Salt Institute

Salt Institute

  • Food
    • Food News & Articles
    • Food Videos
    • Food Publications
    • Food Research
    • Food Agricultural Salt
    • Salt and Trace Minerals Newsletter
  • Health
    • Health News & Articles
    • Health Videos
    • Health Publications
    • Health Research
  • Road
    • Snowfighting
    • Road News & Articles
    • Road Videos
    • Road Publications
    • Road Research
  • Water
    • Water News & Articles
    • Water Videos
    • Water Publications
    • Water Research
  • Salt 101
    • Ask the Salt Guru
    • External Resources
    • Just for Kids
    • Physical Properties
    • Production & Industry
  • About
    • Press
    • Member Companies
  • Press
  • Shop
  • Contact Us

May 20, 2015 By The Salt Institute Leave a Comment

Get safer drinking water

Safe water with saltHousehold bacteria can be a serious issue affecting your health. In fact, the very steps we take to eliminate harmful bacteria may be spreading it. Everyone washes their fresh fruits and vegetables, but the water in your pipes may contain even more bacteria, especially if you have hard water.

The problem isn’t only in the kitchen. When you take a hot shower, the steam you are inhaling can also contain the same microbial contamination that is in the rest of your plumbing, exposing you to pathogenic bacteria such as Legionella, which can cause Legionnaire’s disease.

The piping used in home plumbing, whether it is copper or PVC, has very smooth interior surfaces which don’t permit bacteria to settle and grow. However, hard water, which contains high levels of calcium and magnesium, results in scale formation on the interior surfaces of those pipes which provides a perfect home for bacteria.

Researchers at the School of Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University found that bacteria may grow at the same rate in pipes filled with both hard and soft scale. This is important new information as some forms of water conditioners produce this soft scale.

The only solution to this problem is to remove the scaling in the pipes entirely, which only a traditional salt-based water softener can do. This type of water softener works by running the incoming hard water through a resin filter that traps the calcium and magnesium in the water, as well as any iron, manganese or radium ions, and replaces them with sodium ions.

Bacterial growth in plumbing is well documented and can cause serious hygienic problems in water systems, especially in hospital buildings and hotels. Factors like water flow and plumbing materials influence the growth rate of bacteria, but once it’s in your pipes, it’s distributed throughout your home each time you turn on the faucet.

The fact is that salt not only helps remove and prevent the hard water scaling in home plumbing, it is also a natural antibiotic. Throughout history, people have used salt as a vital food preservative to keep bacteria from growing on cured meats and cheeses. New research form the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine shows that salt acts as an antibiotic in the body as well. In the case of a skin infection, the body naturally moves more salt to that spot to fight the infection. The extra salt also helps the body’s defensive systems more effectively fight infection.

If you have hard water, there are significant benefits to having a traditional salt-based water softener in your home. Use a home water testing kit to test for water hardness yourself, or have a water treatment professional do the testing. For more information on water softening and salt health please visit www.saltinstitute.org.

Related

Filed Under: Editor Picks, Water

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Tweets by @WithALittleSalt

ABOUT US

Salt

The Salt Institute is a North American based non-profit trade association dedicated to advancing the many benefits of salt, particularly to ensure winter roadway safety, quality water and healthy nutrition.

We are located at:

405 5th Ave. South, Suite 7C
Naples, FL 34102-6515, USA
Phone: 239-231-3305
Fax: 239-330-1492

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • RSS

CONTACT US

  • captcha

Copyright © 2019 · Salt Institute. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Antitrust Policy: It is the policy of the Salt Institute (SI), and it is the responsibility of every Association member company, to comply in all respects with federal and State antitrust laws and the Board of Directors has adopted an antitrust policy to that effect. No SI activity is intended to be or shall be used for the purpose of bringing about any understanding or agreement among members to (a) raise, lower, or stabilize prices; (b) regulate production; (c) allocate markets; (d) encourage boycotts; (e) foster unfair trade practices; (f) assist monopolization, or (g) in any way violate federal or State antitrust laws. Any and all meetings, communications, conference calls, shared resources and collaborative workspaces (including, without limitation, the SI website; web or online chats; blogs; social or business networking tools [such as Linkedin, Facebook, myspace, and Twitter]; data sharing; document sharing; forums; instant messaging; Skype; wikis; voice clips broadcast; podcasts and web publishing) conducted under SI’s auspices (collectively referred to as "SI Resources”) are designed solely to provide a forum or means for the expression of various points of view. It is not the intent of SI that, and under no circumstances shall, SI Resources be used as a means for competing companies to reach any understanding, expressed or implied, which tends to restrict competition, or in any way, to impair the ability of members to exercise independent business judgment regarding matters affecting competition. Any questions regarding the meaning or applicability of this policy, as well as any concerns regarding the activities of SI or the content of any SI Resources, should be promptly brought to the attention of the President of SI or its General Counsel.