Home water sensory baseline audit (taste/odor/staining -> named test panel) —.

Keepers notice a metallic taste, a rotten-egg smell, or new staining long before they'd think to test — and just as often assume clean-tasting water is safe water, which nitrate, lead, and coliform bacteria disprove every day since none of the three have a taste. A structured sensory audit turns those signs into the RIGHT test panel at a certified lab, and refuses to let a clean glass stand in for a lab result.

Where

At home / national (any household, well or utility-served) · Open the map

Pay

$110 proposed

This packet is not funded yet, so this figure is a proposed price and not money waiting in escrow. If a buyer funds it, approved proof settles that price onchain. If nobody funds it, approved proof earns provable credit toward the work instead of cash — recorded, and readable any time at vealth.net/labor/credit/(your wallet). You see which before you claim, never after.

Proof

A dated sensory observation record across taste, odor, staining, and scale, each sign mapped to a named certified-lab test candidate per the extension reference table, with no safety conclusion drawn from observation alone

This is exactly what gets it approved. Nothing settles without it.

Level

entry

Open until

2026-12-28

Posted by

0x034F…6c89

The creator wallet. Its signature is what approves proof and settles the wage.

How this work is done

A documented method, so this packet comes out the same whoever does it.

Bring

• The household's own tap water, observed under normal use (no special equipment required)
• A clean glass and a well-lit sink/tub for staining observation
• A written observation form (taste, odor, color, staining, scale)
• An extension sign-to-test reference table (e.g. Penn State Extension's water-quality symptom guide)

Steps

1. 1. Observe and record taste at a normal drinking temperature: metallic, salty, bitter, or none.
2. 2. Observe and record odor, both cold and after running the hot tap: rotten-egg/sulfur, musty, chlorine-like, or none.
3. 3. Observe and record staining: fixture/tub color (orange-brown, black, blue-green), and whether staining is on cold-water or hot-water fixtures or both.
4. 4. Observe and record scale/hardness signs: white/gray crusting on fixtures, elevated soap use, or visible sediment.
5. 5. Map each recorded sign to its candidate test parameter(s) per the extension reference table (e.g. metallic taste + blue-green staining -> copper/lead/corrosivity panel; rotten-egg odor -> hydrogen sulfide/sulfur bacteria; orange-brown staining -> iron; black staining -> manganese or sulfide).
6. 6. Name the specific certified-lab test panel that matches the observed signs — this packet stops here; it does not sample water or interpret lab results itself.
7. 7. Route the household to a certified lab for the named panel, and to the private-well-annual-screen or household-lead-screen packet when those apply, with the sensory record attached as context.

What counts as done

• Taste, odor, staining, and scale each recorded with specific descriptors (e.g. 'metallic taste', 'rotten-egg odor when hot tap runs', 'blue-green ring in the tub')
• Each recorded sign mapped to a named candidate test parameter, with the extension/state guide cited
• A specific certified-lab test panel named as the next step
• Household routed to the private-well-annual-screen or household-lead-screen packet when the signs indicate it

Proof is measured against these, not judged by taste.