Magnetic water treatment (also known as Anti-scale Magnetic Treatment or AMT) is a proposed method of reducing the effects of hard water, as an alternative to water softening.Vendors of magnetic water treatment devices have claimed that powerful magnetic  fields can affect the structure of water molecules or the properties of solutes passing through the magnetic field, thus eliminating the need for chemical softening agents.Only the effective hardness is claimed to be altered; no solutes are removed from the water by the process.Scientific studies do not support these claims and suggest magnetic water treatment may be ineffective and pseudoscientific.