I’m Marisol Ochoa, and in my Riverside house, I used to mix baking soda and vinegar when I wanted to scrub a hard-water deposit. The fizz made the mixture look stronger than either ingredient alone. As of mid-September 2026, I still understand the reflex: when a stain holds on, it is tempting to judge a cleaner by how much it appears to do. Here in California, you and I can both recognize that scene without treating the bubbles as proof that the deposit is coming off.
The local number makes this more than a hypothetical chore. Riverside Public Utilities reports hardness in Riverside water at 189 mg/L, also expressed as 11 grains per gallon. That is a measurement of the water, not a measure of how well my fizzy mixture cleans a fixture. I have to keep those questions separate: what is in the water, and what removes the deposit it leaves behind.
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What UF/IFAS Extension says
UF/IFAS Extension’s advice for the stain is direct: “full-strength vinegar or lemon juice applied to rust stains or hard-water deposits will fade and perhaps eliminate the stain.” I read that as a reason to put the vinegar on the hard-water deposit itself, rather than making a performance out of the bowl of cleaner first. Fade and perhaps eliminate is careful wording. It gives me a practical step, not a promise that every mark on every fixture will disappear…