Well & Borehole Test Kit Results Guide

What this kit checks

The Well & Borehole Water Test Kit reads the eleven measures that matter most on a private supply, where no water company is testing for you. Each has its own detailed guide:

• pH — balance and corrosion risk
• Hardness — scale and appliance protection
• Total alkalinity — the buffer behind stable pH
• Iron — staining and taste, common in boreholes
• Manganese — black staining and bitter taste
• Nitrate — farming run-off
• Nitrite — contamination indicator
• Sulphate — bitter taste, naturally high in some groundwater
• Sodium chloride — salt, worth watching near the coast
• Lead — old pipework and fittings
• Copper — corrosion of your own plumbing

Reading your strip

Dip a strip for two seconds, hold it level and wait 30 seconds, then match each pad against the colour chart on your instructions card. Private supplies change with the weather and the seasons — testing monthly, and after heavy rain, builds a picture you can trust.

What to do next

• Anything repeatedly outside its range: open that measure’s guide above and follow the steps.
• Your council’s environmental health team can arrange accredited lab testing of a private supply — the definitive follow-up to any strip result.
• Pair this kit with a rapid bacteria test — bacteria is the risk a mineral strip can’t see.