Water softeners in Galway city. Supplied and fitted.

How hard is the water in Galway?

Straight answer first: Galway city water is not as hard as most of the country. The public supply comes from Lough Corrib, treated at Terryland, and the Corrib is fed partly from the granite and bog of Connemara to the west, which is soft, and partly from the limestone of east Galway, which is hard. The blend comes out at around 135 mg/L of calcium carbonate, which is the moderate band.

Moderate does not mean no scale. It builds more slowly than in Meath or Kildare, but over a few years it still coats an immersion element and blocks a shower head, and anyone with an electric shower in Galway knows the spray plate furs up. The honest advice: if you are seeing scale on the taps, the kettle and the shower screen, a softener is worth it; if you are not, and your real complaint is taste or chlorine, a drinking water filter is the better buy. The checker at the top of the page gives you your own reading.

East Galway is a different story

Leave the city for Oranmore, Athenry, Tuam, Loughrea or Ballinasloe and you are on limestone, with groundwater supplies and private wells that are hard to very hard. We have separate pages for Tuam, Ballinasloe and Loughrea.

Which AquaSilk suits a Galway house

On moderate water a softener works less hard and regenerates less often, so the AquaSilk Midi covers most four and five person houses in Knocknacarra, Salthill, Renmore, Doughiska, Oranmore and Barna comfortably, and the Mini suits apartments and couples. For an apartment, or anywhere without a drain near the mains, a scale conditioner cartridge is the practical alternative and we fit both. The size picker below marks the right one.

Private wells around Galway

Outside the city, towards Moycullen, Claregalway, Oranmore and Athenry, many houses are on their own well, and the east and south of the county are limestone, so the water is hard. Wells can also carry iron, manganese or bacteria that a softener alone will not deal with. We send a sample to an accredited lab and specify the system off the results. See our well water treatment page.

Getting it fitted in Galway

We fit nationwide with our own technicians, and Galway city, Salthill, Knocknacarra, Oranmore, Barna, Claregalway and Athenry are covered on the same run through the west. Order the softener fitted online or ring us, send a photo of your stop valve and the space beside it, and we book a slot. Two to three hours and you have soft water. The fitted price shown is the full price for Galway. For a quote first, use the quote form; the full range is on our main water softener page.