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It all depends on the hardness of the raw water. The following table shows the additional amount of sodium consumed by drinking one quart of softened water.

Example: if the water hardness is 20 grains per gallon, the softener will add 150 milligrams of sodium to each quart of water. That is equivalent to eating one slice of white bread a day.

The softening process does add some sodium or potassium to the conditioned water. The following chart shows approximately how much sodium or potassium is added to one quart of conditioned water based on the amount of feed water hardness. For comparison, (2) slices of white bread contain approximately 278 milligrams of sodium and (2) cups of milk contain approximately 226 milligrams of sodium. One large banana contains approximately 600 milligrams of potassium.

Example: If the water hardness is 20 grains per gallon, the softener will add 150 milligrams of sodium to each quart of water. 150 milligrams of sodium is equal to eating one slice of white bread.

Very little. In most cases, you'll find less sodium in a quart of conditioned water than in a slice of bread. If your doctor recommends a sodium-free diet, a reverse osmosis drinking water unit can reduce the total sodium content to near zero.

Calcium, magnesium and potassium are added for taste. At the levels used, they do not provide any nutritional benefits.

No. Our water has a very low sodium level (10mg/1 or less). This is substantially lower than most well water supplies and many bottled water brands.

For each grain per gallon (17.1 mg/L) of hardness, a softenener will put 30 mg/gal (7.9 mg/L) of sodium in the water. The US FDA defines the water that would result from softening 100 gpg (1710 mg/L) hard water as a "low sodium" beverage. It should be noted that Most of Maui's areas that are affected by hard water have hardness around 8 gpg.

YES! Reverse Osmosis was originally designed R.O. make sea water drinkable for the navy. It is ideal for anyone on a low sodium diet. YES! An R.O. membrane has a pore size much smaller than bacteria virus, pyrogen microorganisms from tap water and produce sterile water.

Adding fluoride to the water is the best way to provide fluoride protection to a large number of people at a low cost. That's why many towns and cities put fluoride in the water in a controlled manner. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recently named fluoridation of drinking water one of the 10 most successful public health measures in this century.

In contrast to other chemicals added to water, fluoride does not treat the water, or make the water safer to drink. Fluoride is the only chemical added to water for the sole purpose of medication (to prevent tooth decay -- a non-waterborne disease). NO. Most dental researchers now concede that fluoride’s main benefit comes from direct contact with the outside of teeth (a "topical" effect), and not from ingestion (a "systemic" effect).

The main fluoride chemical added to water (hydrofluorosilicic acid) is an industrial by-product from the phosphate fertilizer industry. Unlike the fluoride used in toothpaste, hydrofluorosilicic acid is not pharmaceutical-grade quality. It is an unpurified, industrial-grade, corrosive acid which has been linked, in several recent studies, to increased levels of lead in children’s blood. Like arsenic and lead, very small amounts of fluoride can be found in most water supplies.

The back of the envelope calculation shows that there is about 1,000 trillion gallons of water in this iceberg, but it's not "new." It's been in the hydrological cycle. The iceberg contains sufficient water to provide 5 inches of water for the agricultural land of the earth or about 0.5 inches on the land area of the earth.

We now know that a single concentration of sodium - 90 meq/L - is suitable for all ages and most degrees of severity (except high output cholera in adults). This is the most robust level. Packet combined chemicals allow for greater safety, as bazaar salt is likely to be coarse and sucrose may be adulterated. Bazaar-bought chemicals may be more often available (not always: shortages of salt and sugar occur in the poorest countries), or perhaps cheaper.

Yes. Any CUNO water softener may use either Potassium or Sodium Chloride as a re-generant without changing settings. This is of special interest to anyone on a sodium-free or low sodium diet.

The City of Ann Arbor's drinking water averages 48.5 mg/l or ppm (parts per million). Most of this sodium is naturally occurring. Hardness in water reflects the mineral content - primarily calcium. These minerals are naturally occurring. The Ann Arbor Water Plant treats the water to reduce the hardness. How well this process works varies seasonally with the water temperature.