Is Chicago water hard or soft?

[Ajanta]

Please help! I am no tech genius and need to buy a shower-head. When I went to Consumer Reports, it ranks them according to whether the water is hard or soft. So, is Chicago water hard or soft? Thanks.

[Karl S]

Doesn't Chicago water come from the lake? If it does, it's soft.

[kellyj00]

if you get white calcium buildups on stuff, it's hard. My shower curtain went from clear to white after 18 months use... if that tells you anything. We've got some really hard stuff here.

Taste it... hard water tastes...well, funny. Also, soap doesn't "sud up" as well in hard water... that may help.

Jason Kelly Valley Center, KS

[Randy Day]

If you're willing to spend a few bucks finding out, go to a pet store and pick up a hardness test kit. Aquarium owners use them for tropical fish.

Or, just ask the person in the fish section of the pet store. They're usually familiar with the local water conditions.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Most any municipal water has some hardness. To find the degree of it, take a sample to anyone selling water treatment equipment and they will do a simple test (usually for free) and tell you what the hardness is.

You can also call the Water Department for information.

[Toller]

In Rochester NY, about a tenth the size of Chicago, we have three completely different water supplies. I expect Chicago has a few also. Call your water department.

Someone said lake water was soft; ours is pretty hard. Not horribly hard like most wells, but hard.

[Todd H.]

I have city water from Lake Michigan. No water softener and no problems. Water softeners are quite uncommon here.

In contrast to Austin Texas where the water was ridiculously hard and many many people had water softeners.

-- Todd H.

[rsnyder]

I went to Sears and they will give you a bottle to bring in a sample of water. They test it right there in front of you for hardness and Ph. They'll ask you some questions about taste, color, and smell of your water. They will then give you some recommendations of what you need, no need to buy though. I got mine tested a little while ago and had a hardness of 22, which is extremely hard. I live near Watertown, NY and have a dug well.

[kenji]

The Sears over by me has 20 year olds working there. I hardly think the kids would be capable of giving me accurate data. They don't even have to type anyhting into a cash register or figure out change.

[m Ransley]

Not very hard, not soft, its fairly neutral. Soft is out of a softener.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Why not? Have you seen how the test is done? You can watch as they do it and see the reading yourself. Kids that age are not all dummies. For a few bucks, you can buy own kit.

[kenji]

i don't believe they are dummies I think in general they could give a f*ck about customer service. So in general at most large retail stores I try to not have to communicate whatsoever with any employee other than the check out girl.

[Todd H.]

Actually the vast vast majority of chicagoland is fed from Lake Michigan.

-- Todd H.

[Mark D]

I lived in Chicago, and found my tap water to be a Ph of 7.7-7.8, so I guess you could say it is slightly hard. Calcium build-up is not quite so bad there. Nothing like where I live now in New Mexico. Mark

[Captain Ozone]

My eyes went all googly to have seen *rsnyder* write this:

I seem to think that, in general, lake water tends to be much "softer" than wellwater which comes from underground (duh), and most, if not all, of Chicago's water comes from Lake Michigan.

Good recommendation to get a pH tester from any fish store. It's very easy to use and they're pretty accurate. One can also get a chlorine tester, too, if one feels the need to test that as well.

I should think that it's never a bad idea to have some sort water filtration, whether in-line or separate, since Rudy knows what's in anyone's water anymore, regardless of its source.

[kenji]

why?

pathogens? taste? something else?

[JG]

Until the early 1990's, DuPage Co. was on wells. You had to shlep those salt blocks for the softner and I still had a funky dry patch on my hand that didn't heal until the Lake water turned on. Most of Will and Kane is still on wells, and who knows how far that toxic plume from Argonne has spread thru the aquafiers. Lake Mickey rules !! Cheese Heads keep your sludge out...JG

[KLS]

And delicious. It's the only water I drink. Cheap, too!

[Cydrome Leader]

consider it hard.

But who f*ck cares. You clean a shower head with a cup of vinegar. It takes like 5 minutes.

why the hell anybody would waste time "testing" the water is beyond me.

[clifto]

Mold.