Softened Drinking Water

The Facts, the Myths, the Regulations; the Options and the Solutions.

Softened Drinking Water.The Facts, The Myths, The Regulations; the Options and the Solutions.

The concerns relating to sodium and hardness levels in drinking water have been raised spasmodically over the last forty years. The current position of the World Health Organisation, (WHO), as published in the Water Quality Guidelines 2003, is that there is no concern relating to sodium and hardness.

However, the recent inclusion of Eastern European countries into the EU and a WHO Workshop in 2003 have again raised the question of minerals in drinking water. There is also a concern relating to large scale municipal reverse osmosis water treatment.

Because of this the World Health Organisation is organising a symposium to review nutritional aspects of calcium and magnesium, and assess any potential benefits from these minerals in drinking water. The results of this conference and subsequent expert consultation are expected to be made available during 2006. If there is any change in the WHO Guidelines, and con-sequent changes to the Drinking Water Regulations, the advice given in this booklet will be updated accordingly.

Published by Harvey Softeners Ltd/Softener Supplies: retailers and wholesalers to the domestic Point of Entry/Point of Use water treatment industry.

© Harvey Softeners Ltd 2005.

Softened Drinking Water.

Drinking water supplies in the UK are of a very high quality. There is however a considerable variation in the level of hardness, due to regional differences in geology. Although rainwater is naturally soft it tends to pick up minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, as it seeps through the ground. When it passes through soft rocks, like chalk and limestone, it can pick up high levels of these minerals and result in hard water.

Hard water causes many problems: scaling and subsequent loss of boiler efficiency, formation of scum on sanitary ware, increased use of cleaning products and subsequent expenditure, extra household cleaning, aggravation of eczema etc. To remove these problems many people fit a water softener.

Water softeners work by treating the water by ion exchange to remove the hardness minerals and replace them with sodium which does not cause scaling. Water softeners are commonly installed in private and commercial premises and the question is often posed: is the softened water suitable for drinking purposes?

This booklet has been written to explain to consumers the opinions relating to the drinking of softened water and the options available. It incorporates the current scientific, regulatory and industry points of view and advice.

It is divided into the following sections:

Page 1 Questions and answers.Page 6 Scientific and regulatory information.Page 8 Additional advice from the UK Government and Regulatory Advisors.Page 9 Conclusion.Page 10 How to install a separate hard water drinking tap.Page 16 Products available.

Q&A

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Questions and Answers.

Q. Is softened water suitable for drinking purposes?

This is a matter of personal choice. In the ma-jority of cases softened water will be consid-ered wholesome and is therefore safe to drink – but the answer is not always straightforward as there are some qualifications.

In most of the UK, when hard drinking water (supplied by a water company) is softened with a salt regenerated ion exchange wa-ter softener, the softened water is likely to comply with the Drinking Water Regulations�. Provided the concentration of sodium does not exceed 200 mg/l it would be regarded as wholesome and therefore considered safe to drink over the long term.

1 Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2000

However, in some parts of the UK where the drinking water is very hard, the softening process will produce water with an increased sodium content that may not comply with the regulations and would therefore be considered unwholesome. In such cases it would not be suitable for drinking purposes for specific sec-tors of the population.

Q. Is there a legal requirement for a separate tap to provide un-softened water for drinking?

No, but provision of a separate tap to provide un-softened water is recommended.

Q. Who is making that recommenda-tion?

The recommendation is made in the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations �999 and is endorsed by the Government2, Regulators3, the water suppliers through WRAS4 and the water-softener supply industry through the UKWTA, it’s trade association.

2 Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Water

services Unit, The Scottish Executive; Northern Ireland, Department of the Environment3 Drinking Water Inspectorate; Water services Unit, The Scottish Executive; Northern Ireland, Department of the Environment4 Water Regulations Advisory Service

Q. Why is a separate tap to provide un-softened water recommended?

It provides ready access to an unsoftened supply, should the occupants of the premises consider that using the softened water for drinking purposes is inappropriate for their circumstances.

Q. What actually happens when you soften water by ion exchange?

Domestic softeners typically treat the water to the whole house. They are salt-regenerated, ion-exchange units which contain ion ex-change resin. This resin contains sodium ions which “swap places” with calcium (together with magnesium and some other trace metal ions such as iron and aluminium) as the water passes through. So calcium and magnesium are taken out of the water and sodium is put in.

When the sodium ions on the resin are used up, the softener is taken off line automatically and regenerated. The regenerant is common salt (sodium chloride) solution (brine) and, during regeneration, the exchange process is reversed so sodium goes back onto the resin and the calcium and magnesium are flushed out to drain. The softener is then ready to go back on line for another cycle.

