Water Softeners in Bradford and Bond Head

Bradford water: two zones, two numbers

The Bradford/Bond Head system draws from two places. Zone 1 is fed by two municipal groundwater wells. Zone 2 runs on treated Lake Simcoe surface water bought from Innisfil. The Town's water quality page gives Zone 1 at 110 mg/L, about 6.4 grains per gallon, which is moderately hard, and Zone 2 at 130 mg/L, about 7.6 grains per gallon, which is hard.

The Town itself calls the water moderately hard to hard, and we say the same. It is not very hard, and we will not dress it up. It is still enough to spot glasses, crust faucets and build scale in a tankless heater, which is why the fast-growing subdivisions south and west of downtown keep calling about softeners.

A note on the numbers: the Town quotes Imperial grains, 7.7 and 9.1. We use US grains across this site, so our figures read lower. Same water.

The water is treated, monitored and safe. Rural Bradford West Gwillimbury outside the serviced area is on private wells, and those homes start with in-depth well water testing.

• Softeners sized to your zone, not a one-size guess
• Hardness read at your tap before install and after
• Potassium chloride or an RO tap for sodium-restricted diets
• Carbon filtration for chlorine
• In-depth well water testing for marsh and concession wells
• Service on existing softeners

Softeners sized for your zone

Which zone you are in changes the sizing. At 110 mg/L in Zone 1 a compact softener is plenty. At 130 mg/L in Zone 2 it works a little harder. Either way the reading at your tap on install day sets the program, and the reading after shows you it worked.

Sodium matters here. The Town reports 62 mg/L in Zone 1 and 26.2 mg/L in Zone 2, both above the 20 mg/L level at which the Medical Officer of Health is notified. That is for people on sodium-restricted diets. A softener adds some sodium, so for those households we run it on potassium chloride or put a reverse osmosis tap at the kitchen sink for drinking water.

A carbon stage beside the softener on one bypass handles chlorine taste. New builds with tankless heaters need the softener soonest.

Marsh and concession wells

Outside the serviced area, rural Bradford West Gwillimbury is on private wells, from the Holland Marsh to the concessions toward Bond Head and Newton Robinson. Those are not town water, and hardness is the least of it. Start with in-depth well water testing, including lab nitrates on any well near the marsh.

Nitrates have no taste and matter most for infants and pregnant women; reverse osmosis at the drinking tap removes them. Tannins need their own media, iron filters handle the staining, and a shallow well that tests positive for bacteria gets UV. Our well water treatment page walks through the sequence.