Water hardness refers to the amount of tasteless, odorless minerals like calcium and magnesium that groundwater picks up when flowing over limestone and other organic materials. The majority of usable water in the U.S. and around the world is groundwater, which is why so much of our country’s water is considered hard.

The minerals found in hard water are naturally occurring and pose no risk to your health but can be a problem for your home. Since hard water can leave deposits on your pipes, fixtures and even on your appliances that use water, homeowners without a water softener might spend more money on fixes and repairs caused by deposit buildup.

Hard water may also result in difficulty rinsing your face and hands; flat hair; dull-colored laundry; and issues related to common skin conditions.

Here’s an easy way to test if you have hard water in your home.

Water softening is the process of turning hard water into soft water, which changes the feel of the water as well as its impact on hair, skin and home fixtures. To do so, hard water-causing minerals like calcium and magnesium are removed and exchanged for sodium or potassium chloride through a process called ion exchange.

A water softener performs the process of ion exchange, which can use either sodium or potassium chloride as a reagent. If sodium chloride is used as the regenerant, there will be approximately 110mg of sodium present in 1 gallon of water. For comparison, a slice of bread ranges between 100-150mg of sodium. A water softener can also remove some iron, dirt, and sediment up to 50 microns.

When you need to put your water softener through a regeneration cycle, you’ll need water softener salt, or sodium chloride. You can only use salt that is designed for water softeners, not table salt or deicing salt. Water softener salt is specially designed to work for your water softener and make it efficient.

Water softener salt comes in forms like crystals, blocks or pellets, which enable more effective regeneration. Here’s how to choose what water softener salt to use.

Benefits of a water softening system in the home include:

• Better-performing detergents and soaps for easier cleaning
• Less spotting on dishes, glasses and cutlery
• Decreased mineral residue on fixtures
• Decreased buildup of chalky residue in pipes
• Reduced soap residue
• Cleaner-feeling hair and skin

Soft water does not taste noticeably salty. If sodium chloride is used as the regenerant in the water softener, there will be approximately 110mg of sodium present in 1 gallon of water. For comparison, a slice of bread ranges between 100-150mg of sodium.

Salt-free water softeners, sometimes called water conditioners or descalers, are not true water softeners. Water conditioning systems work by altering the chemical structure of water minerals through the descaling process, which in some cases where water hardness is nominal can help prevent solids from depositing in pipes and water-using fixtures. Salt-free systems can help reduce the buildup of limescale, the chalky substance you see in dried hard water spots, as well as other chemicals. Case studies have shown that no-salt conditioners are not as effective as a true, salt-based water softener. This is especially true in the Phoenix area where water hardness levels are quite high.

While water conditioning systems can reduce the effects of hard water on your home and appliances, they do not remove the minerals that cause hard water. Only a salt-based water softener using ion exchange can remove calcium and magnesium that causes water to be hard.

Learn more about the difference between water softeners and water descalers here.

The Phoenix water supply is notorious for containing high levels of calcium and magnesium that makes water hard. About 95% of the Phoenix water supply comes from surface sources such as lakes and rivers, according to thecity’s website. The tasteless and odorless minerals in the water originate from the soils the water comes into contact with as it travels to Phoenix’s water treatment plants.

According to theCity of Phoenix, the city’s water falls in the “very hard” range.

If your key objective is to remove chemicals and contaminants from your water, then water filtration is likely what you’re after. Water filtration is the process of removing harmful contaminants from water to make it safe for human consumption.

Some common contaminants found in tap water include:

• Pesticides
• Herbicides
• Chlorine
• Radon
• Benzene
• Mercury
• Bacteria
• Fungi

Water filtration is achieved with a water filter, which can use a number of methods to remove chemicals and contaminants. The two most common are ultraviolet filtration and activated carbon filtration.

• Ultraviolet Filters: Ultraviolet or UV filters use different frequencies of ultraviolet light to remove mainly microbial cells from water. Ultraviolet filtration is effective for removing bacteria and viruses, and it does not rid water of contaminants like chlorine, lead and pesticides.
• Activated Carbon Filters: Activated carbon filters are used to remove harmful chemicals like chlorine, chloroform, agricultural chemicals, organic substances, sediment and some minerals from water. It passes water through an activated carbon filter, which “sticks” to these chemicals (adsorption) and removes them when the water passes through it.

Water filters can be as small as a water jug, or powerful enough to filter water throughout an entire home. If you are concerned primarily with drinking water, for instance, an under-sink water filtration system is a good investment. If you want to remove chlorine to protect your hair, skin and clothes, a whole home water filtration system might be right for you.

If you have ever wondered why the filtered water from your refrigerator, the faucet attachment or pitcher filter doesn’t always produce water that tastes good, it’s probably related to high dissolved solid content. Total dissolved solids, or TDS, can cause water to taste strange or badly, especially in areas where tap water has a TDS level of 200ppm or more. This is why many people prefer to drink purified water.
Water purification is the process of removing these dissolved solids from water through a process called reverse osmosis. Unlike carbon or UV water filters, reverse osmosis is highly effective at removing a wider range of chemicals and contaminants than other types of water filtration.

A reverse osmosis system works by using pressure to force water through a semipermeable membrane made of a thin film composite material. When the water is forced through the membrane, the purer water is separated from dissolved solids, which are rinsed away.

