On Mon, 18 Jul 2005 21:03:44 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

"Washing soda is sodium carbonate. Adding sodium carbonate to hard water
will precipitate insoluble calcium carbonate or magnesium carbonate.
This is a way of removing permanent hardness from water."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^

Indeed it is. But it will make the water even more alkaline (i.e. it
will raise its pH). This is bad news for plants that can't tolerate a
high pH in their soil, such as ericaceous plants. The water may be
'soft' in terms of soap lather, but it's no good for so-called 'lime
hating plants' (a misnomer if ever there was one).



--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net