Hard water is water that has a high level of dissolved minerals in it. Minerals found in hard water are usually magnesium and calcium with a few traces of iron and manganese. These minerals present in the water can cause hard water stains and mineral deposits. The stains, lime scale, and deposits can be seen once the water evaporates. Hard water can also clog drains, leave stains on glass and tiled floors or kitchen tiles, leave a grainy residue on hair, completely ruin your water tank and filtration system, create bacterial growth in drinking water pipes, and prevent soap from foaming.

There is less health risk associated with hard water but is found to be highly inconvenient to normal living conditions. Usually, local water treatment companies will have Reverse Osmosis (RO) treatment, water softening processes, or scale-less (no-scale) treatments already installed. These water treatment processes significantly reduce scaling and purify water considerably, but there might still be a buildup of minerals in the water. If you live in New England, there are chances that you will have a supply of hard water.

Effects of Hard Water

There are no damaging effects from hard water on your health and overall condition. It is usually only a nuisance during cleaning the stains and mineral deposits that clog your pipes and drains. Hard water is actually healthy since the minerals present in hard water are the ones recommended for consumption. These recommended minerals actually help prevent diseases and increase the immune system of the body. The only notable effect seen is in dry and dull hair and increased sensitivity of the skin.

While these minerals are helpful for your body, there have devastating effects on electrical appliances, glassware, silver, sinks, and so on in your home. They can also cause rusting of pipes, clogging, and reduce the effectiveness of cleansing agents. Heaters and electrical systems start consuming more energy due to the increase in load, and will eventually reflect on higher electricity bills and maintenance cost. It is better to treat the hard water and rid yourself of the additional burdens that hard water causes.

There are several ways to deal with hard water in your home. Let us look at some of them.

Salt water softener:

A saltwater softener efficiently takes out the excess calcium and magnesium from the water. When hard water enters the salt water softener, it goes through resin beads that attract positively charged ions of magnesium and calcium (hard ions). The softener then adds soft ions of sodium that convert your hard water supply to one of soft water. This process of water softening is done with the help of salts.

These salts have to be cleaned and replenished once the resin beads are full of hardened minerals. This process of cleansing the water and converting it to soft water helps eliminate undesirable minerals and salts from hard water. Invest in a good quality salt water softener for home use and enjoy the benefits with none of the disadvantages of hard water.

Salt-free softener:

As the name suggests, salt-free softeners work similar to saltwater softeners but use potassium chloride instead of salt. Salt-free softeners also differ from saltwater softeners in their functionality. They prevent minerals from creating excess buildup inside tanks, pipes, and drains but do not reduce the mineral content in the water. The absence of buildup and limescale helps in keeping pipes clean and requires less maintenance than saltwater softeners in the long term.

This method is usually not as effective as the saltwater softening method but is an excellent choice for people who prefer low sodium intake. The potassium, however, could be a cause for concern for people with high blood pressure and other health concerns. Always conduct thorough research of softeners and filtrations systems for your home before investing in one.

Reverse Osmosis (RO) purifier:

For clean drinking water, install an RO water purifier system in your house. A Reverse Osmosis water system can be easily installed above or below your kitchen sink with its own water dispenser or one that connects to the drinking water dispenser already present. The RO water filter purifies the water further by removing any additional chemicals present in the treated water. It then converts the treated water to into super clean drinking water that is entirely safe for consumption.

Many companies worldwide use RO systems to manufacture clean drinking water for large masses. With a few minor changes in plumbing, you can convert your hard water to good quality healthy and pure drinking water.

Original Source: https://www.praguepost.com/lifestyle/how-to-deal-with-hard-water-in-your-home

Original Author: Amy Hamper

Original Date: Dec 18 2017

A lead service line is removed in Flint on Thursday, March 3, 2016 at 717 E Alma Ave. in Flint, Mich. (Jake May | MLive.com)(Jake May | MLive.com)

KALAMAZOO, MI – An aggressive strategy to remove all lead pipes in Kalamazoo’s municipal water system within 20 years took a great leap forward in 2017.

Almost three times the number of water service lines containing lead were replaced in 2017 compared to its previous schedule. A total of 472 were disconnected as of Dec. 18, compared to 120 in 2016.

At least 2,835 still remain. Meanwhile, 7,195 lines connecting customers to city water mains are unidentified, meaning the city doesn’t know what they are made out of.

Proposed changes to the lead and copper rule in Michigan would lower the action level for lead in drinking water and require the removal of all lead service lines over the next 20 years. Public Services Director James Baker was one step ahead of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, setting the goal regardless of its decision.

Click the map to see lead service lines replaced in 2016 and 2017

The aggressive removal work this year earned Kalamazoo recognition from the Southwest Michigan chapter of the American Public Works Association.

Kalamazoo’s water system is the second-largest in Michigan, providing 17 million gallons each day to 123,000 customers within 10 jurisdictions.

Though there is no detectable lead in the city’s water supply system when it leaves 16 pumping stations, small amounts of lead can dissolve into drinking water if it sits for several hours in plumbing fixtures containing the toxic element.

According to tests of city drinking conducted in 2016, 90 percent of samples contained less than 4 parts per billion of lead. Copper was found to be at 900 ppb.

