There is no need to be concerned about drinking the water that is coming out of your water softener. The water that goes into your water softener is virtually the same as the water that comes out of it.
Can you drink the water from a water softener? A
How is water different after it goes through a water softener?
The primary difference between the water going into a water softener and the water coming out is the water will not have the calcium and magnesium that contribute to water hardness that it had before going through the water softener.
There may be a very small amount more sodium but much less sodium than you think.
Calcium and magnesium are both important minerals for the human body, so drinking softened water does not have any significant mineral benefit. But most of us get a sufficient supply of these minerals from the foods that we eat every day.
Although softened water is lacking in minerals, when it is consumed it will not remove any dangerous amounts of minerals from your body as some people believe. Even though water likes to absorb minerals, water would have to be virtually free of salts as well as minerals for it to remove any substantial amount of minerals from the body.
Some people think that soft water is not safe to drink because it has to much salt in it. This is simply not true at all. I believe that people think this way because they see their big salt tank that is connected to the water softener and they think that the salt is being added to the water in order to make it soft.
This is a common misconception about water softeners and how they work. A water softener does not intentionally add any salt to the water at all.
So how does the water become soft?
Water is softened as it flows through the water softeners’ resin beads. The hardness ions in the water are attracted to the water softening resin and will cling to them, keeping the hardness trapped in the water softeners tank.
But doesn’t a water softener add salt to the water?
The saltwater or “brine” is only used to rinse over the water softening resin, and as it does, it releases the hardness ions from the water softening resin and flushes them away. After the brine has completed its removal of hardness from the water softening resin, it is then rinsed from the system with fresh water, leaving just a very small amount behind.
So, as long as your water softener is working correctly, the amount of salt in your softened water should be perfectly safe and not of any level that would be harmful to humans or the common house pet.
Now, since softened water has been stripped of the calcium and magnesium ions that made it hard, to begin with, it can
Does soft water taste different?
People that are used to the taste of hard water may find the softened water to be bland tasting. And in some cases, the hardness in the water may have masked other tastes in the water, and now that the hardness has been removed, these other tastes become more pronounced.
If you are getting a salty taste from your water softener, this is due to the brine solution that is used to remove the hardness from the softener, not being flushed away correctly.
There are several reasons that a water softener may leave some brine solution behind after its regeneration process. Some of which are quite simple to correct, such as a clogged pre-filter or a clogged injector and screen.
But doesn’t softened water have a lot of extra salt in it?
To put it in perspective, when softening water that has about ten grains per gallon of hardness in it, the average water softening process will add about 25mg of sodium per one eight-ounce glass of water. Look around at the labels on many common drinks and you’ll see that most people consume everyday beverages that are considerably more than that.
A typical twelve-ounce diet soda, for example, contains about 40mg of sodium. And the juices and drink mix that we drink every day usually have much more sodium than your normal softened water coming out of your water softener.
Do you like a nice thick vanilla milkshake once in a while, well the average 11 fluid ounce milkshake has about 300 mg of salt in it?
A yummy tuna fish salad sandwich on store-bought white bread with one cup of tuna fish salad has about 1,164 mg of salt, 824 mg in the tuna salad and 170 mg in each slice of white bread.
And a single slice of plain cheese pizza has 336 mg of salt, so the extra 25 mg of salt that you consume per each eight-ounce glass of softened water that you drink, really is not all that much compared to the rest of an average diet.
If your softened water tastes like it has a lot of salt in it, learn more about what can be done about it in my article Why does my water taste salty?
Related Questions:
Can you filter softened water for drinking? Even though softened water is generally considered safe for drinking, you can use a reverse osmosis drinking water system to remove sodium that may be in the softened water.
Also, a water softener is not a filter. If you are concerned with sediment particles in your water, a sediment filter would be advisable to filter the water before drinking it.
Can dogs drink softened water? Softened water is as safe to drink for dogs as it is for humans. But if your softened water contains high levels of sodium, I recommend using a reverse osmosis system to reduce the sodium content.
Is softened water bad for plants? It can be. Just because water has been softened does not mean that it has been purified in any way. Salts in water that has been softened are not good for plants or flowers, so using softened water without knowing that the level of sodium in it is safe for plants and flowers is not advised.
Thank you for this information. I have been concerned , we are putting new softner in our home.