Q. Why is it considered that drinking softened water could be detrimental to health?

There are several reasons that are often quoted:

1. Sodium level in the softened water.When water is softened the elements that cause the hardness - calcium and magnesium ions - are exchanged for sodium ions. So the sodium content of the water increases. The

Section 1

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Drinking Water Regulations set a limit of 200 milligrams per litre (mg/l) for sodium.

In most areas of the UK, the resultant increase in sodium stays within this limit but in some very hard water areas the increase in sodium may breach the statutory limit laid down by these regulations. Whilst this may be of no significance to the majority of the population, it may be unsuitable for certain sectors of the population.

2. Hardness level.When water is softened all the hardness min-erals are removed. The current Drinking Wa-ter Regulations do not contain requirements for a minimum level of hardness but there are some studies which have demonstrated that presence of these hardness minerals may have some health benefit. These studies associated areas of the country that are served with natu-rally soft water with increased frequency of heart attacks amongst the population and the assumption was made that drinking artificially softened water might carry the same risk.

3. Corrosion.Because naturally soft water sources (lakes, rivers, etc) are often low in pH (slightly acidic), they can be corrosive to metals. Hard water that has been softened has been incor-rectly assumed to suffer the same disadvan-tage. Softening water with a salt-regenerated, ion-exchange softener does not change the chemical properties that affect water corrosiv-ity.

This erroneous concern has been extended to lead pipework (normally not present in modern buildings) but again, softening will not affect the corrosivity of the water towards lead.

The Drinking Water Regulations 2000 have introduced tighter standards for lead. Should you have concerns over the presence of lead pipework within your premises, you should contact your water company for further

advice.

4. Maintenance.A domestic water softener should be kept in continuous use and maintained correctly. Whilst there is little to go wrong with a domestic softener and it will normally “fail-safe”, long periods of stagnation of water within the softener (after extended holidays for example), may affect the quality of the water until it is flushed and returned to normal service again. Although not a health risk, the aesthetic quality (taste and odour) of the drinking water may be impaired.

Q. How much sodium is added to water during softening?

This is directly related to the hardness of the water. For every �00 mg/l of calcium carbon-ate hardness taken out, 46 mg/l of sodium go in. Add to this any sodium originally in the water and you have the total sodium in the water after softening.

To keep below the 200 mg/l threshold for sodium, you can soften water containing up to 435 mg/l of calcium carbonate hardness, depending on the original concentration of sodium in the water supply, which must also be allowed for.

Q. Yes, but how much salt is that?

At a typical calcium carbonate hardness of 300 mg/l, such as Greater London, the sodium in the water as a result of softening would increase by �38 mg/l. Therefore each litre of drinking water would contain an additional �38 milligrams of sodium over and above that which was in the water to start with.

However, this is the sodium content – not the salt (sodium chloride) content; to equate it to salt, the chloride must be added. �38 mg/l of sodium is equivalent to 348 mg/l of sodium chloride. Therefore, the equivalent increase in salt intake by the average individual drinking two litres of softened water a day is 0.696 g. This is about one tenth of a teaspoonful.

Section 1

Q&A

3

The Food Standards Agency5 has published data on the dietary intake of salt and the aver-age salt content of typical foods. The average total daily salt intake is about 9,500 milli-grams for an adult, so the contribution from softened water would be about 7% in a typical hard water area, assuming a 2 litre daily consumption. By comparison, white bread contributes �0.2% to the average daily salt intake, bacon and ham = 8%, and breakfast cereals = 4.9%. So to say you shouldn’t drink softened water is the same, in these terms, as saying you shouldn’t eat bacon, a bag of crisps or eat white bread!

5 McCance & Widdowson on behalf of the Food Standards Agency

Q. I thought salt was bad for you?

There is conjecture about the contribution of salt to hypertension (blood pressure) and its possible effect on health consequences. Cer-tainly, reduced salt has been found to reduce blood pressure, at least in the short term, in older, hypertensive patients. Whether the reduction in blood pressure from reduced salt intake has reduced ultimate health outcome, such as heart attacks, is less conclusive. The policy of the Department of Health is to reduce the average daily adult intake of salt from the 9,500 mg (see above) to 6,200 mg. The Government included a mandatory standard for sodium of 200 mg/l in the Drink-ing Water Regulations, primarily as a measure to help prevent infant hypernatraemia and secondly to assist reducing the sodium intake in the general population.

