Hard Water Facts and USA Distribution Of Hard Water

Most homes have hard water problems without necessarily knowing about it. You know if you have hard water when it is difficult to get soap to form a lather. or you have to squirt lots of washing-up liquid into the water to clean your crockery. However not all hard water is the same and there is a system that determines the degree of hardness.

Hard water levels vary significantly depending upon where you live also.

hard water map usa

Meaning of map colors ...

Dark blue = 0-60 Light Blue = 61-120 White = 121-180 and red (very hard) = 181-250 ppm (see below for meaning and conversions)

Hard water is created by an excess of calcium and magnesium salts in water ... here's a useful table showing different degrees of hardness .. in this table 1 gpg means 1 grain of calcium carbonate per gallon of water

Soft Water is normally less than 1 gpg Slightly hard water contai9ns between 1 to 3.5 gpg Moderately or medium hard water has 3.5 to 7 gpg Hard water contains 7 to 10.5 gpg and Very Hard - 10.5 and higher gpg Hard water causes many problems around the home

Hard water works fine for rinsing down driveways, watering gardens and lawns. It's indoors where hard water cause hassles and real problems ...

Bathing is less efficient, as is washing clothes and cutlery and crockery. Hair tends to lose shine and flexibility and pipes can become blocked in extreme cases.

Advantages of softening water ....

You will use use less soap by using soft water. You will reduce scum "tide-marks" often called the 'bathtub ring'. You'll have less unsightly spots on dishes, and glassware and your knives and forks. Your heating bill will be lowered because heating hard water in the water heater, causes hardness scale which plugs plumbing pipes and vessels and builds up on the inside of water heaters. Your skin and hair will look and feel better after bathing or showering. Scum from hard water clogs skin pores and coats hair. This can cause things like nappy rash for example. Your food and beverages will taste better using soft water and ice cubes will sparkle more

Here's where you can get information about hardness and hard water

The water department or the local City municipality will provide the answer and here's how to understand the jargon ... hardness is expressed as parts per million (ppm) or mgs/litre (= ppm) or as seen above grains per gallon (gpg) and even something called epm (equivalents per million). If you remember: that 17.1 PPM (parts per million), equals 1 GPG then things become a bit simpler to understand. Here's an example ....

Example: You water supply has 300 PPM of calcium. Divide 300 by 17.1.

This gives the GPG (grains per gallon) of hardness which in this case = 17.5 gpg. By referring to the table above this means your water is very hard. To go from gpg to ppm or mg/litre you do the opposite and multiply by 17.1

Water softening is not the same as water filtering for purer water at home

You can read a wide range of water usage articles. They discuss the use of water in the house and home ... topics covered include filters, heaters, softeners and water in the garden too. The links change each time you visit the page