High Magnesium & Calcium = Hard Water
High levels of dissolved calcium and magnesium makes cleaning clothing more difficult. It can also create streaking on dishes and glasses, scaling on faucets and shower heads. Additionally, it can make cleaning your hair and skin well a challenge. The scale produced can damage your home’s piping distribution system if not corrected. Fortunately, there are high efficiency filtration solutions that will remove these minerals through the proven ion exchange softening process.
Symptoms such as bad odors & taste, staining of laundry, bathroom fixtures, etc. are indicators of problems. However, the preferred starting point is to get a test to identify minerals or contaminants and at what quantities they exist. This will lead to an effective system recommendation..
A softener is a type of whole house filtration system that is designed for removing hardness minerals (magnesium & calcium) as well as dissolved iron and manganese. High efficiency softeners that are more efficient with both water and salt usage are preferred.
BAD ODORS & TASTE
In addition to the above systems described, there are many other types of systems to remove bad tastes & odors, sediment and other objectionable minerals and contaminants. Chlorine taste & odor can be filtered out with an activated carbon filtration component to the system. A test and analysis will lead to the best approach. For more information on bad odors & taste, see the link at http://bad-odor-taste/.
For more on this topic, see the link at https://www.usgs.gov/water-science/hardness-water.