This test analyzes your city tap water for 47 contaminants across 5 categories: 18 heavy and trace metals (lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, chromium, copper, uranium, and more), 11 metals and minerals (iron, manganese, calcium, magnesium, sodium, etc.), 4 water properties (pH, hardness, alkalinity, TDS), 6 inorganics (nitrate, fluoride, sulfate, chloride, boron, phosphorus), and 8 calculated values (grains per gallon, Langelier Saturation Index, calculated hardness, chloride-to-sulfate mass ratio, and more). All testing is performed at an independent, ISO/IEC 17025-accredited laboratory in SimpleLab's network, using EPA-standard methods. Bacteria testing is not included because city water is disinfected by your municipality before it reaches your home. It does not test chlorine, chloramine, disinfection byproducts or PFAS; your utility reports its disinfectant and byproduct levels in its annual water quality report.

City water is treated and disinfected by your local utility before it ever reaches your tap. Federal rules require your utility to sample its distribution system for coliform bacteria on a regular schedule (monthly or quarterly, depending on the system) and to investigate when a sample is positive. This kit spends its cost on what the utility's samples cannot show: lead, copper and the other metals your own plumbing can add after the water leaves the main. If you're on a private well that does not have any disinfection, use the Well Water Test Kit instead, which adds the E. coli and Total Coliform panel.

The lab returns results about 5 business days after it receives your sample. The kit ships to you with free standard shipping (2 to 5 business days depending on location). You collect your sample (a few minutes) and ship it back with the prepaid 2-day label; the lab's 5 business days start when it arrives. After that, Aidan reviews your results and contacts you with a personal recommendation, usually the same day or the next morning. Total time from order to actionable plan: usually 2 to 4 weeks.

Hardware-store test strips test for 6 to 14 parameters using color-changing strips that you try to match against a chart. They cannot detect contaminants at the low levels that matter for health. Lead, for example, has an EPA action level of 15 parts per billion, which no strip test can measure. This kit sends your water to an independent, third-party certified lab that uses EPA and Standard Methods: ICP-MS for trace metals and ion chromatography for anions. The difference between a strip test and a certified lab test is the difference between a guess and an answer.

Tap Score is a great company, and both kits are tested in SimpleLab's network of accredited labs (Tap Score is SimpleLab's own consumer brand), though Tap Score's packages and detection levels are its own. The difference is what happens after. Tap Score gives you a lab report with general treatment recommendations. We give you an impartial lab report plus a personal consultation with a water treatment specialist who has been solving city and well water problems for over 30 years. Aidan will tell you the exact equipment model, size, and installation order for your specific situation. And if you need equipment, we sell and support it directly. One company from test to treatment to ongoing support.

Aidan personally reviews every set of independent lab results. He looks at your specific numbers (lead, copper, hardness, fluoride, sodium, pH, metals) and creates a recommendation tailored to your household. He will tell you which contaminants need treatment and which don't, the exact equipment you need and what size, the correct installation order, and what maintenance to expect. He will contact you directly by email, text, or phone, whatever you prefer. If your water tests clean, he will tell you that too.

Then nothing on this 47-item panel is a problem at your tap, and you don't need treatment equipment for any of it. That peace of mind is worth the test by itself. We will never recommend equipment you don't need. Plenty of municipal supplies deliver clean water to the home, and many homes have plumbing that doesn't add lead or copper on the way to the tap. If yours is one of them, your results will show it. (The kit does not test bacteria, chlorine, disinfection byproducts or PFAS; your utility's annual report covers its disinfectant and byproduct levels.)

Yes, every community water system has to publish an annual Consumer Confidence Report. It summarizes the utility's own samples, including lead and copper from a set of homes it tests. It does not tell you what is happening in your home. Lead and copper levels can climb significantly between the plant and your tap because of older service lines, brass fittings, and copper piping. The only way to know what is actually coming out of your kitchen faucet is to test it at your kitchen faucet.

Absolutely. Call 800-460-5810 or text Aidan at 443-277-2204. He is available 7 days a week. If you are not sure whether you need this test, he can help you figure that out in a few minutes. No sales pitch, just straight answers. You can also email support@midatlanticwater.net.