Do you like the taste of hard water? Some people do, but others don’t. Again, when the hardness level is high, even those who like the taste of hard water might not like it anymore. Almost everyone knows they are supposed to take at least eight glasses of water every day, but most people do not like the taste of plain water or hard water. As such, you might prefer drinks such as coffee, juice, or soda, which might not be as healthy as taking plain pure drinking water.
Don’t like the taste of hard water? Here is how to make hard water taste better, but first, understand what hard water is.
What Is Hard Water?
In its purest form, water is made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. However, water does not naturally appear in its pure form since other elements and substances enter it. Some contaminants that enter the water are harmless to your health and might even benefit your body. Other contaminants, such as lead, are a health risk and must be filtered out.
Hard water is any water with a high mineral content. Groundwater usually has the highest mineral content, as it picks up calcium and magnesium as it percolates through limestone. The water can also contain trace minerals such as iron, which it picks up from the soil. Some areas will have hard water with manganese or aluminium.
Calcium, magnesium, and iron, the main elements in hard water, are not harmful to your body. When you drink water with these minerals, they benefit your body. However, the sediments in hard water can carry bacteria with them. According to a 2014 study, the scale in hard water is responsible for the propagation of bacteria in residential drinking water.
What Does Hard Water Taste Like?
To some people, the taste of hard water might be great. If the hardness level is not so high, you might actually like the taste of hard water, but when the hardness level aggravates, the taste changes drastically.
To some people, hard water tastes like chalk or chemicals. The minerals present in the water alter its smell to make it smell and taste like chalk. When you filter water to remove the minerals, you are left with clear water with no chalky taste of smell.
Besides the taste of chalk, you might find limescale pieces in your mouth when you drink hard water. Usually, hard water makes kettles and taps prone to limescale, which might fall off when you are filling up a glass from your tap. This might be an unpleasant experience, especially seeing that you will still get the mineral taste from the limescale. If you get soft water to your home, there will be no limescale formation, and this will not result in pieces of lime in your water glass.
How To Make Hard Water Taste Better
Even though hard water will not harm your health, the taste of hard water might not be as pleasant as you need it to be. What does hard water taste like? Like chemicals and the hard water, the taste may not be good for you. Learn below how to make your hard water taste better.
Add Fruit Slices
Which is your favorite fruit? You can cut fruit into pieces and add them to a jug full of water. Leave the water in a refrigerator overnight. The following day, your water will have the flavor of the fruits, and your fruits will still have the same great taste. Citrus fruits are the best for fruit infusions. You can try lemons, oranges, lime, strawberries, and mint.
Add Drops Of Fresh Juice
Instead of adding fruits, you can add a few drops of fresh juice to better the hard water taste. A few drops of fresh juice from the supermarket will change your water’s flavour into that of the fruit the juice is extracted from. If you can make fresh juice at home, forego the juice from supermarkets that might contain chemicals.
Use Ice
Iced water has a better taste than water at room temperature. Add a few ice cubes to your water and see the difference. You can also make flavoured ice cubes to add to the hard water for a better taste.
Add a little sweetener (if you prefer your water-sweet), such as stevia, Splenda, or Truvia, when making flavoured ice cubes. These natural sweeteners do not add sugar or calories to your water.
Eliminate The Taste Of Hard Water For Good With A Softener
You may not like the taste of hard water, but that is not all you might dislike about it. Hard water makes it challenging for you to wash clothes as it does not lather well with soap. Again, when water evaporates from your clothes, it leaves salt, which makes the fabric rough. It does the same for your skin and hair—it makes it less smooth. Hard water can also clog pipes and shorten the operational life of your electrical appliances.
So, besides searching for how to make hard water taste better, you might need to understand that a water softener will help you get better-tasting water and avoid many other issues. Today, water softeners are almost maintenance-free, especially the salt-free systems.
Conclusion
What does hard water taste like to you? Do you like the taste, or would you rather drink soft water? Do you prefer soft water, or would you rather add a flavor to the hard water supplied to your home? If you get hard water to your home and you do not like the taste, you can use one of the methods above to make it taste better, or you can install a water softener and start getting soft water.