How Do You Deal With Sedalia’s Hard Water?

Growing up in Sedalia, I had no idea our water supply was any different from anyone else.

Not that we have terrible water, it's fine, I never noticed anything strange about it. Then when I was in High School, we took a field trip up to Warrensburg. I forget why, but we went up to the UCM campus and everyone told me not to drink the water there. I didn't know why, I thought, "Water is water, right?" Well. It was not.

As I learned later in first year Geology, Warrensburg's water is drawn over limestones. So there is a distinct flavor and taste to the water there I was not accustomed to. In fact, my freshman year roommate (who was from Nebraska) almost didn't drink water when I took her back to my house in Sedalia until I told her that the Burg water tasted funny to me, too.

Now, I know a little better. We live in an area of hard water. In fact, hard water is all over the country - more places have hard water rather than not. So what is that? Well, according to Whirlpool,

Hard water is water that has a high mineral content. What does hard water contain? Calcium, Magnesium, and trace amounts of other minerals. It’s a natural result of minerals like calcium and magnesium accumulating during the water cycle, and it can happen with well water and even city water. Hard water is safe to drink and wash with, but over time it can lead to inconvenient, embarrassing and costly problems.

So hard water can mess with your clothes, create low water pressure, and make your hair limp and skin dry (finally, a reason). I know I've spent many a time scrubbing and scrubbing out my cat's water bowl, and the white stains just won't go away.

What do you do? One idea might be to buy a water softener. I've tried using filters and it doesn't really cut it on the larger scale, so you may need a professional installation. Or, you could fight specific problems with cleaning products. I've tried soaking things in vinegar, and that worked, but I can't handle the smell. I hate the smell of straight vinegar. So what I do is I end up soaking my kettle or the cat bowl or even the mechanisms of the cat fountain in CLR for a few hours. You don't put them straight in the solution, obviously, you put a little bit in water and let it go to town.

But what do you do? Do you have a softener system, or is there something else you do to deal with the effects of hard water?

Hardly yours,

Behka