Water Hardness

Water Hardness

1. What is water hardness?

   • Determined by the concentration of calcium and magnesium ions
     • Impacts?
       • How to reduce these impacts
         • Filtration
           • The process of filtering and separating the calcium and magnesium ions from water
             • Advantage: An advantage to using filtration to reduce the concentration of calcium and magnesium ions is the cost of constructing or designing a filter is more than likely cheaper than other options such as ion exchange.
             • Disadvantage A disadvantage of using filtration to soften water is the need for a filter that is able to filter large masses of water constantly for domestic, industrial and agricultural purposes.
             • Procedure
               • Filtration involves filtering the hard water through a filter that is able to remove the calcium and magnesium ions from the water, resulting with softer water.
         • Boiling
           • Removal of calcium and magnesium ions through precipitation
             • Boiling hard water allows for the evaporation of dissolved calcium and/or magnesium ions, resulting with pure, soft water.
             • Advantages
               • An advantage to boiling hard water to result in soft water is that boiling water is a lot easier than any other process.
             • Disadvantages
               • A disadvantage to boiling hard water is its higher boiling point, therefore consuming more time for the process to occur.
         • Ion Exchange
           • Removal of calcium and magnesium ions through flushing the water through an ion exchange
             • Process
               • The process of ion exchange involves flushing the hard water through an ion exchange resin, that allows for a greater attraction between the calcium and magnesium ions, then the cation already there, such as sodium, therefore the sodium ions are flushed out with the water.
             • Disadvantages
               • The main disadvantage of ion exchange is the maintenance needed to keep the resin functioning with the correct cations in the resin ready for use.
             • Advantages
               • An advantage of an ion exchange is how quickly the exchange can occur, meaning that an exchange resin could be placed in pipes and water can be flushed through the resin on demand when needed.
       • Agricultural impacts: Hard water is significantly impacting not just the agricultural industry but also the economy. As a build-up of a high concentration of calcium and magnesium ions along the roots of plants, which can lead to the repulsion of water. This repulsion of water results with the lack of nutrients for plants, leading to less produce, less food and less income for farmers.
       • Domestic Impacts Domestic impacts include scaling which lines along piping, significantly decreased the life of the pipes as well as costs households or businesses more money to replace and/or repair their piping
     • Low concentration = soft water
       • High concentration = hard water