Wondering why your water smells funny, tastes bad, or stains your plumbing fixtures, cloths and dishes? Most people take water for granted. Sometimes, however the water coming out of the faucet may have problems, discoloration, odors, bad taste and even bacteria or Arsenic. This is especially common in older homes or homes with well water. The following are some of the most common water problems and practical ways you can address them.

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Iron staining or discoloration 

Iron is one of the most common elements found in nature, accounting for at least five percent of the earth's crust. It is understandable, therefore , that just about all water supplies, surface or ground, contain some measurable amount of iron. In nature, iron usually occurs as an insoluble oxide, ferric oxide. Under favorable conditions on the earth's surface, the iron is converted to a soluble form and dissolves in water with which it comes in contact. For this reason , iron can be found in almost every natural water source, but particularly in well waters. 

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Solutions: A conventional water softener can remove up to 5 ppm (parts per million) of ferrous iron, but some have specialized iron removers that target this element. The most common application for the Washington area are oxidizing filters and colloidal iron filters providing a even heavier duty coverage.

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Manganese staining or discoloration

The presence of manganese in groundwaters, like iron, is generally attributed to the solution of rocks and minerals. Manganese is rarely found alone in a water source; it is generally found in conjunction with iron. Concentrations of 0.1 ppm-mg/L are considered troublesome in both homes and businesses. The EPA has listed the maximum level of manganese at 0.05 ppm-mg/L in the Secondary Drinking Water Regulations. Both iron and manganese are stain-causing substances. While oxidized manganese is dark brown, accumulations on a surface will also appear black in color.

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Solutions: Like iron, manganese can be removed by a water softener but the most common application in the Washington area is with the use of oxidizing filters.

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Hydrogen Sulfide or smelly water

Often called sulfur water in the water treatment trade, Hydrogen Sulfide is an offensive odor-producing substance. Unlike iron and manganese, which are inorganic dissolved metals, hydrogen sulfide is a gas that dissolves readily in water. When released, such as at a water faucet, it's disagreeable "rotten egg" odor is very noticeable, even at low concentrations. This gas is also flammable and, in higher atmospheric concentrations, poisonous to humans. In addition, sulfur is corrosive to most metals and can tarnish sliverware (notice the blackening of forks and knives after eating poached eggs). At the level of only 0.25 ppm-mg/L, hydrogen sulfide is detectable by most persons.

 

Solutions: At lower levels a carbon block filter can be used to address sulfur in a water supply. At higher levels a multi-stage filtration may be necessary to remove remove hydrogen sulfide, staring with chlorination, then a sedimentation and aeration filter, and finished with an activated carbon filter to remove excess chlorine. 

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Hard Water (Calcium) build up

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A common quality of water which contains dissolved compounds of calcium and magnesium and, sometimes, other divalent and trivalent metallic elements. The term hardness was originally applied to waters that were hard to wash in, referring to the soap wasting properties of hard water. Hardness prevents soap from lathering by causing the development of an insoluble curdy precipitate in the water; hardness typically causes the buildup of hardness scale (such a seen in cooking pans and glass ware). Dissolved calcium and magnesium salts are primarily responsible for most scaling in pipes and water heaters and cause numerous problems in laundry, kitchen and bath. Harness is usually expressed in grains per gallon (or ppm) as calcium carbonate equivalent. 

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Solution:

Water Softening is the most common way to address Hard Water or Calcium build up. Most softening systems use crystalline substances, such as sodium or potassium chloride. This solution holds and suspends a softening medium, which in most cases, is a type of resin. These softeners rely on a process called "ion exchange" 

Ion exchange occurs as soon as the water flows through the softener. This process forces the water's mineral ions to swap with the softener's chloride ions. The minerals that make the water hard remain in the softener's chamber and are released during the backwashing cleaning cycle. The sodium or potassium chloride is not introduced into the water supply, it is only used to charge the resin beads to a negative ion state and is flushed or discharged during the regeneration or cleaning process.