Melbourne is home to some of the world’s best tap water – a fact that Melbourne Water, the government-owned operator of the city’s water, sewerage and drainage networks, proudly points out on its site. Melbourne’s location helps: the city enjoys steady rainfall throughout the year, which is collected in a number of well-protected catchment areas.
But drinking water and hot tub water are two very different things. As any hot tub owner knows, spa water needs to be properly treated and balanced to make it safe for soaking. And the composition of tap water will affect the type and amount of chemicals you use to treat the water in your spa.
In this guide we’ll take a closer look at Melbourne water, to understand its makeup, and how a hot tub owner might get it ready for soaking.
Water quality in Melbourne
Every drop of water that comes out of a Melbourne tap must meet stringent Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, which apply across Australia. Melbourne Water generally outperforms these requirements comfortably, which is why it has such a reputation for quality.
Looking specifically at hot tubs, there are a few key water characteristics that can affect the quality of your soak. Let’s look at Melbourne’s performance in each (figures taken from Melbourne Water’s water quality data):
pH level/Alkalinity
pH measures how acid or alkaline a liquid is on a scale of zero (acidic) to 14 (alkaline), with a pH of seven being perfectly neutral. The ideal pH for hot tub water is 7.2-7.8, or ever so slightly alkaline. While Melbourne water can vary in pH from 6.6 to 8.2, it generally sits right in that perfect hot tub range.
‘Total alkalinity’ is a related number that measures the presence of bicarbonates, carbonates and hydroxides in the water. Melbourne water has rather low total alkalinity levels of 10-20 parts per million (ppm), which is great for drinking, but not so great for soaking – hot tubs need 80-120 ppm, and will require chemical additives to get there.
Hardness
‘Hard’ water features high concentrations of dissolved minerals, which can build up as scale on the shell of your hot tub and affect pH and alkalinity levels. In good news for Melburnians, the city has some of the softest water in Australia.
Hard water has dissolved mineral concentrations of 60+ ppm. Dy cities like Adelaide and Perth can have concentrations of 100+ ppm. But regular rainfall makes Melbourne water incredibly soft, with concentrations generally sitting in the 10-20 ppm range.
Chlorine
A small amount of chlorine is added to Melbourne water to kill nasties that might make people sick. On average these concentrations are at or below 1 ppm, less than a third of the 3 ppm concentration recommended for a hot tub. This is why you add chlorine or other forms of sanitiser to your spa water.
Impurities
While Melbourne Water does its best to remove dirt, particulates and other impurities from tap water, some will inevitably get through. Placing a prefilter on the end of your garden hose can help you fill your tub with pure water, and reduce the work that your hot tub filter system has to do.
How Melbourne water quality affects hot tub water care
Melbourne’s water is unique, so a local hot tub owner will balance their water differently to an owner in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth. There are even subtle differences within Greater Melbourne, depending on which catchment area your water comes from.
But no matter where you live, hot tub water care comes down to two key factors:
Filtration
The impurity levels of tap water can fluctuate in Melbourne, particularly after heavy rain. As mentioned above, a prefilter on your garden hose can help to purify the water as you fill your tub, and a high quality and well maintained filtration system will deal with any dirt and debris that invades your spa after it’s filled.
Sanitisation
The pH and mineral levels of Melbourne water are ideal, but you will need to add sanitiser to increase the chlorine and total alkalinity levels to make the water suitable for soaking. This sanitiser doesn’t necessarily have to be chlorine either – depending on your water care system, bromine, salt and ozone can all do a similar job in a gentler way.
Hot Spring: the ultimate in hot tub water care
As a Melbourne hot tub owner you are blessed with great quality water, but you’ll still have to add and balance chemicals to create a high quality soaking experience.
Hot Spring’s range of innovative water care technologies can make that task so much easier: our hot tubs minimise work, maximise play and deliver the clearest, cleanest, softest and freshest water you’ll ever experience.
FreshWater® IQ
Welcome to a revolution in hot tub water testing. FreshWater® IQ trades manual test strips and loose chemicals for a digital and fully automated system that tests your spa water every hour. When an improvement can be made to your water, it tells you exactly what to do via a digital display built into the side of the spa, and can even dispense the necessary chemicals automatically.
FreshWater™ Salt and FreshWater™ Ozone Systems
Our FreshWater™ Salt and FreshWater® Ozone Systems sanitise and balance your water in a far gentler and more luxurious way than traditional chlorine. The former cleverly converts salt into chlorine, while the latter pulls naturally sanitising ozone gas from the ambient air, then feeds it through the water to kill organic invaders on contact. Both systems cut chemical use, increase comfort and can even make your water last longer.
100% no-bypass filtration
When you choose a Highlife hot tub, your water will be 100% filtered, 100% of the time. The SilentFlo 5000 circulation system pushes water through high-end ceramic Tri-X filters, even when the jets are turned on – a feature exclusive to our premier collection.
Melbourne is home to excellent quality tap water, so hot tub owners have a great base to work from. But when you add Hot Spring’s cutting edge technology, you can create the world’s most luxurious hot tub water with minimal effort, allowing you to place an unmatched soaking experience just steps from your back door.
Ready to experience the Hot Spring difference? Visit your local dealer today!