Impact of water hardness on consumers' perception of laundry washing result in five <scp>E</scp>uropean countries

Abeliotis, Konstadinos; Candan, Cevza; Amberg, Caroline; Ferri, Ada; Osset, Miguel; Owens, Jeremy; Stamminger, Rainer

doi:10.1111/ijcs.12149

Cited by 38 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Numerous studies suggest the protective effect of hard water in relation to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, gastrointestinal cancer, osteoporosis and other diseases (11). Despite its health advantages, hard water is generally considered a problem by consumers because of its negative impact on domestic duties like cooking and washing clothes (12).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Satisfaction of drinking water needs in villages of Stara Zagora municipality

Sandeva¹,

Gidikova²,

Deliradeva³

2015

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Supplying sufficient quantities of safe drinking water to citizens is one of the most important tasks of each country. According to national reports drinking water supplied to Bulgarian villages is not sufficiently controlled. PURPOSE: To determine whether the village residents of Stara Zagora municipality are satisfied with the quantity and quality of the supplied drinking water. METHODS: Households in 46 villages were interviewed for the study. RESULTS: The survey revealed that 87% of respondents believed they're getting enough water, but 63% were not satisfied with its quality. For 74% of the respondents water consumption corresponded to the national average (2-4 m 3 per person per month). The main complaints concerning water quality were of unpleasant taste, smell of chlorine and high hardness. Due to the poor quality of drinking water 80% of respondents reported that they occasionally had to buy bottled water. A worrying fact was that 41% used tap water for watering their garden, thus wasting drinking water resources. CONCLUSIONS: The village residents in Stara Zagora municipality are partly satisfied with the quality of drinking water. It is necessary, however, to take significant measures to strengthen the quality control performed by water supply companies and supervisory authorities, especially in view of the increased cases of heavy rains and floods in the recent months.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Satisfaction of drinking water needs in villages of Stara Zagora municipality

Sandeva¹,

Gidikova²,

Deliradeva³

2015

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“…Details about the distribution of respondents by country, age and gender were shown in a previous work [20]. An analysis of consistent answers carried out as described in Abeliotis et al [20] highlighted that about 20 % of the respondents (1 045 out of 5 053) were unreliable and their questionnaires were excluded from further analysis. The countries were selected on the basis of their size, as the five most populous nations in Europe were considered [25].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…On the contrary, a specific paper from the same authors was dedicated to the effect of water hardness on washing performance perception [20]. According to the outcome of that study, the effect of water hardness is crucial for washing effectiveness and people living in hard water areas are less satisfied with washing performance compared with those living in soft water areas.…”

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confidence: 99%

Laundry Performance: Effect of Detergent and Additives on Consumer Satisfaction

Ferri

Osset²,

Abeliotis

et al. 2016

Tenside Surfactants Detergents

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To identify key features in the perception of consumer satisfaction of washing performance, a survey among detergent users from five European countries was run. Respondents from each country were volunteers recruited through the Internet without previous selection criteria. The size of the sample (over 4,000 participants) and the wide geographical distribution of the respondents delivered a large set of data. According to the collected answers, respondents show a significant degree of satisfaction with the detergents they use, regardless of type and country. They were only dissatisfied by tough stains and exceptional problems with their wash loads. Detergent additives are widely used but the use and type of laundry additive showed significant differences from country to country. Respondents understood the usefulness of stain removers and showed a high degree of satisfaction using them. Damages to textiles, when it occurs, are not usually associated with the quality of the detergent used but with other factors in the washing process.

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“…Soaps and detergents react with calcium and magnesium in hard water to form insoluble precipitates, and hence larger amounts of soap and detergents are needed for cleaning in hard water than in soft water 1 . In addition, the insoluble precipitates formed cling to fibers, and remain in the fabric after laundering 2 . This makes the fabric stiff and rough, and causes colors to fade 3,4 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Water hardness is a key factor in the success of the washing process in areas of the world where hard water is present 14 . However, the effects of water hardness on precipitate formation, foamability, surface tension, detergency, and properties of the washed fabric using some common surfactant species have not been systematically examined in the same experimental system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%