Hard water is water that has high mineral content (in contrast with "soft water").
Hard drinking water is generally not harmful to one's health, but can pose serious problems in industrial settings, where water hardness is monitored to avoid costly breakdowns in boilers, cooling towers, and other equipment that handles water. In domestic settings, hard water is often indicated by a lack of suds formation when soap is agitated in water. Wherever water hardness is a concern, water softening is commonly used to reduce hard water's adverse effects.
Read more about Hard Water: Sources of Hardness, Effects of Hard Water, Measurement
Famous quotes containing the words hard and/or water:
“Going down for the last time, the last breath lying,
I grapple with eels like ropes—it’s ether, it’s queer
and then, at last, it’s done. Now the scavengers arrive,
the hard crawlers who come to clean up the ocean floor.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well. That same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house. I promise you, your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)