Water treatment Mallorca and Andalusia

Hardness measures the calcium and magnesium dissolved in water and is expressed in French degrees, with water considered soft below fifteen, medium between fifteen and thirty and hard above thirty, which covers much of the supply on the island.

Limescale acts as a thermal insulator on heating elements, so the appliance needs more time and more energy to reach the same temperature, and that extra consumption grows with the thickness of the deposit.

Reverse osmosis forces water through a semipermeable membrane that retains most dissolved salts, heavy metals and organic compounds, but it also removes beneficial minerals and produces a reject stream that goes to drain.

A household of four people with hard water uses between one hundred and two hundred kilos of salt a year, which represents a cost of thirty to one hundred and twenty euros depending on format and where it is bought.

A water softener pays for itself above about thirty French degrees of hardness, recovering its cost over five to eight years through savings in energy, detergent and appliance replacement.

Well water is not potable simply because it comes from underground, and to use it for human consumption it must be tested by an accredited laboratory covering microbiological parameters, nitrates, conductivity and metals, with periodic repetition.