Well Water Filtration
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Drinking Water Problems
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Learn About the Effects & Benefits
Of Unfiltered & Filtered Water
Effects of Unfiltered Water
Untreated Water Effects
Municipal water is treated with chemicals such as chlorine to prevent bacteria from growing within the water supply while traveling to your home. However, many of these chemicals remain in your water even after it reaches it's destination. These chemicals may give your water supply a bad taste or odor, forcing you to compensate by using more of products you add to water.
Hard water reduces the efficiency of water-using appliances. Water containing hardness causes water heaters to use nearly 20% to 30% more energy than a water heater using softened water. Appliances operating with hard water may need to be serviced or replaced more often.
Bathing with hard water leaves a soap residue that clogs the skin's pores causing excessive dryness, itching, irritation, and the need for lotions. Hard water enhances the effect of psoriasis, eczema, and other skin conditions. Hard water dries hair out causing split ends and the increased need for conditioners and treatments. Chlorine can also dry out your skin causing itchiness and dandruff. It can cause your hair to become dry and brittle actually stripping the hair of natural oils used to protect hair from damage caused by daily wear.
It takes 50-70% more coffee and tea when using hard water to adequately flavor beverages. Hard water causes pasta to stick together and vegetables to lose their color and nutritional value. It takes more of anything that dissolves in water for flavor to penetrate through the hardness in water.
Continued washing in hard water causes your colors to fade and whites to look gray and dingy. Your clothing wears out 30% to 40% faster in hard water and requires the need of more soap to clean. Soap scum is left behind in your clothes, making the material feel harsh and scratchy.
Dishwashers lose efficiency because of scale build up that clogs pipes and lines. Dishes have streaks and water spots that dull their appearance. Hardness molecules cause detergent to be less effective and the need for more detergent to clean your dishes
Hardness Chart
Hardness in water is the most common water quality problem reported by U.S. consumers. In fact, hard water is found in more than 85 percent of the United States. Hard water occurs when excess minerals in the water create certain nuisance problems. While these water problems can be frustrating, water hardness is not a safety issue. Hard water is safe for drinking, cooking, and other household uses.
Hard water can cause several problems for consumers including decreased life of household plumbing and water-using appliances, increased difficulty in cleaning and laundering tasks, decreased efficiency of water heaters, and white/chalky deposits on items such as plumbing, tubs, sinks, and pots and pans.
Causes of Hard Water:
Approximately 22 percent of the earth's fresh water is ground water, and naturally, as it flows through soil and rock, it picks up minerals. Hard water results when an excessive amount of calcium and magnesium are present. Total hardness is measured in grains per gallon of water (gpg) or milligrams per liter (mg/l). Grains per gallon (gpg) is a unit of weight for a volume of water, as is milligrams per liter (mg/l). Sometimes hardness is measured in parts per million (ppm). Parts per million (ppm) measures the unit(s) of a substance for every one million units of water. Milligrams per liter (mg/l) and parts per million (ppm) are roughly equal in water analysis. One gpg (1gpg) is equivalent to 17.1 ppm or mg/l. When conducting chemical analysis, laboratories usually measure hardness minerals in either grains per gallon (gpg) or milligrams per liter (mg/l). You can evaluate the hardness of your water supply by referring to the chart above.