WHAT COLOR ARE YOU IN THE RED WHITE AND BLUE?

This standard water hardness "heat" map shows where the hardest water in the USA is.  On average 85% to 90% of the country deals with hard water.  Some towns can have multiple sources which make the degree of hardness vary wildly.

In the chart below, the red areas are the hardest.  However, we have seen dramatic increases in water hardness in areas that are also suffering from low water tables and drought.  In these areas the concentration of minerals is much higher than it has been historicallly.

*image courtesy of http://water.usgs.gov/

To find out how hard your water is visit this link on the EPA website and see if your annual report is posted online.  Or you can do a general search on Google using this format as an example: YOUR TOWN annual water quality report

A list of links will likely return a PDF copy of your municipal providers water quality report.  There's an 85%+ chance you are in a hard water area!

When you review your report the hardness may be expressed as milligrams per liter (mg/L) or grains per gallon.  At about 120 (mg/L) / 7 grains per gallon (GPG) you will really start to see the outward signs such as light staining and buildup on counter surfaces and around the water delivery system of a refrigerator.  Once you get into the double digits of GPG scale accululates very quickly.  You can go here to use a calculator to convert from one to the other depending on what shows on your report. 

Go here to find out more about what makes water hard.

Go here to download a simple checklist to see if you have hard water issues in your home.

WHAT ELSE?

We would love to hear from you....leave a comment below and / or let us know about a topic that interests you and we will research and post about it!