How to test water quality in India

Umar Shareef

Now a days many people started asking how to test water quality, what quality parameters to look for, can we test the water quality with a test kit at home, where is the nearest water testing labs in my city, how to analyze the water testing quality report and what type of water purifier to take depending on the result.

Try our water purifier selector to choose right water purifier by answering simple questions without reading any buying guide.

Here is the detailed analysis. First, what are the water impurities

Calcium, Magnesium causing water hardness
Fluoride, Arsenic, Lead, Benzene like chemicals, heavy metals
Bacteria and viruses

How to test the water hardness

Hard water is not a health hazard, it is safe to drink hard water. Shocked, yes World Health Organization confirmed the same. The only problem with the hardness is when you use it for household purpose. It may hurt our skin, hair, utensils, clothes and even home appliances. There are few quick tests to know the hardness of water.

Hard water tastes sour
Add some old detergent bar to water and shake it. If the water is hard then there will not be good leather or foam.
Test in home with TDS water test kit. If the TDS in the water is more than 200 mg/L then the water is hard.

How to test heavy metals, chemicals, Bacteria and Viruses

Unfortunately, there is no easy method to know these things. You need to visit the nearest laboratory to get the test done. Because to normal human eyes, or in home tests cannot directly find out about all these impurities. The next question is where is the nearest water testing lab closer to my home. We are listing below the comprehensive list of labs.

List of Water Testing Labs

There are many government laboratories and private ones. We are presenting both. For private labs you can search in Google or Just Dial with your city name.

How to analyse the water testing report

Check for bacteria, chemicals, heavy metals in the report. For your reference, we are adding a sample report. In the below picture if you see the Coliform bacteria level is very high.