How Does Hard Water Get Hard?

Hard Water and Your Home

Hard water can affect how well cleaning can be done in your house. It can interfere with anything from daily cleaning to bathing and personal grooming. Hard water also affects how your appliances, such as the dishwasher and washing machine, clean your dishes and your laundry. But how does water become hard?

Calcium and Magnesium

Hard water develops certain minerals exist in your water. Since a percentage of water we use is natural ground water, it picks up some minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Certain geographical locations may contain more of these minerals than in other regions.

When there is an over-abundance of calcium and magnesium, hard water develops. These aren't harmful materials, but they leave deposits that show up on surfaces. You can see the deposits as a ring in your toilet bowl or a white, powdery-looking substance around your shower head.

Hard water is considered temporary if the over-abundance of deposits include calcium and bicarbonates only. If there is magnesium present, it is considered permanent hard water.

Getting Rid of Hard Water

You can contact your water supply companies and health department and give them a water sample to find out if your water is hard. Hard water can also be detected in your home if you notice soap is not producing a lather. A water softener can be purchased to reduce hard water in your household. The softener filters out excess calcium and magnesium.

If you don't have time or means to purchase a water softener, you can remove temporary hard water deposits by boiling the water. Adding lime--the mineral, not the fruit--also helps to remove those deposits.
Permanent hard water cannot be softened with boiling, but a water softener is still effective.

Resources

• Detailed description of hard water problems