What Causes The Florida Hard Water Problem?

Posted by Bryan on December 23, 2009

Tampa Water Softener Specialists

Northwest Plumbing Tampa
4902 Joanne Kearney Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33619

813-549-7041

Why Is There A Florida Hard Water Problem?

Most of Florida has hard water. According to the Us Geological Survey (USGS), most of the Florida peninsula ground water contains between 121 and 180 milligrams per liter of hardness minerals. These minerals, calcium and magnesium, are dissolved in the water and can’t usually be seen, but they are there just the same.

So what causes the Florida hard water problem? Why doesn’t water everywhere contain these dissolved minerals? What’s so special about conditions in Florida that causes so many problems with hard water?

Just to be clear, some other places do have even more of a hard water problem than Florida. That just means they have more dissolved minerals in the water. But we’re talking about Florida right now, so we’ll stick to why Florida has hard water.

To begin with, water goes through a natural cycle called the hydrologic cycle. This is basically the process water goes through as it moves through the environment. To understand the hydrologic cycle, start with the oceans.

Water in the oceans, lakes and rivers evaporates forming clouds. These clouds eventually fall back to the Earth’s surface as rain. The rain flows is either absorbed into the ground or runs into lakes, rivers, streams and oceans. Either way it eventually makes it’s way back to the surface, where it evaporates again, forming new clouds. This hydrologic cycle continually moves water throughout the Earth.

The hard water problem is created by the water that soaks into the ground. Water is considered a universal solvent. That means it has the ability to dissolve almost anything. If the ground contains a lot of limestone, which is fairly soft as far as rock goes, the water basically eats the limestone and picks up a lot of calcium and magnesium in the process. This is what makes the water “hard”.

Much of Florida is what is called “karstic”. Karstic land where the underground rock is limestone. It is named after a region in the Balkans. Karstic land is prevalent where oceans once covered the surface, such as is thought to be the case in a lot of Florida. About 5-10% of the Earth is considered karstic.

The limestone beneath most of Florida is the reason for the hard water problems in Florida. The rain water picks up carbon dioxide as it falls, becoming slightly acidic. This “acid rain” soaks into the ground and dissolves the limestone as it filters down. (This is one of the reasons there are so many underground springs and sinkholes in Florida.)

All of this dissolved limestone makes the water hard. This creates all sorts of problems for Florida residents. That’s why more and more Floridians are installing water softeners. A water softener removes the hardness minerals from the water, eliminating the hard water problems.

Northwest Plumbing Tampa is your Hard Water Specialist. We can install one of the most efficient water softeners available in your home and solve your hard water problem. Give us a call today.