If your employees complain of dry, itchy, or slimy skin every time they wash their hands, soften up your tap water. Your building's tap water could be too harsh and too hard to use. A water softener can decrease the things in your tap water that make it hard. Learn more about hard tap water and how to soften yours below.

Why Is Tap Water Hard?

Tap water, also known as faucet and municipal water, should be clear and clean enough to drink on a daily basis. However, tap water contains various minerals that make it hard, including large amounts of magnesium and calcium. Minerals can make water taste bitter and chalky to you, or they can make the water feel slimy and unclean. 

Your city removes most of the minerals and other things from your tap water before it enters your building. If your city doesn't clean the water carefully, it can still contain high levels of magnesium and calcium. If your water lines or pipes contain minerals inside them, the mineral content in your tap water may become even worse.

Tap water that contains a high mineral content will affect your skin over time. The water may make your hands feel dry after you wash them. Your hand soap may not foam up properly if there are too many minerals in your water. The soap and water may leave an unsettling residue on your hands.

If you want to improve the quality of your tap water, soften it.

How Do You Soften Your Tap Water?

You can't physically remove the minerals from your tap water on your own. You must install a water softening system in your building to improve the quality of your faucet water. Water softening systems do several things:

• catch and contain the minerals in your water
• filter the minerals in your water
• reduce the hardness of minerals in your water

You have a number of water softening options to choose from, including point-of-use water softeners. Point-of-use softeners reduce the water hardness in one specific faucet or location. This type of water softener works well for small employee kitchens or restrooms.

Water softening systems typically cover your entire building. The systems come with extensive water filters that capture large quantities of minerals from your water. Once the filters become full, you replace them with new filters. 

For more information on water softeners, contact a company near you.