tested for so do not provide the figures to complete the water calculator, also the standard report is as it stands 1 and a half years out of date as they do a jan to december set of tests then have to get the figures collated and passed by some other dept/authority before publishing them and as they have not been does as of today the figures are from 2017. Has anybody else had problems with their water supplying company or are most good at giving out the alkalinity and bicarbonate figures etc

 

[kelper]

I went to their website and searched for a recent report. It asks you to fill in town or postcode so I put Skipton. Not a valid postcode it retorted! I put in my old Skipton postcode and it gave me a report for 2017. I would contact the Drinking Water Inspectorate for advice.

The office is staffed Monday to Friday from 09.00 - 17.00, with the exception of bank holidays.

Drinking Water Inspectorate>
Area 5B
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London
SW1P 3JR

Telephone: 0300 068 6400
E-mail: [email protected] (From March 2019 GSI will be removed from this email address. The new address is already working so please start using this new address now)

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi Baron

When I saw this post I was feeling guilty that I'd suggested you get in touch with your water company, only for you to be given such short shrift by them . Sorry :tinhat:

So, I decided to check that my water company was doing what I said they'd done in the past ... I went off to the website and put my postcode into the water quality report search (link) and got all of the information except alkalinity/carbonate (e.g. if you use the postcode M16 0SZ, for the Manchester United ground at Old Trafford, you see the water there is "soft" (some might say much like their first team ), you need to click on the "Full" link to see all the data including Calcium, Sodium, Chloride, Sulphate )

I then emailed them on Tuesday lunch time asking for the alkalinity levels for my water supply, the auto-response told me I should expect a response within 2 working days and I did have two missed calls from a number I didn't recognise on my mobile during Thursday, and then a call from that number today, which I took. The call was from a Lauren in the United Utilities Water Quality team and she was phoning to explain that they didn't have many test results for alkalinity, and none since May this year, but she can provide me with the test results for the analyses they have done since this time last year. She apologised that the test results were patchy and asked did I still want what data they had . I said yes, and got this email a short while after ...

Dear [PhilBrew]

Thank you for your recent enquiry to us regarding alkalinity. As per our telephone discussion, please see the below table for alkalinity results from September 2018 to May 2019 for your water supply zone.

... [table of 12 test results which won't show as a table , so I've removed it] ...


As discussed, we do not regularly test for alkalinity in water which is why we don’t have many results. I hope this is helpful to you, should you require any further help please contact us on the number provided below or reply to this email.

Yours sincerely,

Lauren
Water Quality Analyst

... so it looks like other water companies can and do provide better customer service than you're experiencing. Have you tried contacting the Inspectorate like kelper suggested

Cheers, PhilB

 

[The Baron]

Hi Baron

When I saw this post I was feeling guilty that I'd suggested you get in touch with your water company, only for you to be given such short shrift by them . Sorry

No problem Phil no offence taken, I just can not believe that they will not test for these items anymore so how do other brewers get there full water test do we have to pay for a independent test nowadays

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi Baron

I was having IT problems earlier and ended up adding my last post "in instalments" ... it's heavily edited and added to since you've responded

Cheers, PhilB

 

[SteveH]

Have you seen this thread about how to test it yourself?

I got the KH and CA kits and they're easy to use, also helpful when you start making additions (such as acids or mixing with bottled water) to see where you end up.