Adelaide's drinking water is drawn from the Mount Lofty Ranges catchments, the River Murray and the desalination plant south of the city, blended differently depending on the season and where you live. Two things follow from that, and both of them matter in a shower.
Hardness
Adelaide's supply carries considerably more dissolved calcium and magnesium than the water in Melbourne or Sydney. That is what people mean when they say Adelaide water is hard. Clearhead does not change it. No shower filter does. What a filter can change is what else is travelling with the water.
Disinfectant
South Australian supplies are disinfected either with free chlorine or with chloramine, a longer-lasting compound of chlorine and ammonia. Free chlorine covers most of metro Adelaide. Chloramine is used where water has to travel further or sit longer in the network, which includes Myponga, parts of the Adelaide Hills and many regional systems. The two need different filter media, which is why Clearhead ships in two cartridge types rather than one.
Everything the pipes add
Water leaves the treatment plant clean and then it travels. Older mains and household copper pipework contribute sediment, rust and dissolved metals, and a hot water service that has sat idle overnight contributes more. This is the part of the problem a shower filter is genuinely good at.
Working out which cartridge you need
SA Water publishes the disinfection method for each supply zone. Look up your suburb, or check your most recent water quality report. If your supply is chloraminated, choose the chloramine cartridge. If it is not, choose standard.
Still not certain? Send us your suburb and we will tell you which one to put in the box.