[laso]

How many here have water softener in there house? Is it worth it ?
Is water in Vegas really that bad?

[Danknee]

See this thread =>> //www.city-data.com/forum/las-vegas/1218703-water-softener-home.html

To answer your questions:
How many here have water softener in there house? ME
Is it worth it ? YES
Is water in Vegas really that bad? My city water tested at a hardness of 10, 171ppm. So yes it is officially hard water. Dunno what you mean by "bad"

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by laso

How many here have water softener in there house? Is it worth it ?
Is water in Vegas really that bad?

No water softener.

I don't believe in salting perfectly-good fresh water.

The water in Las Vegas has radioactive and toxic materials in it. This is easily verified information.

I have a whole house reverse osmosis system to remove the radioactive and toxic materials. I've taken a ration of s*** about it on this forum. But my system works. There has been no damage to my plumbing, and I check. I think its a worthwhile system, but it's not cheap.

Several people disagree, though. Investigate and draw your own conclusions.

[SportyandMisty]

Yes, it is well worth it to have a water softener here. Yes, the water is very hard. The water softener will help quite a bit. The way a house is typically plumbed, all hot water throughout the house would be soft. All cold water would be soft also EXCEPT for the kitchen sink & water supply to the ice-maker in a refrigerator. Why? Well, a glass of softened water will have about the same amount of sodium as half a slice of bread, but it sure adds up. So, typically, drinking water from the kitchen sink is typically not softened. So... you put an RO under the kitchen sink which supplies drinking water to a separate spigot at the kitchen sink. In most homes, if there is plumbing for the ice maker in the fridge, it can also be fed by that under-kitchen-sink RO unit (there is a loop there).

For people who are quite sensitive to the sodium, you can switch from using sodium chloride water softener salt to potassium chloride water softener salt. It is available most everywhere but costs about 3x as much IIRC.

[bayview6]

I just bought a Sears water softner and RO unit. The water softner is great for taking baths and washing clothes. I mix RO water and bottled spring water 50/50 for drinking.

[ScoopLV]

Have people stopped to consider what is happening to our water supply with water softeners?

We salt our water. We pump the brine into the sewage system. Not all of the salt is removed from the wastewater, and it goes back to Lake Mead. Slowly, Lake Mead is becoming more saline -- evaporation and massive salt additions do their work. So the Colorado south of Lake Mead is becoming more saline.

I don't think this is sustainable.

[Danknee]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

Have people stopped to consider what is happening to our water supply with water softeners?

We salt our water. We pump the brine into the sewage system. Not all of the salt is removed from the wastewater, and it goes back to Lake Mead. Slowly, Lake Mead is becoming more saline -- evaporation and massive salt additions do their work. So the Colorado south of Lake Mead is becoming more saline.

I don't think this is sustainable.

Some data for the sake of argument:

• Las Vegas produces 193 MGD (million gallons) of waste water per day.

• 1 MGD = 1.547 cfs
• 193 x 1.547= 298.57 cfs waste water returned to Mead per day.
• Currently Mead is averaging 17020 cfs per day (11,002 MGD) minus the 298 cfs of waste water intake = 16722 cfs of non-waste water intake per day.
• This means that the total waste water daily intake = .017542 or 1.75% of the daily intake to Lake Mead is treated waste water.
• Natural sodium content of water is 0-500mg per liter. Average of 17mg per liter, recommended less than 20mg per liter for drinking water.
• LV city water hardness is around 171ppm requiring 50-75mg of sodium per liter to soften. This is roughly three times the recommended level for drinking water.
• Of that 1.75%, some salt is removed during the waste water treatment.

Other factors to consider:

• Most commercial businesses do not soften their water.
• In my experience the majority of homeowners do not soften their water (debatable).

If you accepted that 80% of the waste water is not softened, then the softened 20% at 75mg (max) sodium per liter would dilute down to (assuming 20mg for the rest of the waste water) 35 mg per liter. Keep in mind this would still be before the waste plant, but I couldn't find a solid number for how much sodium is removed in that process.

Assuming you accept the prior paragraph: 1.75% of the daily intake at Lake Mead could potentially have 35mg of sodium per liter, but this is prior to waste water processing, which may well completely negate this number back to the under 20mg range.

Anyway, I'm sure there are other factors. If anyone has some insight into the waste water process and sodium level of the water exiting the facility it definitively end this line of thinking. If the sodium intake at Mead became an issue, the waste plant would be the logical place to address it IMO.

Water quality is measured at 5 locations every 20 minutes by the LVWCC. They claim to have live data available, but it wouldn't pull up for me (click).

[Exaday]

Wow Dankee, nice info. +1

[Croce]

I have a whole house water softener and an RO filter on the kitchen sink. All drinking water goes through the RO filter to remove the sodium ions that the water softener has added. It works well for us. Long ago I did not use a water softener and had to tackle hard water deposits on my shower that could only be removed by replacing the glass.

[StaggerLee22]

At less than .30 cents a gallon at Walmart, I cannot justify buying a 2 thousand dollar RO unit.
Plus, IMHO, the RO water STILL taste like doggie pooh.