Living in Southwick certainly means hard water.

If you live in Southwick, as with everywhere else in coastal Sussex and much of the south-east, you’ll definitely encounter hard water. It’s not the fault of rainwater; this is naturally soft. It’s actually due to soil beneath our feet.

Southwick sits predominantly on soil comprising chalk. This is full of calcium and magnesium minerals. When the rain seeps into the soil, these minerals have the effect of changing the water from soft to hard. That’s the natural world for you!

For Southwick homeowners who are unimpressed with constant hard water in the mains supply, the savvy decision is to have a water softener installed. You’ll notice the benefits instantly! Take skin and hair – they adore soft water. It guarantees they stay naturally soft, shiny and vibrant looking. And your laundry will also feel much softer to the touch with soft water flowing through the washing machine!

You may not realise it, but hard water is the main cause of limescale – horrible stuff to keep at bay around the home. Thankfully, water softeners are highly efficient at stopping scale build-up in its tracks. That’s good news for household appliances, like washing machines, kettles and dishwashers. With softened water in the system, cleaning kitchens and bathrooms is a much more straightforward task – and less costly. Surfaces stay far shinier plus you’ll get through a lot less detergent. And with soft water coursing through your boiler, you’ll be a lot better off. No scale build-up means superior energy efficiency. Heartening to know when fuels bills are going through the roof! At the same time, hard water seriously downgrades heating systems. The last thing you need is an expensive boiler replacement!

Southwick has a poor record for water hardness. The reading is around 280 parts per million (ppm), almost 50% more than the lowest hard water measurement of 200ppm. Softened water would bring this figure down to virtually zero.

Southwick – an Overview

Annual rainfall: 18.98inch or 482mm.

Southwick is located in the Adur district of West Sussex, five miles west of Brighton. At the 2001 census, the Southwick population was recorded at 13,195. The town is loosely divided into three sections: the commercial area south of Brighton Road around the harbour, to the north up to the Old Shoreham Road consisting of older residential properties and lastly up to the South Downs featuring more modern residential development.
History has it that King Charles II stayed overnight at the cottages on Southwick Green before escaping to France.

The Southwick Square shopping centre is home to many traditional and local businesses, as well as some larger chains. This was key to Southwick’s expansion north of the Old Shoreham Road midway through the 20th century.