| "If the water and soap form suds that last several minutes, the water is soft."
Q. Is there any dispute about the definition of soft water?
A. No. Scientists, government and industry world-wide have long known what causes hardness and what can be done to eliminate it. Textbooks and scientific journals use these definitions without question.
CWQA Position on Catalytic, Electromagnetic and Magnetic Devices Claimed to Treat Drinking Water
CWQA POSITION: CWQA has long maintained that all product performance and benefit claims for all products that purportedly alter the hardness characteristics of water be based on factual data obtained from tests conducted by professional competent personnel following established test procedures. Such data should be recent, reputable and verifiable and should substantiate all product performance and benefit claims.
CWQA knows of no generally recognized scientific or technical evidence which proves that magnetic, electromagnetic or catalytic devices sold to treat water have any measurable physical or chemical effect of water quality.
COMMENT: CWQA represents the water quality improvement industry. Industry products are those that either improve the quality of water or are supplied to those who manufacture or sell water quality improvement products.
CWQA is becoming increasingly concerned over the rapidly escalating level of federal and provincial law enforcement activity involving water treatment devices, many of which, these federal and provincial agencies believe do not have any effect on the quality of water and, therefore, certainly do not improve it. Prime examples are various types of catalytic. Electromagnetic and magnetic devices. Published claims that these devices alter the hardness characteristics or improve the quality of water in other ways have been successfully challenged by enforcement officials.
CWQA continues to favour full public disclosure of all facts regarding catalytic. Electromagnetic and magnetic devices claimed to treat drinking water including all documentation, which would shed light on the accuracy of the performance, or benefit claims being made for them. CWQA cooperates fully with provincial and federal regulatory officials, as well as, with private organizations such as Better Business Bureaus, in their efforts to prevent false and misleading advertising claims by various manufacturers of these and other products. This means, among other things, that CWQA will: 1) satisfy requests from government regulatory officials, as well as private organizations and persons, for published material in its possession; or 2) bring to the attention of government regulatory officials, as well as private organizations and persons concerned with such matters. promotional material coming to its attention which the published material in CWQA’s possession suggests may be either false, misleading or both.
In a research study commissioned and published by CWQA. Dr. Larsen1 found that the catalytic device he studied did not provide the benefits of soft water and did not reduce the hardness of water. "As a water softener." he said, "this product is utterly useless." Also, in a similar CWQA commissioned research study Dr. Johnson2 testified that a catalytic bar would not soften water.
The Federal Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada research study by Dr. H. Gesser3 described a catalytic unit as a fraud that does not work and cannot work.
In research commissioned and published by WQA, Gruber4 found that there was no change in the physical and/or chemical properties of water treated with permanent magnetic devices and Alleman5 found that none of the six permanent magnetic water conditioners tested were able to uniformly affect a statistically, verifiable, beneficial change in the assayed physical or chemical qualities of the applied water or its related scaling characteristics.
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