Standardize the laboratory data
Compatible measurements are converted into a common internal unit before comparison. Auraven preserves the original value, unit, method, reporting limit, and laboratory qualifiers.
Transparent by design
The science behind your Auraven Grade
A laboratory report can contain dozens of measurements, different units, reporting limits, and regulatory terms. Auraven organizes that information into a clear grade without hiding the underlying data.
We compare each measured result with an appropriate health, aesthetic, or plumbing benchmark; calculate how close the result is to that benchmark; apply contaminant-specific severity and safeguard rules; and then translate the technical score into an easy-to-understand A–E grade.
Explore the methodology
Health first
70%
Health Protection
Contaminants associated with human health receive the greatest influence, and serious findings cannot be hidden by favorable taste or hardness results.
Everyday use
17%
Experience Quality
Taste, odor, color, staining, turbidity, hardness, and other qualities that affect how water looks, feels, and performs.
Your home
13%
Home Compatibility
Water chemistry associated with scale, corrosion, fixture staining, appliance wear, or increased metal-release potential.
Auraven scoring algorithm · current beta methodology
Three categories. One clear grade.
70%Health Protection Score
17%Experience Quality Score
13%Home Compatibility Score
Overall Technical Score = 0.70 × Health + 0.17 × Experience + 0.13 × Home Compatibility. Critical-result safeguards are applied after the weighted calculation, so a serious health finding can cap the final score and grade.
How a laboratory result becomes a grade
The calculation is rule-based and auditable. The same validated input produces the same result.
Select the appropriate benchmark
We distinguish enforceable public-water standards from health goals, advisories, secondary aesthetic guidance, private-well comparison values, and international guidelines.
Calculate the benchmark ratio
For most chemicals, the measured concentration is divided by the selected benchmark. This shows whether the result is far below, near, equal to, or above the comparison value.
Benchmark Ratio = Measured Result ÷ Selected Benchmark
Apply a graduated penalty
Auraven does not use a simplistic pass-or-fail cliff. Penalties increase gradually as a result approaches a benchmark and rise more sharply when the benchmark is exceeded.
Consider contaminant severity
Health penalties may be adjusted for acute effects, chronic effects, developmental sensitivity, cancer evidence, persistence, affected body systems, and strength of evidence.
Apply safeguards and human review
Critical bacteria, major health exceedances, inadequate detection limits, or multiple serious findings can cap the final grade and trigger a higher action level before the report is released.
Understanding your grade
The grade is the beginning of the explanation—not the end. Every report also shows the actual results, benchmarks, limitations, and next steps.
A
Strong Results
The tested parameters generally compared favorably with the selected benchmarks.
B
Generally Favorable
Most results were favorable, with minor findings or limitations worth monitoring.
C
Attention Recommended
One or more results should be reviewed, monitored, confirmed, or addressed.
D
Corrective Action
Significant findings warrant timely investigation, mitigation, or professional evaluation.
E
Priority Concern
A serious finding or combination of findings may require prompt action.
How do we choose a benchmark?
Not every water benchmark has the same legal or scientific meaning. Auraven records the benchmark source, type, jurisdiction, population, exposure period, legal status, and effective date.
- Maximum Contaminant Levels: enforceable limits used for regulated public water systems.
- Health goals and advisories: health-based comparison values that may not be legally enforceable.
- Secondary standards: guidance primarily addressing taste, odor, color, staining, and technical effects.
- Private-well comparisons: standards and guidance used as reference points, even when they are not legally enforceable for an individual well.
Why not use simple pass or fail?
A value at 99% of a benchmark should not be treated as perfect while a value at 101% is treated as completely different. The Auraven penalty curve rises gradually near a benchmark and more sharply after an exceedance. This communicates increasing concern without pretending that every benchmark is an exact biological dividing line.
How are nondetects and reporting limits handled?
“Not detected” does not mean zero. It means the laboratory did not detect the analyte above its method or reporting limit. If that limit is below the applicable benchmark, the result is more informative. If the reporting limit is above the benchmark, the result may be labeled inconclusive and a more sensitive test may be recommended.
What happens when several contaminants are present?
The largest individual health penalty has the strongest effect. Additional findings add progressively smaller penalties so one major issue cannot disappear inside an average, while a larger test panel is not automatically punished simply because more parameters were measured.
Where no accepted mixture method exists, the combined result is described as a screening assessment—not a precise prediction of disease or individual medical risk.
What are critical-result safeguards?
A weighted average alone could create false reassurance. Critical-result rules allow certain findings—such as confirmed E. coli, serious nitrate results, materially elevated lead, high-severity contaminants many times above their benchmark, or multiple health exceedances—to cap the final score and grade regardless of strong results in other categories.
What does an Auraven Grade not mean?
An Auraven Grade is not a government certification, medical diagnosis, legal compliance determination, guarantee that no untested contaminant exists, physical inspection of the plumbing system, or guarantee that treatment equipment will work.
The grade reflects one tested sample, collected at a specific location and time, using a specific laboratory panel and method.
PFAS methodology update
Three methods, three analytical scopes
Auraven now offers PFAS packages using EPA 537.1, EPA 533, and EPA 1633. The package method, analyte list, method detection limit, and reporting limit must remain attached to every result. A nondetect is interpreted against the reporting limit for that specific method—not treated as zero.
EPA 537.1
18 analytes
Targeted drinking-water PFAS package. Each analyte requires its own benchmark mapping and reporting-limit check.
EPA 533
25 analytes
Expanded GenX + PFAS coverage with a different analyte set and method-specific sensitivity.
EPA 1633
40 analytes
Broadest package offered. Greater analytical coverage does not remove the need for analyte-specific interpretation.
Methodology notice: Auraven’s scoring framework—including the new PFAS analytes and method-specific reporting-limit rules—is under development and must be scientifically and legally reviewed before being presented as a validated public-health assessment. The detailed laboratory data and benchmark sources—not the grade alone—should guide decisions.