We’ve written about water softeners before on our blog, because dealing with hard water is a common trouble homes in the area face. Hard water has a high mineral content, and there are many problems that these minerals (mostly calcium and magnesium) create for a household and its plumbing. As a quick refresher, here’s why hard water can be bad news for a house:
- It creates scale deposits inside pipes, leading to clogging, high water pressure, and rapid pipe deterioration.
- It damages water-using appliances, particularly the water heater.
- It leaves behind an unpleasant film on surfaces.
- Soap dissolves poorly in hard water, which results in soapy residue on skin and hair.
- It leeches the color from clothing.
But… there’s something else you need to know about hard water minerals. Hard water is not harmful to drink. In fact, those minerals are important ones for your body’s health—they’re part of the essential vitamins and minerals you hear advertised on food products. And this is why we need to talk about remineralization when discussing the installation of a water softener in Santa Barbara, CA.
You’ve probably heard about hard water and the concerns it can present for a home. The term “hard water” is confusing for people unfamiliar with it, since often the only type of hard water they’re familiar with is ice. What hard water actually refers to is the mineral content of water, specifically levels of the minerals magnesium and calcium. 
Hard water is water that has a high level of minerals suspended in it, principally magnesium and calcium. This isn’t harmful for drinking; after all, these minerals are found in food. However, those minerals are not good for the plumbing in a home, and they also affect the ability to keep both the house and people in it properly clean. (Soap doesn’t dissolve well in hard water, leaving to filmy deposits, itchy skin, flat hair, and more.)
People are concerned about the quality of the water coming into their homes. Although most people think of the possible health problems from poor water quality due to lead, pesticides, and heavy metals, a more common problem is with hard water, which is found frequently in Southern California. Hard water isn’t harmful to drink, but it creates serious troubles in the plumbing system of the home. It needs the same attention from water treatment professionals as other water quality issues. The sooner you call after you find out you have hard water, the better!