Reverse osmosis removes the following contaminants from water:

• Dissolved salts
• Lead
• Mercury
• Calcium
• Iron
• Asbestos
• Cysts

No. Even with the sediment filter in a reverse osmosis system, reverse osmosis is not able to remove or reduce magnesium and calcium as effectively as a water softener. In fact, hard water that passes through a reverse osmosis system can cause mineral build-up and decrease the effectiveness of the reverse osmosis system's membrane, which can decrease the quality of the water it produces. This is why it's recommended to have both a water softener and a reverse osmosis system.
Some systems both filter and soften water. Using a water softener with whole-house filtration produces the cleanest, purest water. Check out the Evolv Whole-House Water Filtration and Softener System to learn more.

Water softeners can be installed in almost any home, however, there is one factor that will affect the ease of installation. If you have a loop, the installation will be less expensive. A loop is a pre-plumbed connection.

If you do not have a loop, your water softener will need to connect to the main water line. Every house has a main water line, whereas not every house has a loop. Without a loop, you will need to run a line to where the softener will be housed and then back to where the water enters your home. This ensures that all water is treated before it goes into the house. The farther the softener sits from the main water line, the more expensive the installation will be.

The majority of maintenance a water softener will need is salt replacement. Most customers are able to replace their own salt with relative ease. Water softener salt will cost between $40 and $70 a year.

Other common water softener problems are easily diagnosable and usually can be fixed by the homeowner. Read here for common water softener issues and how to fix them.

For reverse osmosis systems, the filter will need to be changed annually. Some homeowners do this on their own but Clear Water Concepts can change your filter for you.

Tap and bottled water are basically comparable, according to the Mayo Clinic. While bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and tap water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, they use similar standards to ensure water safety. The choice to drink bottled water versus tap water is mostly personal preference.

The majority of Phoenix’s municipal water comes from rivers, lakes, streams, springs and wells. In 2018, about 98% of Phoenix’s water came from surface water that mostly started as snowpack, according to the City of Phoenix. This water is treated by municipal water suppliers.

Phoenix water goes through four stages of treatment. First, water is screened for large particles such as plant matter or other material commonly found in river water. Next, a chemical coagulant is added to the water that causes tiny particles of debris to cling together and settle to the bottom of the basin. Next, the water is filtered to remove particulates. Finally, Phoenix water is disinfected with chlorine and treated with fluoride.

So, while Phoenix water is treated before it hits the pipes in your home and is safe to drink, there are a number of factors that can still affect taste and water hardness after municipal treatment.

According to the Environmental Working Group, Phoenix water does still have high levels of some contaminants including:

• Arsenic
• Bromate
• Chlorite
• Chromium (hexavalent)
• Nitrate
• Radiological contaminants
• Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs)

Phoenix water is also hard and full of minerals. According to the City of Phoenix, the city’s water falls in the “very hard” range.

Softened water is safe for pets to drink, with the only exception being some tropical or exotic pets. While soft water does have slightly elevated sodium levels, they should not affect most pets.

In fact, a 2016 study by Trupanion found that pets that drink hard water are at greater risk for urinary infections than those who drink soft water.

The average cost of a water softener installation ranges between $800 to $3,000, depending on the type of water softener unit and the size of the home. Different issues with installation can lead to higher prices. For more information on water softener costs, check out our pricing page.

Most health resources suggest you should drink eight 8 ounce glasses of water a day, or 64 ounces. Assuming you’re buying water in 12-ounce bottles, that’s 5.3 bottles of water a day. If a case of 12 water bottles costs $6 or $0.50 a bottle. One year of drinking bottled water would cost $965.25. The cost of a water filter is a one-time cost of between $400 and $500.

Electricity costs for a water treatment system are minimal. It costs about $4-$6 a year to operate a water treatment system. Most users will, however, experience more water usage than before they had a water treatment system. Typically water usage is about 3% higher than before a water softener was installed.

In fact, a 2016 study by Trupanion found that pets that drink hard water are at greater risk for urinary infections than those who drink soft water.

It depends on your needs. For example, comparing discuss the difference between a single tank whole house filtration system and softener like our Sanitech Pro-Line and our new ultra-efficient Evolv twin alternating tank whole house filtration and softening system.

Now, the Sanitech Pro-Line is a single tank softener. This is what 95% of our customers have in their home. As your family is using water, the control valve will keep track of how much water is being used on a daily basis. For instance, at 2:00 in the morning, the system will determine, "Do I have enough quality water for the next day for this family or not?" If you're using an average of say 200 gallons a day and there's only 170 gallons of reserve capacity remaining, the system knows that it needs to clean and regenerate that evening so you do not run out of quality water the next day. Great technology, it's efficient, great performance, works very well for most people.

If you're looking for a premium efficiency high-quality product that is gonna outperform standard single tank water softeners, look no further than the Evolv whole-house filtration and softening system. It's a custom-designed product for our water here in the Phoenix area. The efficiency is unsurpassed. You can't beat this system for water efficiency, reliability, performance, and quality of water. This is a really great product for those with high water usage, large families or real erratic water usage. And lastly, you have our microform high-performance resin. This is a high cross-link bead that's gonna perform really well here in the Phoenix area. It's not going to oxidize and break down like inferior resins will. If you have more questions, want to learn more about this great system, please contact us and evolve to better water today.

We opened in 1998 as a small family-owned business. Our goal was to put our customers' interests first by providing a no-nonsense, straight forward service that was focused on their needs. We started as a husband and wife team and have since grown and served over 25,000 families in the Phoenix area. Learn more about our story here.

Clear Water Concepts is focused on water softening, filtration, and purification only. We do not provide any other services.