A recent study from the University of New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque, published in Nature Medicine, revealed some absolutely shocking information about both micro and nano plastic bio-accumulation in human tissues.
The study shows that there is, on average, about a teaspoon of microscopic plastic shards, flakes, and particles of various size and composition in the human brain. Most of this plastic accumulates in the frontal lobe. Studies are just getting started looking at this problem — we're certainly going to be getting more worrying data as they progress.
All Water Softeners Contain Resin Made of Plastic
It's well known in our industry that disinfectants added to municipal water, like chlorine, will break down over time and destroy the resin contained in a water softener. Depending on how strong the chlorine concentration is and how much water you use, the resin can degrade and be rendered useless in less than 5 years. This degraded plastic resin then slowly disappears from inside the resin tank — it swells and turns into what first looks like mushy jelly beans, then further degrades into what looks like petroleum jelly. This stuff then only has two places to go: your home's water supply, or back-washed down the drain. Have you ever asked yourself where this resin is going? You are drinking some of it.
Water softeners are designed to keep the softening resin inside the tank and not let it escape down the drain. What good would a water softener be with an empty resin tank? Despite this design, water softeners without carbon pre-filtration (to remove chlorine) are certain to suffer from resin that no longer works as it should. Hard water returns, despite the system using salt and otherwise mechanically operating properly. To make matters worse, a lot of customers, upon realizing their water softener is no longer softening the water, just unplug the system and forget about it. What they don't understand is all of the water used still passes through the tank and what's left of the resin — you must put the system in bypass if you choose to do this.
Did Your Water Softening System Dealer Install a Carbon Filter Before Your Water Softener?
Customers aren't told that their new investment in a water softener is certain to have problems. This practice of not installing a carbon filter before your water softener serves at least two purposes: it will require a complete system re-bed or other expensive service call, and/or give a salesman the opportunity to sell you a new system.
A new water softener will de-chlorinate city water to a certain degree through a slight change in water chemistry. This can make the chlorine taste and smell less noticeable as the resin degrades. Your dealer, of course, knows this and understands that you're unlikely to complain much about any chlorine until the warranty expires and the resin gives out.
If your water softener has recently been installed, you can get a carbon pre-filter added before it's too late. Under no circumstances should you purchase a water softener with carbon mixed inside the tank, or let your dealer add it to the existing tank. There won't be enough carbon to last much more than a year or two at best — then both the resin and the carbon degrade and you end up with grey-looking tap water.
Water Softener Customers Should Be Asking a Lot More Questions
The water conditioning industry is rife with lies and deception. "Magnetic water softeners"? "Electronic water softeners" that use sound waves? "Catalytic processes" that still leave hard water spots? Despite all of these claims, none of these systems have been studied under true scientific conditions, like a university study. Why, you ask? The scientific community knows this stuff is quackery.
Customers are very impulsive when it comes to water treatment systems. Take the time to ask questions and do your research.
One last point: large companies who, as a matter of common practice, sell and install water softeners on chlorinated water supplies without carbon pre-filters are at great liability now that large-scale plastic exposure by industry has come to light. This problem can't be ignored any longer.
Ready to get a carbon pre-filter added to your system, or want a system built the right way from the start? See our Water Softener Systems.