Water Filtration

Hard water contains large amounts of dissolved calcium and, to a lesser extent, magnesium. Soft water contains relatively small amounts of calcium and magnesium. Water can be naturally hard or naturally soft. The disadvantage of hard water is that more soap or detergent is needed to get clothing, dishes, and other items clean. Also, soft water makes skin feel smoother and hair feel softer. Soft water has another advantage: It causes less scale, which is that hard, whitish stuff that forms on the inside of pipes and tends to clog up the innards of water appliances. A huge industry exists in the United States whose sole purpose is to make hard water soft. There are hundreds of water softener manufacturers and tens of thousands of water softener dealers.

Although soft water does occur naturally, most of the soft water consumed in the U.S. is created by water softeners. These simple gadgets trap calcium and magnesium in the water and replace it with salt ( sodium chloride). So when you drink softened water, you’re simply drinking water with most of its calcium and magnesium removed and with salt added.

The higher the levels of calcium and magnesium in tap water, the more salt is exchanged in a water softener. If your incoming tap water has a low level of minerals, your softened water will be low in salt. If your tap water has a high level of minerals, your softened water will have a high level of salt.

There has been much publicity over the years about the negative health effects of drinking softened water. This springs from some early research that showed a correlation between cardiovascular disease and high-salt diets. But, more recent research has shown that the amount of salt consumed by drinking softened water is insignificant when compared to overall daily salt intake. Only people who are on a severely salt-restricted diet face a health risk from the added salt in softened water.

In recent years, a substitute for salt ( sodium chloride ) has become popular in water softeners. This substitute is potassium ( potassium chloride ). When potassium is used, the calcium and magnesium in hard water are exchanged for potassium, so no sodium is added to the water. Potassium, in general, is a vital, health-promoting nutrient, but some health conditions do require that people follow potassium-related diets.

Today, there are several ways to deal with the sodium in soft water that will offer good tasting drinking water and a source of water to meet an average household’s cleaning needs. Reverse osmosis systems as well as distillation or deinozation processes all provide both.

Excerpted from “The Drinking Water Book — How to Eliminate Harmful Toxins from Your Water” by Colin Ingram.

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