A service plumber is standing in somebody's kitchen several times a day. Water treatment dealers pay to get there. The sixty-second water test is how the plumber who is already in the kitchen finds out what is in the water, with the homeowner watching.
It is a measurement, not a pitch. Presenting what you found is a different skill, and it comes after the test, never during it.
Short answer
Three readings at the kitchen cold tap, hardness, total chlorine and total dissolved solids, taken after you have gone over the city's own water quality report with the homeowner. The report tells you what the city adds and what it expects at the tap. The sink tells you what is actually there in this house. The sixty seconds covers the readings. The report comes first and does not count against the clock.
Every public water system publishes a water quality report once a year. Two lines in it matter at the sink: which disinfectant the city uses, chlorine or chloramine, and the hardness range it prints. Read those with the homeowner before the tap is turned on.
Hardness in grains per gallon, total chlorine in parts per million, and total dissolved solids (TDS) in parts per million. A strip, a strip, a meter. Each one is compared to what the report said to expect.
The order
The order is the whole method. A plumber who tests first and reads later is guessing at what the numbers mean. A plumber who reads first knows what the strip should say before it changes color.
Search the city or district name plus "water quality report." Find the disinfectant line and the hardness line. Some reports name the disinfectant outright; the City of Sachse's 2025 report prints "Chlorine Residual (Chloramines)." Some print only "Total Chlorine Residual," as the Carlsbad Municipal Water District's does. If the report does not name it, call the district and ask. A phone answer from the district is a source. A guess is not.
Let it run 30 seconds to 2 minutes, the same flush the city reports tell homeowners to use before drinking. You are testing the city's water, not what sat in the pipe overnight. Cold only. Never the hot side, never the fridge dispenser, never a filtered tap.
Dip the strips in the cup, not under the stream. Read each pad in good light at the seconds printed on the bottle.
One grain per gallon is 17.1 milligrams per liter, so divide a report's milligrams-per-liter figure by 17.1 to compare. The strip tells you the hardness of this house's water today. The report told you the range the city sees.
Read the total chlorine pad. In a chloramine town the free chlorine pad reads near zero, which is exactly what chloramine is designed to do, and a tech who reads only that pad tells the homeowner there is no chlorine in the water. Total chlorine is the number the city reports and the number that goes on the customer's copy.
Dip the meter, read the number, and write all three on the customer's copy of the test with the report's numbers beside them. Graduates of the HALO Water Tour run this from a field app that builds the customer's report on the phone. The paper copy and the homeowner's own eyes are the point either way.
The three numbers
| Number | Where it comes from | What the homeowner hears |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness (grains per gallon) | The strip, compared to the hardness range in the city report | The white crust on the faucets, the film on the shower door, the soap that will not lather, the scale inside the water heater. This is the number they already feel. |
| Total chlorine (ppm) | The total chlorine pad, compared to the residual range in the report, plus the report's word on which kind | What the city adds to keep the water safe on the way to the house, and how much of it is in the glass right now. Chlorine and chloramine are not the same thing, and the report says which one this city uses. |
| TDS (ppm) | The meter, compared to the total dissolved solids line in the report | Everything dissolved in the water, minerals and salts included. It is the taste number, and it is where the drinking-water conversation starts. |
The EPA says more than one in five Americans drink water treated with chloramine, which is chlorine bonded with ammonia so it lasts longer in the pipes. Whether a city uses chlorine or chloramine changes what a plumber recommends, which is why the report is read before the strip comes out.
Two real reports
The City of Sachse's 2025 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report names its disinfectant on page 3: "Chlorine Residual (Chloramines)," average 2.48 ppm, range 0.60 to 3.8. Total hardness is printed at 96.0 to 200 milligrams per liter, which is 5.6 to 11.7 grains, and total dissolved solids at 182 to 455 ppm. A plumber in Sachse walks in knowing all three numbers to expect, and the strip confirms them in the customer's kitchen.
The Carlsbad Municipal Water District's report prints "Total Chlorine Residual," 0.33 to 3.50 ppm at the district's own taps, and does not name the disinfectant. Hardness depends on the blend of imported and desalinated water, which is why Carlsbad runs 3.5 to 13.5 grains depending on the district and the blend (see our Carlsbad water guide). The report gives a range. Only the sink gives this house's number.
Dallas reports 120 to 155 milligrams per liter, 7.0 to 9.1 grains, and Roger's own field readings in Dallas homes run 8 to 12 (see our Dallas water guide). For the figures each utility publishes, see water hardness by city.
Where it goes wrong
In a chloramine town it reads near zero. The tech says "no chlorine here," the homeowner believes him, and the report on the counter says otherwise. Read total.
The water heater drives chlorine off. The fridge dispenser has a filter in it. Both give you a number for water the homeowner does not shower in.
Water that sat in the pipe overnight is not the city's water. Open the cold tap first and let it run while you go over the report.
If the report does not name it, call the district. Carlsbad told the Tour by phone that its water is chloramine, and that phone answer is cited as a phone answer, not dressed up as something the report said. A good guess is not a source.
Straight answer
Watch it done
Why every call
Water treatment dealers spend money to get into a kitchen. The service plumber is already standing in it, invited, licensed, trusted, and holding the warranty on whatever he installs. The test costs a strip and a minute, and it is the only honest way to find out whether this house has a water problem worth talking about. Most do not need a sales conversation that day. The ones that do were never going to raise it themselves.
What one system a week does to a plumbing company is laid out on the $300,000 a year page, and the business side for owners and general managers is on the owners page. The test is where every one of those numbers starts.
Questions
Three things at the kitchen cold tap: hardness in grains per gallon, total chlorine in parts per million, and total dissolved solids (TDS) in parts per million. Each one is compared to the city's own water quality report, which the plumber goes over with the homeowner before the tap is turned on.
Total chlorine is free chlorine plus combined chlorine, and combined chlorine in city water is chloramine. In a chloramine town the free chlorine pad reads near zero even though the water carries two to three parts per million of disinfectant. The total pad shows what is really there, and it is the number the city reports.
The report gives a range or a plant number, not the number at this house. Carlsbad, California blends imported water with desalinated water, so two houses a few miles apart can test very differently on the same day. The report tells you what to expect. The strip tells you what is there.
No. Strips and a TDS meter give the three numbers in sixty seconds. Lead, PFAS and bacteria are measured by the city and printed in its report, which is why the report is part of the test. A lab is for a specific concern the report and the strip cannot settle.
Yes. Day One teaches reading the city report and testing the water. Day Two covers which problems each type of equipment solves. Day Three teaches presenting what the test found. A certification exam closes every day, and the HALO Certified Water Quality Expert credential is awarded on day three.
Sources
Checked in October 2026. Reports are reissued every year, so confirm with the source before you rely on a number.
Written by Roger Wakefield, Texas Master Plumber
45 years in the trade and LEED AP. Published . More about Roger or visit rogerwakefield.com.
Keep going
Three consecutive days, in person, twenty seats a city: Carlsbad October 27-29 and Dallas November 3-5, 2026. A certification exam closes every day, and the HALO Certified Water Quality Expert credential is awarded on day three.