Do Water Purifiers Work On Salt Water? (Surprising!)

While water purifiers remove such things as chloramines from the drinking water, the question is: do water purifiers work on salt water water?

While people living near the coast may have a concern about the TDS level of their water, they are also quite worried about salt.

It is also true that water purifiers work on salt water to reduce the overall salt content in drinking water. We will take a look at how it is done and how effective water purifiers are in removing salt from the water.

If the salt content of your drinking water is a concern of yours, keep on reading to find out how effective water purifiers are.

Can Water Purifiers Remove Salt From The Water?

The truth is that it is quite difficult to remove dissolved salt from water, especially those with a high content of salt. Another part of the process of cleaning water is the UV light that kills all bacteria, viruses, and germs.

It is possible for the water purifier in your home to remove the salt if it is equipped with a reverse osmosis system.

These specially designed systems help remove about 99 percent of all contaminants from the water before it enters your home.

The problem with this process is that it also removes most of the healthy minerals from the water. That is why modern water purifying systems that use reverse osmosis replace the healthy minerals by adding them back into the water.

Not All Water Purifiers Can Remove Salt

Your standard water purifier found in homes is designed to remove large contaminants such as sediment and other large particles.

The problem is that salt that is dissolved in the water can not be removed with the standard filters in your water purifier.

The reason is the standard water filter is not fine enough to remove the salt from your drinking water. For that, you need a specialized type of filter with your water purifier to lower the salt content in the water.

Let’s take a look at this special method that will help to remove salt from the drinking water in your home.

Reverse Osmosis

The reverse osmosis system uses a special and very fine filter called a membrane to remove the dissolved salt from the water. These reverse osmosis systems are mainly used in areas with little rainfall and contaminated groundwater.

It is also used in coastal areas where the salt content in the water is too high to be safe for consumption. Desert areas also use this method to provide healthy drinking water to residents and keep the TDS in the water at the best levels.

But it can also be used in other places to help remove dissolved salts and other minerals and chemicals from the drinking water.

What Is Reverse Osmosis?

We will not go into the technical details, but a short explanation will help to understand what reverse osmosis is.

This is a water purification system where a porous membrane with very small holes is used to remove contaminants from the water.

In this process, the water is under pressure and the membrane only allows the water molecules to filter through.

This is only possible because water molecules are much smaller than salt, other minerals, and harmful chemicals. It is a cost-effective way to separate ions, molecules, and other contaminants you do not want from the water.

The pressure is applied to overcome the osmotic pressure and the pure water molecules are separated from the larger molecules.

If you are familiar with a molecular sieve, you will understand this better, where only the smallest molecules are allowed to pass through the filter.

What you get from this is two different fluids: the pure water on the other side and the brine that stays behind.

Unfortunately, this reverse osmosis system is a slow process; therefore, you also need a water storage tank to keep the pure water.

Why Do You Need A System That Removes Salt From the Water?

In order to purify the drinking water in your home, you need a specialised water cleaning system to remove all contaminants.

Standard water purifiers will not work, so you need to have a reverse osmosis system to have at least clean enough water.

• It is especially handy to have in coastal areas where the groundwater contains a lot of dissolved salt. People living in coastal areas will need to have a way to remove the salt from their water. A reverse osmosis system will help.
• You will have peace of mind that your water is safe and healthy to consume without too many contaminants. Saltwater is unhealthy and many of the minerals found in saltwater are not good for our health.
• The chances that a person will get sick from waterborne viruses and bacteria are much lower with this system. That is why this water purifying system can be used anywhere you do not have clean drinking water.
• To do the dishes or wash the laundry, you need clean water because salt water will leave stains on clothes. While salt can have a positive effect on your clothes, like improving colors, the minerals in natural saltwater can be harmful.
• Your kidneys can not safely process water that contains a lot of salt, so you may become dehydrated and even get sick. It may sound funny, but people who drink saltwater can easily be severely dehydrated because of the high mineral content.
• Saltwater is unhealthy for your hair and if you wash it with saltwater, it may become weak, break easily, and even fall out. Prolonged exposure to saltwater can be quite damaging to the hair, and it may cause a build-up of sodium chlorine on the hair.
• Water with high salt content tastes bitter and flat, which is quite unpleasant and unhealthy for you. A water purifier with a reverse osmosis system can clean it from all harmful minerals and other contaminants.
• With the reverse osmosis water purifying system in your house, you do not need to rely on bottled water; it is already safe and healthy. This will save you a lot of money, and you have unlimited healthy water from the tap in your home.
• A water purifying system with reverse osmosis will save on energy consumption in the long run.
• Modern reverse osmosis systems can replace the healthy minerals removed from the water for better and much healthier water.
• While there are other methods you can use to remove the salt from your water, the reverse osmosis system is convenient. You don’t need to worry about the water you get from the tap in your home; simply open the tap and drink.

How Does Salt Get Into Water?

There are many different ways that salt can get into the water you receive at your home before it gets to you. The main reason is that it can get into contact with the natural salt deposits in the earth and dissolve in the water.

This is especially the case with slow-running water as it passes through many different sources where the salt can dissolve in the water.

In areas where salt is used to get rid of excessive snow, salt can also increase the salt levels of the water.

All salt contaminations can happen to private wells and with water provided by your local municipality. In most cases, the water provided by the municipality is treated to lower contaminants but not salt levels.

Another problem is that untreated water is mostly found in those private wells, so they need the necessary treatment systems.

Conclusion

As you can see, normal water purifiers cannot remove the salt from your water, so you need a reverse osmosis system. These systems are very effective in removing salt and other minerals from the water, even the healthy minerals.

Luckily the newest reverse osmosis systems are able to replace those healthy minerals for our benefit.