How Davis Water Affects Your Skin and Hair
The mineral content in Davis water is not a health risk, but it does impact daily life. The calcium and magnesium ions react with soap to form a residue, often called soap scum. This means:
- Ineffective Lathering: Soap and shampoo don't lather as well, making you use more product.
- Skin & Hair Residue: That residue can be left on your skin and hair, leading to dryness, itchiness, and brittle hair. Many residents, especially students at UC Davis arriving from areas with softer water, notice the difference immediately.
- Baby Formula: For families, using hard water to prepare baby formula can introduce unnecessary mineral content that a simple filter can easily remove.
The Right Filtration for Moderately Hard Water
With moderate hardness, a whole-house water softener is usually not a sound investment for Davis homeowners. Here's the breakdown:
- Top Recommendation: A high-quality pitcher filter (like a Brita or ZeroWater) or a faucet-mount filter is sufficient for improving the taste of drinking water and for use in coffee makers and kettles.
- Whole-House Systems: A traditional water softener (~$1,500 installed) would save an estimated $58 per year on energy and detergents. This results in a payback period of nearly 26 years, making it economically impractical for most households. A salt-free conditioner is a viable alternative if you want to protect your pipes without the recurring cost of salt.
- Bottled Water Alternative: An under-sink reverse osmosis (RO) system costs a few hundred dollars but eliminates the need for bottled water, which costs the average family $600-$900 per year.