Short answer
Many homes in Delhi NCR rely at least partly on borewell groundwater, and much of it is hard. In a 2018 study of South West Delhi, 41 of 50 groundwater samples were classed as very hard, above 300 mg/L as calcium carbonate, against a BIS acceptable limit of 200 mg/L. Water like that leaves white deposits every time it dries, which is why shower glass here clouds over quickly.
If you moved into a flat in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida or Faridabad and your shower screen clouded over within weeks, it probably is not your cleaning. It is very likely the water.
Where your water comes from matters
Homes across NCR get water from two very different places. Piped municipal supply comes from treatment plants fed mainly by rivers and canals. Many houses, apartment societies and offices also draw groundwater from borewells, or top up from tankers, and groundwater in the region is widely hard and high in dissolved solids. Two flats in the same city, even the same building, can have very different water depending on the mix.
What the numbers say
A 2018 study tested 50 groundwater samples from across South West Delhi. The findings, set against the Bureau of Indian Standards drinking water specification (IS 10500:2012):
| Measure | South West Delhi groundwater (study) | BIS acceptable limit |
|---|---|---|
| Total hardness | 41 of 50 samples (82%) "very hard", above 300 mg/L as calcium carbonate | 200 mg/L (600 mg/L permissible where there is no other source) |
| Total dissolved solids (TDS) | 259 to 7,890 mg/L | 500 mg/L (2,000 mg/L permissible where there is no other source) |
That is one district and one study, and your own water could be better or worse. But it shows why glass in borewell-fed homes here spots so quickly: the water arriving at the shower head is carrying a lot.
What that means for your glass
Every droplet that dries on a shower screen leaves its dissolved minerals behind. The more minerals in the water, the thicker each day's layer. Hot showers make it worse, because calcium carbonate is less soluble in hot water and scale forms faster. That is why geysers and shower heads in hard-water homes scale up too.
The science is the same everywhere; hard water just runs it faster. The full explanation is in why shower glass turns white.
How to check your own water
- A TDS meter is cheap and widely sold. It measures all dissolved solids, not hardness alone, but a high reading usually means mineral-heavy water. A reading well above the 500 mg/L BIS acceptable limit is a strong hint your glass needs protecting.
- Hardness test strips measure hardness directly and cost very little.
- Ask your RO or purifier installer. They often test your water on the first visit.
Test the water from the bathroom tap, not the kitchen purifier: it is the untreated water that lands on the glass.
What you can do about it
- Squeegee after every shower. The single most effective free habit: the 30-second routine.
- A whole-house softener removes most of the hardness, though it is an investment in plumbing, salt and servicing, and it does not clear stains that are already there.
- Clean properly, then seal. Descale the glass fully and apply a water-repellent coating so water runs off instead of drying in place. That sequence (clean, strip, scrub, then seal) is what the Infinite Coatz kit was built for, here in Delhi.
Weighing up a cleaning service instead? See DIY kit or a cleaning service.
Sources
- Acharya, S. et al. (2018). Assessment of groundwater quality by water quality indices for irrigation and drinking in South West Delhi, India. Data in Brief.
- Bureau of Indian Standards. IS 10500:2012, Drinking Water Specification (second revision).