An ion exchange water softener exchanges the hardness minerals (calcium and magnesium) dissolved in water for sodium. This soft mineral is contained on the softener resin beads and does not build up on surfaces as scale deposits.

The ion exchange process is widely used for the removal of hardness (as in softening), heavy metals (as in waste treatment), radionuclides (as from power plants) and municipal water feeds (removal of nitrates, arsenic, perchlorate, hexavalent-chrome and others).

Chloride can be removed from drinking water by distillation, reverse osmosis (RO) or deionization (DI). Boiling, carbon adsorption filters and standard water softeners do not remove chloride.

The two most common ion-exchange methods are softening and deionization. Softening is used primarily as a pretreatment method to reduce water hardness prior to reverse osmosis (RO) processing. The softeners contain beads that exchange two sodium ions for every calcium or magnesium ion removed from “softened” water.

When bone char is exposed to water that contains fluoride, the filter exchanges the fluoride ions for hydroxide ions, removing them from the water.

Cations and anions of water-soluble salts cannot be removed from water using only mechanical filters (which rely on particle size) such as coffee filters.

To remove sodium from water, one may apply reverse osmosis, electro dialysis, distillation techniques or ion exchange. Reverse osmosis is most economical considering energy and money requirements.

Eat these foods: Look for foods rich in potassium, since this electrolyte will help your kidneys flush out excess salt. When in doubt, think fresh fruit and veggies, since many have high levels of potassium. Bananas, strawberries, leafy greens, melons, citrus fruits – all of these are great sources of potassium.

Can a Brita Filter Remove Salt? There is no evidence that a Brita filter can remove salt from your water. If you are on a very low sodium diet, you may want to remove the kitchen water tap from the water softener system and use hard water at that fixture instead.

Refrigerator water filters do not remove heavy metals or sodium unless your refrigerator specifically lists them. There are two ways to effectively remove salt from the household drinking water and that is distillation and some reverse osmosis systems. The water softener should not add enough salt to cause a concern.