How can water be hard? What is the difference between hard and soft water?
While it may not be the most obvious term for describing Australia’s water quality, hardness is just as relevant as taste and smell. From limescale-coated kettles and shampoo residue in fine hair to clogged hot water systems and flared-up atopic eczema, hard water can be anything from an occasional inconvenience to a painful and expensive problem for your home.
The “hard water vs soft water” conversation, like many topics involving both scientific concepts and government processes, can be difficult to follow. In this article, we answer some common questions about whether hard or soft water is better for you, what water softeners do, and how you can deal with extra minerals in your home without being concerned about your health or water quality.
What is water hardness?
The term “hardness” refers to the level of dissolved minerals in your water supply, usually expressed as a measurement of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). Minerals like potassium, calcium and magnesium are picked up from the environment as the water percolates through rocks, dissolving in the water and altering its properties.
Once the minerals are dissolved, they are very difficult to remove with ordinary water filters. Altering the TDS of your water supply requires either incredibly fine water filters (like reverse osmosis systems) or a dedicated water softener.
Australia is one of the driest countries in the world, so several regions rely on groundwater to supplement limited sources like surface reservoirs or desalination plants. Because so much of our water is passing through underground aquifers and materials like limestone, chalk, and gypsum, many Australians have to deal with very hard water.
How can I tell if my home has hard or soft water?
The most visible difference between hard and soft water is the formation of limescale around your home. Minerals like calcium and magnesium may dissolve easily in water, but once that water dries up, it leaves behind mineral deposits that cling to a wide range of surfaces.
These deposits, commonly known as limescale, form a chalky white or yellow residue that gradually builds up on showerheads, taps, glasses, and any surface where hard water has dried. It also accumulates in less visible spots like inside coffee machines and hot water systems; higher temperatures accelerate the formation of limescale, so appliances with heating elements are even more vulnerable to hard water damage.
Hard water can also impact your clothes and dishes. Dish soap, laundry detergent, and fabric softeners are less effective when they are used with hard water, so you will often find limescale spots on your dishes and glassware and feel a greasy chemical film on your clothes (or simply a reduction in softness).
While moderately hard water may only need attention every few weeks to wipe away the chalky residue, Australians with higher mineral content in their water often need to put in a lot more effort to avoid permanent, expensive damage from etching glass surfaces or wearing out expensive appliances. Unless, of course, they have a Complete Home Filtration system with a built-in water softener.
Is drinking hard water bad for you?
The minerals that contribute to water hardness are completely harmless. In fact, there has been a great deal of discourse about the potential health benefits of alkaline water, and hard water tends to be more alkaline than soft water.
Whether your mineral content is off the charts or you have the softest water in the world, proper hydration is always a good idea. There are certainly benefits to having essential minerals in your drinking water, but the same can be said of having softened water coming out of your tap.
Does soft water taste better than hard water?
Possibly. There are many factors that can influence the taste of your water, but people who have tasted both hard and soft water may indeed notice a difference. The noticeable threshold for minerals like calcium in tap water is fairly high, but areas with particularly hard water may have a distinctive flavour.
However, the mineral content is unlikely to be the most significant factor in the taste of your tap water. Areas with higher levels of dissolved minerals often have other impurities and contaminants as well, with correspondingly high levels of treatment chemicals like chlorine. If there are more impurities in your water supply, regardless of whether you have hard or soft water, there is an increased risk of contaminants that will affect the taste of your water.
Is soft water better for your skin and hair?
Absolutely. Taste and hydration benefits from drinking hard and soft water may be up for discussion, but this is one area where soft water is definitely the better option. Showering in soft water is significantly better for your hair and skin.
Calcium, magnesium, and other minerals in your water supply interfere with chemicals and products like shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and other common skin/hair care products. If you are washing your hair in hard water, the shampoo and conditioner will not be able to lather as effectively. This means you have to use larger amounts of these products, reducing the lifespan of each bottle and increasing the amount of chemicals you are rubbing into your hair and skin.
Hard water also does not rinse as thoroughly as soft water, so you are more likely to have residual chemicals left to dry on your body. These chemicals often strip away natural oils, dehydrating your skin and leaving your hair brittle and more prone to damage (especially if you already have fine hair). This is particularly unpleasant for people with conditions like atopic dermatitis (eczema), as stripping the moisture from their skin can exacerbate irritations and rashes – especially if you are dealing with irritating chemicals like chlorine that are already in the water supply. The hard water vs soft water eczema experience is a night and day difference.
Hard water can also be an issue for people with colour-treated hair. The dehydration and increased vulnerability of your hair after washing it in hard water can make it more difficult to retain a desired colour or texture, as chemicals will be able to damage and strip your hair more easily. Maintaining hair colour also often requires expensive shampoos and custom products, so having hard water reduce their efficiency can lead to significant costs. The hard water vs soft water hair consequences are clear: soft water is the way to go.
How can I control water hardness in my home?
Minerals deposits of calcium and magnesium do not restrict themselves to your kitchen tap; hard water impacts every faucet, fixture, pipe, and outlet in your home. Fortunately, there are options for addressing high mineral content throughout your whole home without installing separate water filters on every tap and shower head.
Complete Home Filtration systems were designed in Australia for Australian water, so every CHF 6000 system has a built-in solution for water hardness. After the water passes through a one-micron sediment filter, it enters an ion-exchange softening resin cartridge. This resin absorbs the calcium and magnesium ions that lead to the formation of limescale, exchanging them for harmless sodium ions (without adding a salty taste to your water).
The Complete Home Filtration system’s four-stage process significantly reduces hard water damage to your home, hair, and skin. It also protects your home from a wide variety of other impurities like chlorine and heavy metals like lead and mercury, reinforcing the soft water benefits by filtering out the chemicals that would make skin and hair damage worse. This further improves outcomes for people with conditions like eczema and psoriasis and brings significant quality-of-life improvements to all Australian homeowners.
If you are renting but still want to avoid hard water damage, a reverse osmosis system is a great option for keeping limescale and mineral deposits off your glassware and kitchen sink. The reverse osmosis process involves pushing your tap water through a semi-permeable membrane, completely stripping out 99.98% of impurities.
This process is so effective that it leaves the water slightly acidic, having removed even the healthy minerals. Complete Home Filtration’s reverse osmosis water filters come with a remineralising cartridge that restores trace amounts of essential minerals, allowing you to enjoy purified, softened water without sacrificing the benefits of natural water.
To find out more about filtration options and water softeners and experience the hard water vs soft water difference for yourself, you can contact the experts at Complete Home Filtration by filling out our contact form below or calling us on 1300 693 458.
