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Access to safe drinking water is critical — but how much do you really know about your water? Of course, it’s supposed to be clear and odorless, but there’s a lot more to learn about what’s actually in it. It might have excess amounts of chlorine, copper or iron, for example. Or there could be a nitrite, lead or bacteria problem, depending on how the water is sourced and where it’s stored. There’s just no good way to know how pure your water is by look and taste. If you want hard facts about what’s going into your body with every sip, you need to test your drinking water.

I usually drink water from my refrigerator, which has a built-in filter; theoretically, that should be better than tap water, right? But testing showed that the fridge water had the exact same particle count as my tap water. Granted, the fridge filter was old and needed replacement, but the test gave me the information I needed and encouraged me to be more diligent about swapping out the filter. Still, the test results prove the water I’m drinking isn’t as pure as I’d like it to be, so I’m looking at additional solutions to make sure my family is drinking high-quality, clean water.

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With a few cheap products and minimal time, you, too, can test your water. The process is quick, easy and affordable. Whether you drink water from your tap, well, fridge, bottle or filter, you might be just as surprised as I was.