Hardness

If water consumes excessive soap to produce lather, it is said to be hard. Hardness is caused by divalent metallic cations. The principal hardness causing cations are calcium, magnesium, strontium, ferrous and manganese ions. The major anions associated with these cations are sulphates, carbonates, bicarbonates, chlorides and nitrates.

The total hardness of water is defined as the sum of calcium and magnesium concentrations, both expressed as calcium carbonate, in mg/L. Hardness are of two types, temporary or carbonate hardness and permanent or non carbonate hardness. Temporary hardness is one in which bicarbonate and carbonate ion can be precipitated by prolonged boiling. Non-carbonate ions cannot be precipitated or removed by boiling, hence the term permanent hardness. IS value for drinking water is 300 mg/L as CaCO₃.