Introduction: When Hard Water Attacks—The Gagnon Family’s 2026 Wake-Up Call Picture this: Every morning, the Gagnon family of St. Charles, Missouri, would scrub at cloudy glassware, battle itchy skin, and sigh over a dishwasher that now sounded like it was chewing gravel. For Marc (age 41, a high school math teacher) and his wife Lucía (age 39, a pediatric nurse), hard water wasn’t just a nuisance—it was an escalating crisis. Their city water tested at a staggering 22 GPG (grains per gallon),...