FYI: Water Hardness Map of the U.S.

[toomanystrollers]

http://water.usgs.gov/owq/map1.jpeg

http://water.usgs.gov/owq/chart.jpeg

http://water.usgs.gov/owq/Explanation.html

[new_mommy25]

So if I am dark blue does that mean I have soft water?

[cvharris]

Yikes! We're in the red. :( No wonder my hemp is so stiff!

Carolee and Ben (6/14/03)

[toomanystrollers]

YUP :)

[parkersmama]

Hmmm...we're in the darkest blue. So why do I have such stinky hemp??? I've never felt like our water was overly soft. And the local water authority told me over the phone that our water is "average" hardness. I don't have lots of bubbles in the machine so I'm not thinking it's buildup. What then????

[new_mommy25]

Denise, I'm in the dark blue too and have had issues with stink hemp. I had to add an extra hot wash/2 cold rinses with nothing added to my regular two washes. It's working but my water bill will kill me.

[toomanystrollers]

I'm in the darkest blue too - and I had to switch detergents. I'm currently having great results using HE detergents in my old clunker machine.

HTH

[wendinbill]

I'm in white...which would mean that I should be using more detergent, but honestly, I've got buildup like you wouldn't believe.

[bobica]

i'm dark blue & just switched to HE detergent. also bleached stinky hemp so we'll see if the switch helps!

Monica
Mom to Siobhan- 3/03

[mudder17]

I'm in dark blue too, so does that mean we use the minimum amount of detergent to prevent buildup/stinky dipes? We don't have any hemp, just PF's and fleece/cotton (Benjamuffin). We have a front loader.

By the way, Pam, thanks so much for posting the map. It was really interesting to see how the hardness varied with region. Not surprisingly, Chicago/IL, with all its lime deposits, has very hard water. I remember checking the pH of our water in chem lab because we were setting up a fish tank. Most of the time, the type of fish that we had needed water treatment to make it more hard, but this time it was the opposite! The pH was around 9.5, which is really quite basic (7 is neutral, and soft water is usually a little below 7).


Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya
born 22 February 2004

http://www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya