When you look at a U.S. Geological Survey map of where water is hardest, almost all of Arizona is dark red, indicating
our state — along with Utah, Colorado, Texas and other places — has some of the country's hardest water. There are a
lot of minerals in most of our water supplies.
Over the years, we have found the main way to reduce hardness is by installing an ion-exchange system to remove scale-forming calcium and magnesium, and replace it with sodium or potassium ions. Only water that goes through an ion-exchange
can be called softened water.You probably have a lot of questions about how all this works.
How does a water softener work?
Calcium and magnesium ions in water switch places with sodium ions. A very small amount of sodium is added to your
water in this process.
The ion exchange takes place inside a tank of small plastic beads referred to as the resin. The negatively charged beads
are first bonded to positively charged sodium ions. As water comes into your house and flows past the beads, the
sodium ions change places with the calcium and magnesium ions.
When the resin is exhausted, the softener regenerates and exchanges the calcium and magnesium ions for sodium.
All excess sodium chloride is rinsed out at the end of the regeneration process which usually happens at night.
If you have a water softener, you usually have two tanks. One tank holds the resin beads; the other has to be refilled
every two to three months with salt (pellets or coarse) that you can purchase at a grocery or hardware store.
Do you want to drink softened water?
Some homeowners who want to control their salt intake for health reasons are afraid their salt intake will increase drastically
with softened water. But the amount of salt in softened water is very small. If you drink 12 glasses of soft water, you will not
consume as much salt as there is in one slice of bread. Most water supplies contain sodium naturally.
Afraid to use softened water in your yard and on your plants?
Water produced by newer water softeners is not harmful to plants. It is best not to water plants and lawns with softened water
because of the cost of buying a larger softener and increased operating costs. The loop installed to provide softened water to
your house can be constructed so no softened water comes out of your irrigation lines or hose bibs.