Sodium: A question we get asked from time to time is, “Is it safe to drink softened water?” The short answer is yes, for most people. If you have a medical condition or a sodium-restricted diet, consult your clinician about your drinking water.
Water softeners work by a process called ion exchange . During this process resin beads exchange calcium (or magnesium) for sodium.
But how much and why is it generally considered safe to most people? First let’s consider how much sodium is allowable.
The FDA Daily Value for sodium is 2,300 mg; individual dietary limits may differ. It’s important to keep in mind that much of the TDS (total dissolved solids) in our drinking water already, is actually sodium.
So, how much sodium does a softener add to water? That depends on how hard your water actually is.
Roughly 8 mg of sodium is added for every grain per gallon of water. (GPG x 8= mg/L sodium) So if you drink 2 liters of water per day and your hardness was 10 GPG, you would intake only 160 mg of sodium.
As you can see, the sodium added is far less than the daily recommended intake. A couple interesting tidbits:
-About 1 teaspoon of table salt contains 2,300 mg of sodium
-A ketchup packet has roughly 100 mg of sodium. If you need to limit sodium, discuss your water test results and treatment options with your clinician.
No matter what you’re dealing with, AquaCheck can help! Call us today for a free consultation.