This policy is not universal, however. In most of the European Union Member States, the national regulations have directly reflected the European Drinking Water Directive6 which lists sodium as an indicator parameter, which does not contribute to the definition of wholesomeness .When the specification for an indicator parameter is exceeded, the level of non-compliance must be considered to deter-mine whether there is any risk to health and remedial action taken where appropriate.

In the USA there is no limit on sodium in the National Primary or Secondary Drinking Water Regulations.

In the new, Third Edition of the World Health Organisation’s Guidelines on Drinking Water Quality, 2003, there is no sodium guideline. It only states that concentrations in excess of 200 mg/l may impart a taste.

It is the Department of Health that recom-mended limiting sodium concentrations to 200mg/l in drinking water for babies and those individuals on a medically-prescribed, salt-restricted diet.

There are some bottled waters containing over �700 mg/l of sodium and they are marketed as a health related benefit!

6 Council Directive 98/83/EC of 3rd November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption

�,708ppmSodium

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Q. Can I use softened water for mix-ing baby feeds if the sodium com-plies with the Water Regulations?

Yes you can, provided the softened water has a sodium concentration below the maximum of 200 mg/l for sodium, specified in the Drinking Water Regulations. This level was adopted to ensure that the total sodium of the baby feed plus the water does not exceed 350 mg/l which is considered a safe level for infants.

Q. How can I find out how much sodium will be in my water when softened?

The simplest route is to call the customer services number for your water supplier. Ask for the sodium level in the water supply and calcium carbonate hardness. (N.B. both so-dium and calcium carbonate hardness must be expressed in mg/l. Divide the calcium carbon-ate hardness level by 2.�75 and add the so-dium in the water supply.) This result should be no more than 200 mg/l of total sodium to comply with the Water Quality Regulations. As a “rule of thumb” if the calcium carbonate hardness level of the water supply is greater than 400 mg/l, there is a higher probability that the softened water will be close to or above the sodium limit in the Drinking Water Quality Regulations.

Or phone us on 0�483 75340� for details of your nearest installer who can give you local advice.

Q. But what about the removal of hardness?

Some epidemiological studies carried out over the last 50 years have indicated that people living in areas where the water supply was naturally soft are slightly more prone to car-diovascular disease (heart attacks) than those living in areas with a hard water supply. When the studies have then focused on specific components of the water such as calcium,

the correlation disappeared. However, people began to extend the theory from naturally soft water to softened water and this has led to the precautionary conclusion that it is preferable to drink the unsoftened, hard water.

However, tests then conducted in some cities where the water supply was softened by the water supplier did not support the correlation.

In November 2003 the World Health Organi-sation held a consultation on the issue of nu-trition and drinking water, which considered the new data on hardness and cardiovascular disease. The group also requested advice re-lating to home water softening devices in rela-tion to the advisability of retaining a source of water containing calcium and magnesium.

The World Health Organisation currently states that “..the available data are inad-equate to permit a conclusion that the as-sociation is causal. No health based guide-line value is proposed for hardness.” The Drinking Water Regulations do not include a specification for a minimum level of hardness.

Q. How many people drink softened water?

Millions! During the �920’s and �930’s water softeners started to be sold to home owners and others, to improve the taste of drinking water. In the USA there is no myth surround-ing softened water use for drinking purposes and over � million people a year have a water softener installed. There are millions of water softeners in everyday use in American homes which are used for drinking water purposes. In some parts of the US, almost everyone needs one because of the hardness of groundwater but millions of others are bought as a prefer-ence item.

There has never, in over 90 years of history, been a health related problem reported that was associated with a water softener.

Section 1

Q&A

5

Q. What does softened water taste like?

A bit bland. Most people prefer the taste of softened water in tea and coffee. The differ-ence in taste compared to hard water can be quite significant.

Q. Can I have a tap supplying un-softened water somewhere other than at the kitchen sink?

The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regula-tions require all premises to be supplied with water for domestic purposes from at least one tap conveniently situated for the draw-ing of drinking water. It would normally be convenient to locate this tap at the kitchen sink. If you are content to use softened water for domestic purposes, including drinking and cooking purposes, you are at liberty to have a tap supplying un-softened water installed in a utility room or cloakroom, for example. Alternatively, you may decide not to have one at all.

