How Winter Weather Impacts Your Water Quality
Although water systems are designed to handle winter weather, freezing temperatures can still create challenges. Why does freezing weather affect water quality, and what steps can you take to protect your water system this winter?
Why Winter Weather Affects Your Water
Freezing Pipes
Frozen pipes are one of the most common issues during freezing temperatures. As water expands when it freezes, it puts pressure on pipes, potentially causing them to burst and compromising the sealed water system.
Water mains can break for reasons beyond freezing water. For example, cast iron pipes become more brittle in cold temperatures, increasing the likelihood of cracking. Additionally, the freeze-thaw cycle can cause ground shifts, adding stress to underground pipes.
When pipes break in the public water supply, this will lead to a boil water advisory. This will last until the public utility company can fix the line break and have the water tested to ensure that it is safe to drink.
Frozen pipes can also happen in your personal home’s water system. This can not only cut off the water supply to your home but can also cause expensive water damage depending on where the water break is.
How to prevent freezing pipes
When it comes to frozen pipes in your home, the easiest way to prevent them is with proper insulation of any exposed pipes. This insulation is affordable and can be found at most hardware stores or easily put in place by a plumber. There are other options such as spray insulation or heat wrap as well.
It is also important to disconnect garden hoses before freezing temperatures. Often at the beginning of the winter season based on what region you live in. This is because the water that stays in the hose and faucet is not insulated from the outside temperature and is able to rapidly expand and bust.
If you are concerned about pipes freezing that connect to your bathroom or kitchen, you can leave cabinet doors open to allow the warm air from your home to reach them more easily. This can specifically help from having a busted pipe inside your home.
Letting your faucet drip is another common method to prevent freezing pipes. This is because water slowly flowing is less likely to freeze. Just a slow drip is enough to prevent water from forming into ice and causing damage.
Corrosion
Corrosion in pipes is worse during colder temperatures. When temperatures drop, the Langelier Saturation Index becomes lower and water becomes more aggressive and corrosive. Which means it is more likely to leach contaminants from pipes and lower water quality.
Road Run Off
Winter road maintenance introduces additional risks to water quality. As ice and snow melt, road salt, automotive fluids, and other pollutants can run off into water supplies, potentially harming aquatic ecosystems and altering water quality.
Road salt can raise sodium levels in drinking water and cause issues for anyone with high blood pressure or who is sensitive to high sodium intake. Regular water testing can help identify this risk.
How To Test Your Water During Winter Weather
If you’re concerned about potential water contamination during freezing weather, testing your water is a crucial step in ensuring its safety.
If you are specifically concerned about contamination from broken pipes, you can spot check your water with a DIY Bacteria in Water Test Kit. Bacteria will be the most immediate concern with broken pipes. If this test comes back positive, you may have a broken pipe or other source of contamination in your water.
And if you are on private well water, you should be checking your water quarterly to ensure that your well water is safe.
Our recommended option is to get In-Lab Testing for your water quality. The Safe Home Premium Drinking Water Test Kit will test for 50 parameters and will include a DIY Bacteria Test Kit.
Our In-Lab Test will test for:
- Metals that may leach into your drinking water from pipes.
- Physical properties like the Langelier Index and Aggressive Index.
- Inorganic Compounds that may be in road run-off.
Our In-Lab Test Kits send you everything you need to collect a water sample as well as ship it back to our EPA-Certified Lab. Then our chemist will test your water and send you your easy-to-read results.
