Did you know that approximately 85% of the US has hard drinking water? This means it has a high concentration of dissolved minerals, primarily calcium and magnesium.
There’s a scale that measures the hardness and softness of water. The amount of dissolved minerals is measured by grains per gallon. It is considered soft water if your water has less than one grain per gallon of dissolved minerals, which is the equivalent of 17.1 parts per million. This means that it contains minimal levels of calcium and magnesium ions.
Moderately hard water has a moderate concentration of these dissolved minerals. The range is from one grain per gallon to 7. In parts per million, that’s 17.1 to 120.
Hard water, which most Americans have coming out of their tap, ranges from seven grains of hardness to 10.5. That’s 120 parts per million to 180. This would be considered a significant amount of calcium and magnesium ions which can cause problems with your household appliances and cause other concerns, which we’ll discuss in just a second.
A small percentage of US homes have very hard water. Their dissolved mineral concentration exceeds 10.5 grains per gallon or 180 parts per million. This could cause significant challenges to being able to clean anything in your house. It could build up scale in your pipes and clog up water-using appliances.
The United States areas with the hardest water are the Midwest, Southwest, Rocky Mountains, and Great Lakes.
The areas in the US with the softest water are the Pacific Northwest, New England, Southeast coastal areas, and the Appalachian Mountains.
If you’re unsure about your water’s hardness, you can get a water testing kit inexpensively. You can find them on Amazon or a variety of websites. Some hardware stores carry them as well. Usually, the kits consist of a strip that you dip into the water. The strip will change color to indicate the hardness of the water.
If you have hard or really hard drinking water, there are some health effects you should be concerned about. For one, the excess minerals could increase your risk for kidney stones. While the risk is considered low, there is a relationship between them. The risk of developing kidney stones increases as you get older. Older people do not drink enough water or eat enough fiber and vegetables.
There have also been some studies that suggest drinking hard water might have an impact on your cardiovascular health. There is a possible link between drinking hard water and developing heart disease, but more research needs to be done about this link.
Hard water might also have an impact on your gastrointestinal tract. The minerals can have a mild laxative effect. For some, that is good, considering many Americans suffer from constipation.
An abundance of dissolved minerals can also alter the taste of your drinking water. Some people don’t like the taste, which is slightly sour. The hard water might also interact with compounds in foods and drinks you’re preparing, changing their flavor and appearance. So, if you don’t like the taste of hard water, cooking with it will negatively impact your food taste.
Water ionizers need soluble minerals in order to ionize your drinking water. This means the minerals must be dissolved in your water and not clumped into scale. The maximum hardness that a water ionizer can ionize is ten grains. The minimal hardness is four grains. We recommend using a hard water testing kit to make sure the water you supply to your water ionizer falls within that range.
If your water is too hard or too soft, we have solutions! We have scale inhibitors for hard water and can even help you get set up with a reverse osmosis system to use as a pre-filter. For soft water, we have remineralizing prefilters.
Give us a call at 877-255-3713, and someone here will happily discuss your hard drinking water and help you get set up to get the best alkaline ionized water for you and your family.
