Method to hydraulically fracture a well

A method comprising:

• measuring at least one property of a water source to determine a total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration;
• correlating the TDS concentration to an ion concentration;
• selecting at least one friction reducing polymer based at least in part on the ion concentration;
• and
• introducing the at least one friction reducing polymer and water from the water source into a flow loop.

A system comprising:

• a source of water fluidically coupled to a fracturing blender;
• water testing equipment disposed between the source of water and the fracturing blender wherein the water testing equipment is operable to measure at least one property of the source of water;
• a plurality of friction reducing polymers operable to be added to the fracturing blender;
• and
• a control system comprising:
• at least one processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor to provide software that configures the processor to receive an input signal from the water testing equipment, access a historical database, use the historical database to correlate the property to a concentration of at least one Group(I) ion, at least one Group(II) ion, at least one metal ion, or a combination thereof, select at least one of the plurality of friction reducing polymers based at least in part on the concentration of at least one Group(I) ion, at least one Group(II) ion, at least one metal ion, or a combination thereof, and send an output signal to the fracturing blender to add the at least one of the plurality of friction reducing polymers to the fracturing blender.