Hard water is caused by calcium and magnesium compounds; rain water is naturally soft as it has had no chance to pick up any minerals from the ground. When water passes through the ground through soft rocks like chalk or limestone, it picks up these minerals. If the water passes through rocks such as granite or through peaty soil calcium and magnesium are picked up and so the water remains soft.
Hard water can create 2 main issues within a building:
Issues Relating to Scale
Heat causes the calcium and magnesium to precipitate out of the water and stick to things causing “scale” to form on the inside of pipes, water boilers, tea kettles and so on. The scale doesn’t conduct heat well and reduces the flow through the pipes which can ultimately become completely blocked potentially leading to expensive repair bills.
Reducing the Effectiveness of Soap
Hard Water reacts with soap to form a scum and (in extreme cases) reduces soap’s ability to lather, this impacts on cleaning throughout the house including washing, bathing and general cleaning.
Hard and Soft Water Regions in the UK
The list below is a good indication of the general hard and soft water areas in the UK although it is an indicator only as all areas can contain pockets of completely different water types. To find out more you can contact your local water company (see list at base of article).
Regions with soft to moderately soft water in England
Conwyn
Cumbria
Devon
Flintshire
Gwynedd
Isle of Anglesey
Merseyside
North West Yorkshire
Pembrokeshire
West Yorkshire
Regions with soft to slightly hard water in England
Carmarthenshire
Ceredigion
Durham
Glamorganshire
Monmouthshire
Regions with slightly hard to moderately hard water in England
Cheshire
Denbighshire
Derbyshire
Herefordshire
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Northumberland
Powys
Shropshire
Worcestershire
Wrexham
Regions with slightly hard to very hard water in England
North Yorkshire
Somerset
South Yorkshire
Surrey
Warwickshire
Regions with hard to very hard water in England
Bedfordshire
Berkshire
Buchinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Dorset
East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire
East Sussex
Essex
Gloucestershire
Greater London
Hampshire
Hampshire
Hertfordshire
Isle of White
Kent
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Norfolk
North East Yorkshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Rutland
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Scotland
Most regions in Scotland range from soft through to various levels of hardness with the majority not exceeding moderately soft water.
Ireland Regions
Ireland maybe broken down as follows:
Northern Division soft to moderately soft
Eastern Division soft to moderately hard
Southern Division soft to moderately hard
Western Division soft to moderately hard
Local UK top eleven cheats download Water Companies
Anglian Water Services Ltd
Phone: +44 (0)1480 323 000
Dwr Cymru Cyfyngedig (Welsh Water)
Phone: +44(0)1443 452 300
Independent Water Networks Ltd
Phone: +44 (0)845 051 1650
Northumbrian Water Ltd
Phone: +44(0)8706 084820
Severn Trent Water Ltd
Phone: +44(0)121 722 4000
South West Water Ltd
Phone: +44(0)1392 446 688
Southern Electric
Phone: +44 (0)118 958 0100
Southern Water Services Ltd
Phone: +44(0)1903 264 444
Thames Water Utilities Ltd
Phone: 0845 9200 888
United Utilities Water Plc
Phone: +44(0)1925 237 000
Wessex Water Services Ltd
Phone: +44(0)1225 526 000
Yorkshire Water Services Ltd
Phone: +44(0)1274 691 111
Albion Water Ltd
Phone: +44(0)20 8977 3055
Bournemouth & West Hampshire Water Plc
Phone: +44(0)1202 591 111
Bristol Water Plc
Phone: +44(0)117 http://www.ourworldgemcodescheats.xyz/ourworldcodes/ 966 5881
Cambridge Water Company Plc
Phone: +44(0) 1223 403 000
Cholderton & District Water Company Ltd
Phone: +44(0)1980 629 203
Dee Valley Water Plc
Phone: +44(0)1978 846 946
Essex & Suffolk Water (now part of Northumbrian Water Ltd)
Phone: +4 (0)1245 491 234
Folkestone & Dover Water Services Ltd
Phone: +44(0)1303 298 800
Hartlepool Water Plc (now part of Anglian Water Services Ltd)
Phone: +44(0)1429 858 050
Mid Kent Water Plc
Phone: +44(0)1634 240 313
Portsmouth Water Plc
Phone: +44(0)23 9249 9888
South East Water Ltd
Phone: +44(0)1444 448 200
South Staffordshire Water Plc
Phone: +44(0)1922 638 282
Sutton & East Surrey Water Plc
Phone: +44(0)1737 772 000
Tendring Hundred Water Services Ltd
Phone: +44(0)1206 399 200
Three Valleys Water Plc
Phone: +44(0)1707 268 111
What can I do about hard water?
There are 2 options that are available to you depending on your needs; Products called water softeners will improve the efficiency and increase the life of hot water appliances throughout a building. If installing a water softener is too difficult or costly then you could consider protecting specific devices that are plumbed into the mains with a scale inhibiting filter. The types of devises that may be protected in this way include mains water coolers and all types of water boilers and heaters. These filters are installed inline between the mains pipes and the machine itself and contain scale inhibiting elements.
About Water Softeners
A Water Softener is a device that monitors and reduces the hardness of the water, it does this by removing the calcium and magnesium salts from a water supply and replacing them with a saline solution. All water softeners work in essentially the same way, the incoming water enters the softener and passes through ion exchange resin. The resin removes the magnesium and calcium ions that create lime scale by swapping them with a small amount of salt, this leaves the softened water to enter your water system. The machines often contain an automatic timer control which will periodically clean or regenerate the resin. This is done by passing salt water through the resin which swaps places with the stored magnesium and calcium ions and allows the trapped minerals to be flushed down the drain.
If you are considering this option then please be aware:
When installing your Water Softener the UK Water Bylaws require that one tap in the house is left unsoftened. This may be accomplished by installing a third dedicated tap at the kitchen sink. In effect the whole house has softened water and the dedicated tap provides hard water for drinking, cooking etc. It鎶?also recommended that any outside taps are fed with unsoftened water to avoid waste.
There is evidence of less heart disease in hard water areas than in soft water areas
Most water softeners work by replacing the hardness with sodium which can cause issues with babies and those with heart conditions
Some water supplies contain impurities that may affect your softener if left untreated. Iron, dirt, silt, organics and bio film may not be removed by the salt regeneration system and older resin beds may start to suffer from iron fouling.
Soft water can release lead from any lead pipes
Once the scale is removed it can open up old leaks that have been sealed by the historic scale build-up
Softeners require ongoing maintenance and need to be topped up with the correct type of salt
You purchase the system from a reputable supplier
