 Water described as "hard" is high in dissolved minerals, specifically calcium and magnesium. As water moves through soil and rock, it dissolves very small amounts of minerals and holds them in solution. Calcium and magnesium dissolved in water are the two most common minerals that make water "hard." The degree of hardness becomes greater as the calcium and magnesium content increases. Hard water is not a health risk, but a nuisance because of mineral buildup on fixtures and decreased detergent performance. There are ways to treat this that are eco-friendly.
Salt water softeners use considerable amounts of water during their regeneration process. Average water softeners use between 37 gallons – 105 gallons of water for each regeneration cycle. Automatic water softeners discharge a salty waste into the sewer system that is treated by a process that does not remove salt and is released into the water supply again. Too much salt in the water may potentially harm downstream agricultural crops.
There are several alternatives available. Carbon systems help remove the unwanted minerals in ways that work much like fish tank filters. Ionizing systems work by using a combination of charged particles and magnets to filter water. There are claims of health improvement using this approach but to date the claims have not been proven. Oxidation systems work like converters in cars, where chemicals combine with unwanted minerals and turn them into harmless mineral forms by using oxygen.
Reverse osmosis systems are another interesting option. Originally developed to process water in submarines, the reverse osmosis process basically draws water through an extremely fine membrane. The membrane acts like an extremely fine filter to create drinkable water from salty (or otherwise contaminated) water. The contaminated water is put on one side of the membrane and pressure is applied to stop, and then reverse, the osmotic process. It generally takes a lot of pressure and is fairly slow, but it works. The result is extremely finely filtered water. Distilled water is a very easy option. It consists of catching the steam from boiled water as that is water with the least amount of minerals. It is just like water that was processed through reverse osmosis.
There are some places that claim that soft water is better for health, but such claims haven’t been verified. Before investing in a system, it is best to test water first and then to discuss it with a filtration professional who specializes in green systems.
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