If the 90th percentile of concentrations are at or exceed 15 ppb, or 1300 ppb for copper, the EPA requires several actions to be taken to control corrosion. Elevated levels of lead can cause serious health problems, especially for pregnant women and young children.

A total of around $10.5 million is expected to be spent on lead service removals in the next five years.

Funds for lead service removals are budgeted within the Water Capital Improvement Program. In 2016, $390,000 was budgeted, which more than doubled the amount spent in 2015.

This year, the city spent $2.6 million on lead service removal.

Half a million dollars from the city’s Foundation for Excellence was allocated to lead service replacements.

Overall, the city plans to spend $2 million next year, and hopes to remove 500 pipes. Another $500,000 allocation from the foundation is anticipated in 2018.

An administrative coordinator of the lead program is a new position created last year, but remains unfilled.

It’s difficult to determine how many of unidentified lines are lead with any amount of accuracy, Baker said. The city does know that lead was used from approximately 1890 to 1950 and heavily — almost exclusively, he said — from about 1910 to 1940.

It’s possible that nearly 70 percent of the undefined services could be lead pipes. In terms of planning and future replacements, Baker his department is prepared to upgrade 10,000 non-copper services from the water main in the street all the way to the meter.

It costs approximately $2,800 to $3,200 to replace each line including street, sidewalk and yard restoration when the work is completed by city of Kalamazoo crews. Due to the amount of work this year, more costly bids were granted to contractors also performing the work.

Prices for outside contractual work exceeded $9,000 per service. The total program is averaging about $5,500 per lead service replacement.

Information on lead in drinking water, testing methods, and steps you can take to minimize exposure is available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline or at epa.gov/safewater/lead.

Updated Dec 26, 7:06 AM; Posted Dec 26, 7:00 AM

By Malachi Barrett 

mbarret1@mlive.com

Original Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2017/12/kalamazoo_wants_all_lead_pipes.html

Hard water damages our protective skin barrier and could contribute to the development of eczema, a new study has shown.

Researchers from the University of Sheffield and King’s College London have discovered that exposing the skin to hard water damages the skin barrier – which is our defense against outside threats such as bacteria or sun burn – and increases the sensitivity of the skin to potential irritants found in everyday wash products such as soap or washing powder.

Hard water contains high levels of calcium and magnesium ions that bind to surfactants such as sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES) – which act as detergents or wetting agents – making them insoluble, so they precipitate onto the skin.

Skin pH is normally acidic but hard water has high alkalinity which means it can raise the skin surface pH.  A shift towards alkaline pH disturbs the skin’s natural function as a physical barrier and leaves it prone to colonization by potentially pathogenic bacteria which can cause infection.

Lead author of the study, Dr Simon Danby from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease, said:

By damaging the skin barrier, washing with hard water may contribute to the development of eczema – a chronic skin condition characterized by an intensely itchy red rash.

Patients with eczema are much more sensitive to the effects of hard water than people with healthy skin. This increase in sensitivity is associated with a genetic predisposition to a skin barrier defect brought about by mutations in the gene encoding filaggrin. Filaggrin is a structural protein important for the formation of our skin’s barrier to the outside environment. Up to half of all people with eczema carry a filaggrin gene.

This new study reveals the mechanism by which calcium and magnesium ions in hard water, surfactants, and filaggrin interact to damage the skin barrier unlocking new information about how exposure to hard water could potentially contribute to the development of eczema.

This week (16-24 September 2017) marks National Eczema Week.

Symptoms of eczema (also called ‘atopic eczema’ or ‘atopic dermatitis’) include inflamed, dry skin and often secondary skin infections, which can affect any part of the body and every aspect of a person’s life – both physically and emotionally.

The new study, which Harvey Water Softeners was asked to fund, was published this week (16 September 2017) in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. The team of researchers examined whether removing the calcium and magnesium ions using an ion-exchange water softener could mitigate the negative effects of hard water on the skin. They found that using a water softener reduces the harmful effects of surfactants, potentially decreasing the risk of developing eczema.

Managing director of Harvey Water Softeners, Martin Hurworth, said:

The link between hard water and eczema has been reported anecdotally for years – now for the first time there’s academic proof. We were pleased to provide industry support to this study in the form of hard water samples and the twin-cylinder water softeners that provided the softened water that was needed.

Co-senior author of the study, Dr Carsten Flohr from the St John’s Institute of Dermatology at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, said:

One in five children and one in 12 adults in the UK suffer from eczema, costing the NHS well over £500 million annually.

It is during the first few days and months of life that our skin is most susceptible to damage and most at risk of developing eczema.

For that reason we are now embarking on a pilot trial to investigate whether installation of a domestic water softener around the time of birth can prevent skin barrier breakdown and eczema in those living in hard water areas.

The Softened Water for Eczema Prevention (SOFTER) trial will be undertaken by Dr Flohr and his team from King’s College London and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in collaboration with the University of Sheffield team and colleagues from the University of Dundee, the Center of Evidence-Based Dermatology at Nottingham University, Imperial College London, the National Institute for Health (Bethesda, USA), and Amsterdam Medical Center.

Original Source: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20170922/Hard-water-may-contribute-to-development-of-eczema-by-damaging-skin-barrier.aspx

Original Date:  Sept 22 2017