And what about the rust?

Since moving to Jersey City, I've noticed the strong amount of chlorine in the tap water. Don't remember this from Hoboken, a mere 5 minutes away.

While a PUR water filter would be nice, a less expensive solution that seems to work most of the time for us is to let the water run 5 - 10 seconds after turning on. The chlorine taste typically only comes out with that initial burst but then subsides.

I don?t think there can be much doubt that the amount of dissolved chlorine in our water supply is generally on the high side. I suspect United Water is erring on the side of caution given the age of the system, the amount of organic material that has settled in the pipes, and the risk of contamination from leaks and ruptures in the system.

If I started brewing again with city water, I?d absolutely use a reverse osmosis system and add the appropriate minerals back into the water. FWIW, I use a system similar to those found at the link below to make pure water for my salt water aquarium, with the addition of a fourth, deionization resin stage. For drinking water, only three stages are needed: A sediment filter, then carbon, and finally a reverse osmosis membrane.

http://spectrapure.com/DRINKING-WATER/DW-RO-SYSTEMS/DWS-DW-Systems

Good topic for posting. There have been some morning when I turn on the water and the smell of chlorine has been very strong. I did get a PUR water faucet filter which seems to help, although the terminology on a lot of filters is confusing (e.g. "removes the smell and taste of chlorine"). New York City's tap water, even years ago, tasted much better than JC water. Any additional info on this topic is appreciated.

how do i know where my water is coming from?

If you look on page six of the Jersey City sheet, there's a section for disinfection byproducts, mostly bromo and chloroacetates. These chemicals were found to be carcinogenic in studies published within the last ten years. Chlorination byproducts (CBPs), compounds occurring after reactions of chlorine and organic matter, have been known to be carcinogenic for a quite a while. I don't know if UW is intentionally obfuscating their results in these reports, but they're certainly not doing their part in making them accessible. NYC recently put a UV disinfection system online in place of chemical disinfection for the New Croton water supply because of these concerns.

Our water doesn't always come from the Boonton supply. UW has an interconnect that allows them to divert water from the Little Falls Intake into our supply. It's straight from the Passaic River in an area with a lot of point source pollution, so they tend to go a little heavier on the disinfection when they're doing that. I drink buckets of tap water every week and don't really notice the taste/smell (anymore?), but I remember Queens (Catskill) water being pretty good compared to ours.

I know our water profile is quite hard and is suited for brewing pilsners.

Quote:Interesting, I must admit that water chemistry is not my strong suit. NYC's water analysis sheet says that their average chlorine content is .63 mg/L, but United doesn't provide any info on it. It would be good to get another water analysis done to see how much residual chlorine is in the water, because just by smell and taste it seems really high.

edit: just noticed on another sheet it says they target between .2 - .8 ppm. If that's true, then the levels wouldn't be noticeably higher. So what causes that chlorine smell and chlorine taste, if it's not the chlorine level or the chlorides? Any ideas, since you seem more familiar with this than I?

Chloride is very different from chlorine. Chloride is an ion of chlorine, most usually found in conjunction with another element like sodium or calcium. Excessive chloride content in municipal water exhibits a salty taste, not the bleach odor formed by excess chlorination. Your analysis is very misleading.

In the second tab "Info" there are two links to UnitedWater pdfs for Jersey City and Hoboken water results. Search for "Chloride" and you'll find the range of results, which for JC show as 62-92 ppm. A JCBC member got some independent tests done a few years ago and confirmed the results, with his test showing 70 ppm.

Quote:Pur or Brita filters do a good job or filtering the chlorine out. Boiling also gets rid of chlorine, as does letting the water sit, as it evaporates pretty quickly.

Quote:

I'm looking at your sources and cannot figure out where you got the 70 ppm value. Could you tell me where?

Is there any type of filter / brand that can get rid of chlorine? Or at least cut it down a bit?

http://jerseycitybrewclub.com/brewschool/whats-in-your-water/

Jersey City and Hoboken have 70 ppm of chlorides in the water, whereas NYC has only 12. San Francisco has about 12, Chicago has 13. Why is there so much chlorine into our water?


And to head off questions, yes we are getting closer and closer to opening. Beer fridge is wired up, we just have a bit more electric to do and then we have our inspections. So assuming our inspections go alright, we'll be open very soon!