Water Quality question (ME)

[Deleted User]

...nor are we located in Palm Desert, but after 30 years living in coastal southern California with both air and water best described as "crunchy" I agree her problem is low RH.

I end up using hand cream on arms, legs and hands in the winter to deal with the itching and flaking when our furnasty runs extensively. It's been worse for the last five years or so as massive high pressure systems have blocked cold fronts from reaching us most of November through January. These skin problems never happen during summer, and there's not much variation in our municipal water's hardness during the year. It's *always* high!

Mark Eatherton

Whaddya think?

All, My sister has a place in Palm Desert in Califo. She normally resides here in Denver. She has problems (dry itchies) with her skin when in California.

Here's a link to her water quality report.

http://www.cvwd.org/news/publicinfo/2008_water_quality_report.pdf

Does anything jump out of the report at the WQA members that would cause you concern?

I'm thinking her discomfort has more to do with RH than WQ, but thought I'd ask someone more qualified in the subject area.

TIA

ME

1bourbon

hard water

Looking at the table, she's in the "Cove Communities," correct? (See footnote 1.)

The only thing that leaps out is the CaCO3 (calcium carbonate) concentration (in mg/l), commonly referred to as 'hardness'.

The range is all over the scale (27-310) with an average of 120. Generally speaking, water is considered 'hard' at 120-180 mg/l.

Hard water can leave a dry, itchy film on the body.

Maybe first get her to try a different soap more compatible with hard water so she rinses cleaner, and/or add a water softener to the system.

But I would also agree that RH might also be part of it. Probably both.

(Practicing geoscientist, not a specialist in water quality, but still remember all my Intro Hydro stuff.)

Unknown

We stay at a friend's condo near Palm Desert and the water out there is pretty hard. They also don't allow water softeners that discharge salt so the only way you can go is by using Culligan. Culligan installs a stainless ion exchange tank in your cold water line and replace it about every two weeks.

The basic problem is the soap you use with hard water. Most bar soaps won't react well with hard water. They don't "clean" you, don't rinse off well and leave a film on your skin. We use to use Zest as it worked well with hard water but I understand they recently changed the formula.
Here's a link that might be of help to you:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/472086/best_soaps_for_hard_water.html?cat=69

we haven't tried any of these though will pick some up before our next trip out there.

- Rod

Paul Pollets

Water treatment

I'd install a water softener and whole house carbon filter on the incoming CW. I use EWS equipment (http://www.ewswater.com/; in LasVegas.
A tee before the softner and filter allows for sillcocks or sprinkler.

The humidity can be measured with a humidistat from iAllergy.com for $16. If the humidity is under 40%, a steam mist humidifier will solve the problem. The hard water is not great for the skin...many have reactions.

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Gordy

Hard water

Sounds like all the makings for itchy skin to me.

Where I live the city water is 28 grains which is hard. I don't know how that converts to mg/l.

All I know is when I run out of salt the women of the house know before I do. They claim all sorts of funny reactions from hair not going right to itchy skin rashes.

I use a Water Boss love it been trouble free for about 8 years now. only regenerates as needed for demand.


Gordy

bill_105

CC and RH

I read the first sentence of the question. The first thing that popped into my mind was calcium carbonate. I finished the question. Then scroll down to the next writer. Here was calcium carbonate being mentioned. The water in that area is loaded with it. I was ten years old in the sixties and would swim in these beutiful creeks with great natural swimming pools near Palm Springs, not too far away. That's when I first heard of hard water. I'm thinking," How could you swim in hard water?" The CC builds stuff. In the Grand Canyon there is Havasupai creek with just beautiful pools built by this stuff. Cleaning yourself or your clothes has always been a chore with hard water. Seek local advice, and drink lots of water.

Mark Eatherton

Thanks ya'll..

I will respond accordingly.

Appreciate the feed back.

ME