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Enviromental Labs

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1. What is the hardness of my water?

If you are on the Pasco County Water System your water probably runs in the 9 to 13 grains per gallon range (155 to 224 mg/L). This is considered hard water.

2. I am not on the Pasco County Water System but want to know the hardness of my water. What do I do?

If you are on a different system (pay your water bill to another utility) than you should check with them first to see if they have data available. If they don’t or if you are on a private well have your water tested here at the laboratory. There is a $6.00 charge for hardness analysis.

3. Will the lab come to my house and sample my water?

No. You come to the lab, tell us what you want to test for, purchase the bottles, and conduct the sampling yourself. Or you can hire a private company to sample for you and have the analysis done.

4. What can I use to bring a water sample for testing? I have a jar that I cleaned really well. Can’t I just use that to sample?

No. Different tests have different bottle type, sampling and preservation requirements. The laboratory will not accept samples that are not in approved sampling containers.

5. I want to have my water tested. What should I test for?

We will first ask the following questions: is there a specific problem, are you on a water system, have you contacted your utility? We conduct testing that starts at a $3.00 test up to analyses for the Primary and Secondary Drinking Water Standards which is over $1000.00. Be clear on why you are testing and for what.

6. My water smells like rotten eggs. What should I test for?

The rotten egg smell is Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), a naturally occurring gas. If you smell it, it is there. Your sense of smell can detect H2S at very low levels, lower then the detection limit of our test. We charge $10.00 to analyze for H2S but don’t recommend testing for this particular analyte.

7. Does Pasco County add Fluoride to the water?

No.

8. My water is hard. Do you recommend I purchase a water softener?

We don’t recommend one way or the other. This is a personal preference as hardness, which is defined as dissolved calcium and magnesium carbonates in the water, is an aesthetic issue and not a health issue. Hardness is not a regulated parameter and it comes down to personal preferences.