The mains water supply in Lyndhurst is hard. Here’s the reason.

Lyndhurst is a busy inland village, an extremely popular tourist destination but, like so much of Hampshire and the Southampton hinterland, it has one big drawback – hard water. It’s nothing to do with the rain, nothing to do with the sea – it’s down to the soil
Lyndhurst sits on soil largely comprised of chalk and limestone, which contains an abundance of calcium and magnesium minerals. Rainwater is naturally soft, but when it reaches the chalky underlay, these minerals have the effect of turning the water hard.

For Lyndhurst homeowners who don’t like persistently hard water flowing through the tap, the best advice is to have a water softener installed. Water softeners make a dramatic difference! Our skin and hair love softened water; it prevents them from drying out. Instead, they appear silky and vibrant – healthy looking. Laundry, too, reacts positively to soft water, since clothing and towels don’t come out of the washer feeling starchy and drained of colour, as they do with hard water flowing.

Another major factor with hard water is the limescale build-up it creates. Water softeners stop scale in its tracks, preventing pipework and household appliances, like washing machines and dishwashers getting clogged up with the stuff. Soft water allows them to function efficiently and cost effectively. Furthermore, soft water makes the cleaning of bathrooms and kitchens much easier – and you won’t use up detergents nearly as fast. Crucially, money goes further with soft water coursing through the central heating system. Since soft water stops any scale accumulating, boilers require less energy to generate the correct amount of heat and hot water. This prevents wasting cash on energy!

The water hardness measurement for Lyndhurst is in the region of 283 parts per million (ppm). Given that any reading above 200ppm is considered hard, it means that Lyndhurst is ranked towards the top end of the UK’s water hardness league table.

Lyndhurst – an Overview

Annual rainfall: 30.94inch or 786mm.

Lyndhurst is a large Hampshire village, situated in the New Forest National Park. A popular tourist attraction, with many independent shops, art galleries, cafés, museums, pubs and hotels, the closest city is Southampton, nine miles to the north-east. At the 2011 census, the population of Lyndhurst stood at 3,029.

The Queen’s House is the most important building in Lyndhurst. In the past, it has been called the King’s House, the name changing according to the monarch’s gender.

Although Lyndhurst itself does not have a railway station, it has for many years been served by the former Lyndhurst Road station, three miles away, which has been renamed Ashurst New Forest.