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The Bottom Line
Yes, you can drink softened water — it’s safe for the vast majority of people. The only real caveat is added sodium, which matters if you’re on a strict sodium-restricted diet.
Can you drink softened water safely? Yes. The ion-exchange process that softens water replaces calcium and magnesium with small amounts of sodium, and for almost everyone, that’s not a health concern.
How Much Sodium Does Softened Water Actually Add?
The harder your water, the more sodium gets added during softening — but even at high hardness levels, an 8oz glass of softened water typically adds somewhere in the range of 12-30mg of sodium. For context, a slice of bread has more sodium than that.
Who Should Be Cautious
- Strict sodium-restricted diets (some heart or kidney conditions) — talk to your doctor, and consider a salt-free alternative or a dedicated reverse osmosis tap for drinking water instead.
- Infant formula preparation — some pediatricians suggest using unsoftened or filtered water for mixing formula, out of caution rather than documented harm.
Want to Avoid the Sodium Entirely?
Two common approaches: install a reverse osmosis system at your kitchen tap for drinking/cooking water (see our reverse osmosis guides), or switch to a salt-free conditioner that reduces scale without adding sodium (though it won’t technically “soften” water the same way — see our salt-free softener guide for that tradeoff).
For most households, though, softened water straight from the tap is perfectly fine to drink — see our full water softener buying guide if you’re still deciding whether to install one.