Q. But what about the regulations?

For water to be suitable for drinking purposes it should be wholesome and meet the require-ments of the Water Quality Regulations. In addition, the water fittings and pipework of the domestic water distribution system must comply with the requirements of the Water Fittings Regulations. There is no legal re-quirement, within the Water Fittings Regula-tions, to fit a separate tap supplying un-sof-tened water for domestic purposes. However, the Water Fittings Regulations7 are supple-mented by water industry recommendations and government guidance, which include a recommendation that, where a water softener has been installed, a separate tap providing unsoftened water should be installed. This recommendation is accepted as good practice by the water softener industry and its trade organisation UKWTA.

7 Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999

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Scientific and Regulatory Support Information

The World Health Organisation

The World Health Organisation (WHO) publishes the “WHO Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality”. These contain health criteria and other supporting information to give the governments of the world the guidance and information they need to establish regulations to secure safe drinking water supplies.

The European Commission take the WHO guidelines into account in the preparation of the European Drinking Water Directive. The UK Government and all other national governments of the EU are required to adopt legislation to implement the requirements of the Directive.

The third edition of the WHO guidelines, published in 2003, state in section 8.7.� the following regarding hardness and sodium:

Hardness.

“Although a number of ecological and analytical studies have shown a statistically significant inverse relation-ship between the hardness of drink-ing-water and cardiovascular disease, the available data are inadequate to permit a conclusion that the association is causal. No health-based guideline value is proposed for hardness. How-ever the degree of hardness may affect its acceptability to the consumer in terms of taste and scale deposition.”

Sodium. “Sodium salts (e.g. sodium chloride) are found in virtually all food (the main source of daily exposure) and drink-ing-water. Although concentrations of sodium in potable water are typically less than 20mg/litre they can greatly ex-ceed this in some countries.....It should be noted that some water softeners can add significantly to the content of drink-ing water. No firm conclusions can be drawn concerning the possible associa-tion between sodium in drinking-water and the occurrence of hypertension. Therefore no health-based guideline value is therefore proposed. However, concentrations in excess of 200 mg/l may give rise to unacceptable taste.”

The European Drinking Water Directive

The EC Commission published the Council Directive 98/83/EC on 3rd November �998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption. The Directive takes into account the WHO guidelines.

• There is no parametric value for minimum hardness.

• Sodium is included with a limit of 200 mg/l as an Indicator Parameter in Part C.

Section �

Scientific and Regulatory Support Information

7

The UK Water Quality Regulations

The UK Government published its Statutory Instrument 2000 No. 3�84 on 4th December 2000. It transposed the requirements of the EC Directive and, in addition, introduced a standard of 200 mg/l for sodium as part of a number of national standards.

The Drinking Water Regulations 2000 came into effect on 25 December 2003. The Drink-ing Water Inspectorate has issued interim guidance on the 2000 regulations. This guid-ance states that, if the standard for sodium is breached in a sample taken from a consumer’s tap in domestic premises, the water company will investigate to determine the cause of the breach. If the cause of the breach is the use of a softener within the premises, the water company must notify the consumer of the failure, the cause and any actions which may be desirable for the consumers to take in the interests of their health. This could include the advice from the Department of Health.

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Section 3

Advice from the Government and Regulatory Advisors.

Department of HealthThis is the advice received from the Depart-ment of Health.

The reasons for limiting sodium concentra-tions in water supplies are:

(a) concentrations greater than about 200mg/l may give rise to an unacceptable taste;

(b) the kidneys of young babies (especially premature babies) are inefficient at excreting sodium, so that too much sodium in the feed may produce the condition of infantile hypernatraemia. For this reason, it is recommended that the sodium concentration of reconstituted infant feed should not

exceed 350mg/l (there should be an adequate safety margin in this limit). If the water used to reconstitute the feed

contains 200mg/l or more, the recommended limit is likely to be

exceeded;

(c) sometimes, patients are put on strict salt-restricted diets (although, nowadays, drug treatments usually

make such diets unnecessary). At water concentrations of about 200mg sodium/litre, it is difficult or impossible

to construct such diets.

Another consideration is that sodium (mostly as common salt, sodium chloride) is consid-ered to be a risk factor in high blood pressure and its consequences (such as hypertensive heart disease) and therefore reductions in dietary salt intake in the general population are recommended. However, water which is not obviously salty to the taste will contribute only a small fraction of the average daily dietary intake.

Concern about the suitability of softened wa-ter is not restricted to sodium concentrations from salt-regenerated ion-exchange water softeners. There is also concern that the well-documented but unexplained epidemiological relationship between naturally soft water and mortality from cardiovascular disease may apply also to artificially softened water. Fur-ther information on this aspect may be found in Department of Health Report on Health and Social Subjects 46 “Nutritional Aspects of Cardiovascular Disease (1994, HMSO) paras 6.9.1.1-2.

