Majority of the water-enhancing products function by increasing the viscosity of water. This increase in viscosity is linked to their performance. While performance of these products is key, there are several external variables that can influence how these suppressants physically behave. One such external variable is water quality, which is anecdotally known to impact water-enhancing products noticeably.

This study aims at understanding how water quality affects the viscosity of various water-enhancing products at different mix ratios. Understanding how water quality affects the viscosity of suppressant products can offer insight into: (1) Which products are highly sensitive to water quality changes and, (2) how the target viscosity of a mixed product can be affected by water quality.