Understanding your water

Water hardness measures the amount of natural calcium and magnesium that’s present in your water.

At the very beginning of the water cycle, when rain falls, there is no calcium or magnesium present in water.

Once rain makes contact with the ground, and begins to trickle into waterways, the water absorbs up the naturally occurring minerals in the environment as it flows over rocks and ground.

The hardness or softens of your water will vary depending on where you live.

It's generally harder in areas with soluble rock like limestone, and softer in areas with insoluble rock such as Granite.

We list a simple description of your water hardness in our water quality report, ranging from “Soft” to “Very Hard”.

You’ll find water hardness in water quality reports expressed as the equivalent amount of calcium carbonate in parts per million (mg/l) for every litre of water.

This is also measured in various scales of degrees, usually French, German and Clark.

Water hardness is not harmful to your health, however it may contribute to existing skin conditions such as eczema.

If you find this is the case, please contact a Health Professional for advice.

If you live in a hard water area, you will find that mineral deposits build up on your appliances like kettles, dishwashers and washing machines more easily.

Normal household limescale removing cleaning products can help you to get rid of this.

In hard water areas it can also be more difficult to get washing up liquid and detergents to create suds for cleaning, so you may need to use a bit more liquid than you would in a soft water area.

It is possible to buy products that can soften your water, however these can lead to an increased sodium content in your water, which might make it unusable for drinking or cooking.

Often water softeners will make your water taste salty and produce bits that look like sugar crystals in the water. If your water softener is broken or damaged it can release orange beads of resin into your water.

Since 1970 it has been illegal to build new homes using lead fittings or pipes for water supply, but some older homes may still have lead pipes. .

If your home was built before 1970, it’s possible that your home could have lead water pipes as it has never been a legal requirement to replace lead pipes in homes built before the changes.

There are a few ways you can tell if you have lead pipes. 

Unpainted lead pipes are a dull grey colour, and have swollen, rounded joints where they meet other pipes.

Lead is a soft metal and so if you tap a lead pipe with a metal object, like a coin, you will hear a dull thud rather than a clear ringing like you would with harder copper or iron pipe.

If you do have lead pipes, you can arrange to remove the lead pipework and replace it with modern supply pipes through the Lead Replacement Scheme.

If you have lead pipes, removing them is the only way to get rid of lead from your drinking water. However, there are some ways you can reduce the likelihood of exposure to lead in you water.

• Only use the cold tap. It’s harder for lead to dissolve in cold water.
• Run the taps before you use any water for cooking or drinking. Flushing through any water that has been standing in the pipes for several hours will mean the water you use is less likely to have absorbed lead.
• There are some water filters that can remove trace lead amount from water. Make sure you change the cartridge often and check with the manufacturer that it is able to remove small amounts of lead.

Boiling water will not remove lead from it.

If you need more information, please take a look at Our Customer Guide To Replacing Lead Pipes.