A number copied from Calgary's water tables needs more than a unit. Keep its parameter name, plant, reporting period and result column. Otherwise, two entries labelled mg/L can look like a comparison even when they describe different things.
The City of Calgary explains hardness through calcium and magnesium and says it varies with season and location. Its general supply account places Bow River water through Bearspaw mostly in the north and Elbow River water through Glenmore mostly in the south. That account does not establish which plant supplied a particular address on a particular day. Calgary's hardness and water-data page.
Keep the plant and reporting year attached
The Bearspaw and Glenmore summaries both cover 1 January to 31 December 2025. Their headings identify treated water entering the distribution system. They are annual summaries at that boundary, not October 2026 readings from a kitchen tap. Bearspaw's 2025 summary, Glenmore's 2025 summary.
If you save a row, include the heading above it. A screenshot containing only a value can lose the difference between a yearly average, a maximum and a result for another plant. Keep the original PDF link too, so someone reading your note can recover the reporting boundary and legend.
The original publication dates of these PDFs were not established in this research. Their reporting year is explicit. Opening them in 2026 does not turn their measurements into 2026 data, nor does the annual average become a setting established for your current supply.
The parameter name belongs beside the unit
In Bearspaw's 2025 average column, hardness is 174 mg/L as CaCO3, total alkalinity is 122 mg/L as CaCO3, and total dissolved solids are 212 mg/L. Those are three separately labelled rows. Hardness and alkalinity sharing the same printed unit does not make their values interchangeable. See the parameter and units columns in the Bearspaw table.
The CaCO3 part of the label belongs in a copied hardness or alkalinity value. It distinguishes the report's expression of the parameter from a bare mg/L label. Do not silently rename one of those rows as calcium concentration, or use the dissolved-solids entry as if it were the hardness row. No unit conversion or appliance setting is calculated here.
For a comparison between plants, choose the same row and result column in both reports. Glenmore's 2025 total alkalinity average is 149 mg/L as CaCO3. Comparing that with Bearspaw's total alkalinity average keeps the parameter and period consistent; comparing it with Bearspaw's hardness would not. Glenmore's total alkalinity row.
Read the result and guideline columns separately
The PDFs place minimum, maximum and average results beside a separate concentration-or-guideline column. Bearspaw's legend identifies A as an aesthetic objective and O as operating guidance. It explains a less-than sign as not detected above the specified value. Preserve those labels and symbols instead of copying a guideline into your results or replacing a less-than entry with zero. Read the Bearspaw legend on the final page.
For an equipment question, ask for the relevant parameter and current supply information before changing a setting. In rented accommodation, keep the manufacturer's instructions and the host's information with that request. A plant's annual summary does not tell you how an individual installed device has been configured.
Our Calgary city guide gives general travel context. The pitcher-filter and softener comparison explains their different tasks, while the TDS-meter guide discusses interpreting a dissolved-solids reading. The original utility pages and tables were checked on 15 October 2026; no household sample was obtained.
