Help, water treatment

[Daveg]

Right chaps, my blasted head is spinning!
I live in Suffolk so I went to the eswater website typed my postcode in and it gave me what I already knew we're the results for very hard water 430mg/l CaCo3 and 172 mg/l Calcium. Next I downloaded a water report which was from 2011. Fair enough, but there was a couple of things not on there such as Magnesium so I emailed them. They replied with the information I needed. Now, within those figures was a figure for calcium, Average 12mg/l. Low 4 and high 20something. I'd already got a figure of 172mg/l !!!
What's that all about?
Along with this they sent me a more recent water report for this year and the figures I needed were practically double what they were off the report from last year, which is the one I would have used had I not emailed them.
Does everyone just take their water authorities results as read?
Unless I want to drink nothing but stout I need to sort this water out but it looks like I've got to set up my own lab just to make a consistently decent beer. Or am I over thinking things?

 

[prolix]

depending on how you get your water it will change. I get mine from a bore hole so pretty constant except when it changes from drought to flood or back again, I check the water every so often for alkalinity just to make sure. the other bits I just go with the water board average levels as there is not a lot of spread.

I would check with them again about the Ca but would imagine as east anlia the water would be at the 172mg range, or get a kit to test alkalinity yourself, from an aquatic store, as I said it is the one that really matters.

 

[Daveg]

Thanks for the reply, I've just sent an email. I'm brewing this morning, a stout as it happens but I've used 172 in the calculator so I'll see how I go. Thanks again.