Eli5 why water companies can’t soften the water to a usable level?

283 views

At least to a level that isn’t actively dangerous to the water pipes of the houses it enters? Maybe even to a level where it doesn’t ruin every water-using appliance in the house? Why does every single person in the Great Lakes area need to own their own individual water softener, if we have city water? I can understand that well users need them, why should everyone else?

In: 3

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Simple answer is efficiency, and money. For starters, the water meets legal levels of hardness/softness, so “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” applies (even if those standards seem to be wrong to the end users).

Even if that weren’t a factor, though. The cost of softening the water at the supplier level would cost more than what the end users would want to be billed for. Bot just for the equipment and consumables, but the extra man-hours that would be needed to maintain that equipment.

You are viewing 1 out of 6 answers, click here to view all answers.