Source water is an extremely important factor in determing the ability of a water ionizer to perform. Water ionizers need ionizable minerals in the water in order to be effective.

Water “hardness” is typically used to refer to the ability of the water to make lather from soap. If water is “hard”, it is difficult to make soap suds. Technically, water hardness is a measure of the amount of Calcium or Magnesium (Calcium Carbonate CaCO3) that is dissolved in water. Hard water can result in scaling on pipes and appliances such as hot water tanks and dishwashers. Hardness is measured in parts per million (ppm) or grains /imperial gallon. 1 grain/Imperial gallon = 14.25 ppm OR 1 ppm = 0.07016 grains

Relative Hardness Description	Hardness Range
	(mg/L CaCO3)	Grains/Imp. gallon
Very Soft	0-60	0 – 4.2
Soft	61-120	4.2 – 8.4
Moderately Hard	121-180	8.4 – 12.6
Very Hard	More than 180	More than 12.6

Groundwater is typically “harder” than surface water because the groundwater has travelled slowly through the sediments that are rich in calcium and magnesium which dissolve over time.

Surface water typically has a greater component of direct runoff from precipitation and therefore has less opportunity to dissolve high concentrations of minerals.

The amount of hardness that a person can tolerate is a matter of personal preference. Hard water is not known to have any specific health-related effects. People with hard water often choose to install a water softener to reduce the formation of scale in their water system and make washing easier. Water softeners work by exchanging the calcium and magnesium minerals with sodium or potassium (supplied in salts). It is recommended to maintain a separate unsoftened water supply for drinking.

When hard wate is heated, it has a tendency to form scale deposits and it typically takes a lot of soap to clean clothes and skin. Soft water allows for a much lower requirement for soap, but it may result in accelerate corrosion of water pipes. The ideal balance between incrustation and corrosions is 6-10 grains.

In general, soft water is difficult to ionize due to the lack of minerals present in the water. Vancouver and Victoria are cities that have naturally occuring soft water. In situations where soft water is present due to nature, or the use of water softeners or reverse osmosis machines, manufacturers of water ionizers boost the level of minerals in soft water by one of two methods. Some manufacturers put calcium or a similar salt-like substance in their filters, while others inject a calcium solution into the water.

Enagic uses a solution of NaCl (sodium chloride or common salt) and NaOCl (sodium hypochlorate which is commonly knows as bleach) to enhance the performance of their machine when soft water condtions prevail.  Jupiter/Ionways and Chanson take a much more sensible approach by allowing customers to add calcite (naturally occuring calcium carbonate) in crystal form  to enhance performance.  The benefit is that the machines can produce very high and very low levels of pH under soft water conditions. The downside is that injecting a “do not drink” solution into healthy water is intuitively alarming, but more importantly, the injection of the solution is not metered out which means that the amount of the solution is inconsistant.

Manufacturers such as Tyent and KYK use filters to reintroduce minerals to the water in soft water applications. While this system doesn’t allow for extreme acid and alkaline levels, they do allow for a slow and consistent introduction of minerals into the water that allow for more than adequate alkaline for healthy pH levels for drinking, and adequate levels of acid water for use on the skin and for plants. I believe the tradeoff of giving up extreme levels of pH that are rarely if ever used for safe healthy water is a simple decision.

In general, when water is hard, ionizers produce great alkaline levels of output, but struggle with producing lower acid levels. Cities with hard water include Calgary and Saskatoon and many other areas in the prairies and Ontario.

Water supplies with a hardness greater than 15 grains are considered poor but tolerable. Ionizer manufacturers typically don’t provide a warranty on their machines when the source water exceeds harndess levels of 15 grains per Imperial gallon unless the source water is pre-treated. Hardness in excess of 35 grains in drinking water is unacceptable for most domestice purposes.
The following is a list of water hardness levels in Towns and Cities across Canada that we have compiled during our persona reseach. The information comes directly from

ALBERTA
CITY PPM GRAINS
Calgary – Bearspaw Plant 169 11.4
- Glenmore Plant 215 15.0
ONTARIO
CITY
Aurora 172 12.1
Ballantrae 235 16.5
Holland Landing 166 11.7
Georgina 135 9.8
Keswick 139 9.8
King City 250 17.6
Kleinburg 218 15.3
Markham 127 8.9
Mount Albert 279 19.5
Newmarket 209 14.6
Nobleton 258 18.1
Ottawa 55 3.9
Queensville/Sharon 160 11.2
Schomberg 273 19.2
Stouffville 256 17.9
Vaughan 127 8.9
Toronto 127 8.9
SASKATCHEWAN
CITY
Weyburn 89 5.2

The following link provides water hardness levels for other cities and towns across Canada that are not included on our personal research list:

www.reikiwellness.ca/PDF_files/Water%20Hardness%20Canadian%20Cities.pdf