If you have extremely hard water, then you may be sick of scraping the hard deposits off your bathtub, sink, and pans. You probably know that a water softener can remove the calcium and magnesium from your water to stop the deposits from showing up in your home. While a simple salt-based system can work to resolve the issue, you may want to invest in a more sophisticated reverse osmosis one instead. While you may not be thrilled about the increase in cost, reverse osmosis systems have a variety of benefits over salt-based softener. Keep reading to learn about a few.

Better Taste

Most people understand that water has its own taste. This taste actually comes from the variety of substances that are contained within the water. Your hard water likely has a pleasant taste, and this is due to the minerals that are dissolved in the fluid. When your water goes through a salt-based water softener system, the minerals are removed and replaced with sodium ions. When you sip a glass of water, the pleasant mineral taste is removed, and you are likely to notice a hint of salt instead. If your water is highly chlorinated or fluorinated, then the taste of these chemicals may be more prominent as well. This taste is likely to be far more unpleasant than the hard water.

Reverse osmosis systems work by forcing water through one or several membranes. A strong pump is used to move the water, and contaminants from the fluid are left behind. This helps to filter out the hard water minerals as well as the chlorine, fluoride, and other contaminants. You will be left with pure water. Pure water is tasteless. While you may need to get used to water that has no taste, the water is likely to be far more refreshing than salty water. 

If you want to enhance the taste of the water, speak with your water softener or treatment specialist about a system that has a carbon filter attached to it. Water will be passed through the filter at the very end of the filtration process to give the fluid some taste. You can also squeeze a bit of lemon, lime, or orange juice in the water as well. 

Healthier Water

While your water is treated before it is pumped into your home, there is still a possibility that some microorganisms will find their way into your water. Some of the bacteria and viruses are simply not killed off by treatments added to the water. Sometimes, water treatment facilities will fail and allow microorganisms to remain in the water. The EPA does have maximum contaminant levels when it comes to the number of these microorganisms, but they are often still there. 

If you do not like the thought of swallowing microbes that can potentially make you ill, then you should know that reverse osmosis treatment systems can successfully remove the microorganisms. According to the EPA, reverse osmosis is very highly effective in removing bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and other contaminants from your water. This means that the treated fluid is simply healthier for you. 

To make sure that the system is able to remove the contaminants like it should, you will need to stay on top of maintenance. Filters and membranes will need to be occasionally changed out on the system. Filters need to be changed about every six to nine months, and membranes will need to be replaced every two or three years. Speak with your water filtration specialist about checking the filters and membranes on a six to twelve month basis, so replacements can be made as soon as they are needed. 

For more information, contact a company like Johnson Water Conditioning.