Hard water is water carrying dissolved calcium and magnesium. In Broward it starts out hard everywhere, because the Biscayne Aquifer runs through limestone, and anything above 7 grains per gallon is classed as hard. What varies is how much your utility removes before it reaches you, and hardness is federally unregulated, so none of them report the figure.
Here’s how it shows up, roughly in the order people notice it.
Symptoms you can see
1. White crust on the showerhead and taps. Mineral deposits left as water evaporates. It comes off with vinegar and comes straight back.
2. Spotted glassware. Glasses come out of the dishwasher with a cloudy film that isn’t dirt. It’s mineral residue, and rinse aid hides it without removing it.
3. A film on the shower door that won’t stay gone. Soap scum forms when soap reacts with calcium and magnesium. On soft water it barely forms at all.
4. Orange or reddish staining. This one isn’t hardness, it’s iron, and it usually points to a private well. Worth flagging because it needs different treatment and it has to be dealt with before any softener goes in.
Symptoms on skin and hair
5. Soap that won’t lather. You use more shampoo, more detergent, more dish soap, and get less out of each. People often buy a different brand before they suspect the water.
6. Dry skin and dull hair. Soap scum doesn’t fully rinse off skin and hair. It’s the symptom most often dismissed as unrelated, and often the first thing people notice once the water is softened.
7. Stiff, scratchy laundry. Minerals deposit in fabric fibers. Towels lose absorbency, which is the opposite of what a towel is for.
Damage to appliances
8. A water heater that dies early. This is the expensive one.
Scale forms fastest where water is heated, because heat drives minerals out of solution. A layer of scale on the heating element means the unit runs longer to deliver the same hot water. That’s a monthly electricity cost, and it takes years off the water heater.
9. Dishwashers and washing machines wearing out sooner. Same mechanism, slower. Scale accumulates in the heating elements and valves.
Which symptoms to act on
The cosmetic symptoms are a nuisance. The appliance damage is the reason to treat hard water.
Scale shortens the life of the water heater first, then the dishwasher and the washing machine.
How to confirm it
Test strips from a hardware store give you rough hardness. They’re a reasonable way to confirm you have a problem, and not enough to size equipment from.
A proper test gives you grains per gallon, which is the number a softener is sized against. Softener sizing is arithmetic: hardness multiplied by daily household water use. Without the reading, any recommendation is a guess.
Your utility’s annual report tells you what the water was like leaving the plant. Useful context, and not the same as what arrives at your tap.
Is hard water a health risk?
No. Calcium and magnesium are minerals you eat anyway. The case for treating it is about your plumbing, your appliances, your skin and your laundry, and none of those are safety issues.
If you’re on a private well, the picture is different, because iron, hydrogen sulfide and bacteria can all be present alongside hardness. That’s covered in our guide to well water treatment.
Getting your number
A free in-home water test gives you your hardness in grains per gallon, which is the number that sizes a softener.