mineral buildup on memorials

["Irwin Stone" <irwinstone@zzzzzzzzz>]

The water coming out of our Potomac River is medium hard. Not nearly as bad
as waters from limestone rich areas such as the midwest, but still contains
plenty of dissolved calcium/magnesium. Having spent many years as a tropical
fish enthusiast, I learned that softening water is not very practical. Ion
exchange softeners only replace the calcium ions with sodium ions, which
will still cause white deposits. The only system I found that truly yeilds
very soft water was reverse osmosis. RO systems typically make only about 1
part pure water to 3 or 4 parts hard wastewater. I can't imagine the
bureaucrats ever approving the cost issues asscoiated with true mineral free
water for the public water features.

A product called CLR does an OK job or removing mineral buildup from glass
or porcelin, but I doubt it would do much good on rough textured stone.
Harsh acids also remove these deposits, but usually degrade the stone.

I wonder if the yellow/green stains might be from the millions of copper
coins tossed in by the tourists? My guess is maybe so.

In conclusion, I think its safe to say the water memorials will always look
the way they do now in winter.  Once they start flowing again in spring, the
water should hide the funky stains.

David