I purchased a home last year and insisted on a comprehensive water
test. The test showed 3 items of concern, but my inspector insured me
that those items were as a result of the water softener which he did
not bypass to get a sample. I accepted those answers but am now not
certain that they were accurate.

In the last several months living here I have found the water to taste
bad, poorly lather and leave a salty residue on washed dishes. I have
had a (non-copper) pipe corrode and leak and a minor flood from a
supply line nut corrododing away and coming free.

To recheck the test results, and to make sure I am setting my softener
correctly I brought a sample of water to my counter health dept that I
bypassed the softener to get. I requested a hardness test and a
corrosivity test and I am concerned by the results, the TDS in
particular.

LSI: -0.75
Alkalinity: 136 mg/l
Hardness - Calcium: 208 mg/l
Hardness - Total: 244 mg/l
TDS: 1309 mg/l
pH: 7.16 @ 17.7 pH

Here is an excerpt of the ORIGINAL test results (it is 3 pages long in
total with nearly a 100 items on it):
No bacerial results
Inorganic metals all ND or very low, except for Sodium at 640 mg/l
Alkalinity: 120 mg/l
Chloride: 520 mg/l
Flouride: ND
Hardness: ND -- ?
Nitrate: 8.4 mg/l
Nitrite: ND
pH: 6.4
Sulfate: 30
TDS: 1300 mg/l

I am considering getting my water tested again to identify what might
be causing the high TDS. I am suspecting Chloride which the original
test indicated and which I believe the inspector was mistaken to
attribute to the softener as the softener exchanges Ca and Na but this
should add chloride to the water. I am also thinking that this may be
the consequence of a highway I live very near to in NY and de-icers
penetrating the aquafier.

I would very much appreciate some informed opinions and suggestions.
I am not certain who I can contact to help me better interpret this
data... the people I speak to seem to know considerably less than I do
and I am not that well informed!

Help!
Michael