Wet area in lawn during an inspection. Meter was at a deadstop, but the wet area was over the city main line. Duh—referred the owner/realtor to contact the water company. This did get me to wondering: What could I have in my tool bag to test that water in order to see if it is chlorinated? No matter what I would still say to contact the water company, have it fully evaluated by every licensed plumber in the Eastern US etc.
Is there something as easy to use as litmus paper, that I can touch to that water and say (to myself only), “Yep that’s gotta be city water”?
Just remember chlorine dissipates rather rapidly so it may be a clue but not definitive proof. City water has about as much chlorine present as pool water so no way to prove or disprove between city water and pool water. Sewer and rain water won’t show any most likely. If you can find a flowing source a test there would be the most helpful when testing but if you see flowing water, tracing back to the source would be pretty easy and testing likely would not be needed. Not trying to be negative, just cautious. Testing will not be magic.