Abstract: An electrically operated device (10) for treatment of hardness of water in a pipe or other waterflow guidance or containment, and which includes an aerial (11) capable of being wrapped externally around a pipe (12); a mains-powered generator (13) for forming a waveform of a predetermined pattern and at a radio frequency; an output connection (15) on the generator to which the aerial can be connected to receive the waveform; and means for varying the frequency of the waveform to suit the diameter of pipe with which the device is to be used.