A water softener/filter salesman came to our home and showed me just how hard, dirty, contaminated the water really is. Now I am concerned about my family’s health.

The only purpose of a water softener is to remove calcium, manganese, and iron ions and replace them with sodium or potassium ions by a process called ‘ion exchange’. A common sales tool is to take a small sample of water mix in an acid that precipitates the minerals that occur naturally in the water, and add some yellow dye for dramatic effect. Some unscrupulous salespeople may tell the customer that the water is unfit for human consumption.