Is Softened Water OK to Drink on Daniel Island? Sodium, Baby Formula, and Houseplants

Once a softener goes in, one of the first questions I get from folks on Daniel Island is whether they can still drink straight from the kitchen tap. It's a fair question. A softener uses salt, so people worry they're drinking salt water, mixing the baby's bottle with it, or slowly poisoning the ferns on the porch.

I'm Christian with Avery & Sons Plumbing + Tankless. Here's the straight answer, and the simple ways we set up homes around East Cooper so nobody has to think twice about it.

What a softener actually puts in your water

A standard softener doesn't add table salt to your glass. It swaps the hardness minerals, calcium and magnesium, for sodium. The salt in the brine tank is only there to recharge the resin. So softened water does carry some extra sodium, and how much depends on how hard the water was to begin with. The harder the water, the more minerals get swapped out, and the more sodium ends up in their place.

A common rule of thumb is roughly 7.5 milligrams of sodium per quart for every grain of hardness removed. For most healthy adults that's a small amount next to what's in a normal day's food. But it isn't zero, and for some households it matters. If you don't know how hard your water is, our post on what a water test actually tells you is a good place to start.

Who should think twice

• Anyone on a low-sodium diet. If your doctor has you watching sodium for blood pressure, heart, or kidney reasons, ask them about softened drinking water and plan on a separate drinking-water source.

• Babies on formula. A lot of parents prefer not to mix formula with softened water. Your pediatrician is the right person to ask, and an unsoftened cold tap or a reverse osmosis faucet makes it an easy call either way.

• Houseplants and gardens. Sodium builds up in potting soil over time, and plenty of plants don't like it. Water them from an unsoftened outdoor spigot or a rain barrel instead.

• Pets and aquariums. Most pets are fine, but fish tanks are touchy about water chemistry. Use unsoftened water and treat it the way your fish store recommends.

How we usually set it up

You don't have to choose between soft water and good drinking water. Here are the setups I recommend most in Daniel Island and Mount Pleasant homes:

• Leave the outdoor spigots unsoftened. There's no reason to soften water for the lawn, the hose, or the garden. Keeping those hose bibs ahead of the softener saves salt and keeps sodium off your plants.

• Add a reverse osmosis faucet at the kitchen sink. An under-sink RO system pulls out most of the sodium along with a lot of other things, so you get soft water everywhere else and clean drinking water where you fill your glass. More on that in our reverse osmosis post.

• Run an unsoftened cold line to the kitchen. In some homes it's practical to leave the kitchen cold tap on hard water for drinking and cooking. It depends on how the plumbing runs, so it's something we look at on site.

• Switch to potassium chloride. Potassium replaces the sodium entirely. It costs more and usually needs a higher setting on the valve, which we covered in our post on which softener salt to use.

What not to do

Don't skip the softener altogether because of the sodium worry. Hard water is still tough on tankless water heaters, fixtures, and dishwashers here. And don't bypass the whole softener every time you want a drink. That bypass valve is meant for repairs and service, not daily use, and flipping it back and forth is an easy way to forget it's off.

Easy next step

If you've got a softener and you're not sure whether your kitchen tap is softened, or you'd like a drinking-water faucet added, Avery & Sons Plumbing + Tankless works on softeners, reverse osmosis, and filtration systems across Daniel Island, Mount Pleasant, and the Charleston area. Call (843) 305-5555 or visit averysplumbing.com.

For most families, the answer is simple: soft water for the house, unsoftened water for the yard, and an RO faucet at the kitchen sink. That covers the coffee, the baby's bottle, and the ferns.