Other concerns about water softeners are: plumbosolvency; and the potential for mi-crobial contamination if the softener is not adequately maintained.

Water Regulations Advisory SchemeThe Regulations that govern the requirements for the installation of water fittings, including softeners, are contained in the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations �999 for England and Wales and the Water Byelaws 2000 for Scotland. They can be read from the website

www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si�999/�999��48.htm.

The Water Regulations Advisory Scheme (WRAS) has published a book – the Wa-ter Regulations Guide. The WRAS Guide includes the text from the Regulations, gives “guidance” from the Department of Envi-ronment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and “recommendations” from the WRAS representing the water suppliers, on the interpretation of, and how to comply with, the Regulations.

The Fittings Regulations, themselves, do not make any reference to softened water provi-sions. Regulations 26 and 27 require “...at least one tap conveniently situated...supplied with water...from a supply pipe.” In the Water Fittings Guide, DEFRA guidance note G27.3

Advice from the Government and Regulatory Advisors.

9

states that “water that has been softened on site should only be used for drinking pur-poses when the treated water is wholesome.” The only parameter at risk of not meeting the standard of the Drinking Water Regula-tions would be sodium and then, as already mentioned, only for those areas with high-hardness-level supplies. Guidance note G6.�b identifies domestic softened water as fluid category 2 which is defined in Schedule 1 of the Regulations “...category 1 whose aesthetic quality is impaired ....” (see Backflow preven-tion above).

The Water Supply Industry recommendations (R26.2) include

“where drinking water is required in premises which use a water softener, an unsoftened drinking water supply tap should be pro-vided”.

Recommendation R27.3 states that chemi-cal composition change due to softening may result in non-compliance with “whole-some” water and that improper operation and maintenance may affect quality such that the Drinking Water Regulations are contravened, and it then recommends that only unsoftened water is used for drinking purposes.

The rationale for this recommendation is not explained but the only parameter that could be exceeded as a consequence of softening is sodium and this would not be adversely af-fected by operation and maintenance - but by influent hardness level.

Conclusion Confused? Most people are. Whilst there is no evidence to suggest that drinking softened water is detrimental to health, there is a suspicion that drinking hard water may provide a health benefit to some people. Why that is, nobody knows. You have the choice of drinking softened water or having a separate hard water drinking tap.

Benefits of drinking softened water.Some people prefer the taste, especially in beverages and cordials. You get no scale in the kettle. The softener acts a another filter and removes all positive ions such as aluminium and lead. It does not, however, remove flouride.

Benefits of drinking hard water.There may be a health benefit; some people prefer the taste.

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Section 4

Installing a separate hard water tap can be car-ried out at the same time as installing a water softener, or retrofitted at a later date.

In houses where the rising main comes up under the kitchen sink the installation is relatively straight-forward. Whilst it is possible to convert the existing cold tap to supply unsoftened drinking water, it is generally preferred to install a separate tap. These are usually of the “spring faucet” type.

A typical installation will look like the diagram above. Note the connection prior to the rising main and the use of small diameter plastic tubing.

In many houses, approximately 60%, the rising main comes up somewhere other than under the kitchen sink. These installations require more pipework and the diagrams op-posite show the various options.

As an alternative, the existing kitchen sink tap can be changed to a three way version: hot, cold and hard.

Installation of a Hard Water Drinking Tap

SeparateHard Water Drinking Tap

Hard Water Connection

Hard Water Drinking Tap Installation Guide

��

Where the outside garden tap is situated behind the kitchen sink and both are at the opposite end of the house from where the rising main enters, it is sometimes possible to run a 15mm pipe from the position of the water softener through to the kitchen sink. This can feed the new drink-ing tap and the outside garden tap.

Option 1. �5mm pipework to feed drinking tap and outside tapOption 2. 3/8” for normal installations. 1⁄4” if you want the pipework to be less obtrusive, provided there is sufficient pressure of at least 3 bar. Option 3. 3mm if you want the pipework to disappear.

The use of 3mm pipework requires the ad-dition of a small accumulator tank under the sink to provide up to 4 litres of water instantly. The tank then refills in about ten minutes ready for the next draw off of drink-ing water. The 3mm pipework can be run over any distance.

Option 4. Sometimes it is not convenient to fit a separate tap at the kitchen sink and in these circumstances a tap providing hard wa-ter can be installed in an alternative position.

A mounting bracket can enable the tap to be installed in a cloakroom beside a wash basin. The spout can be swivelled to aid the filling of kettles etc.

Contact your local water softener dealer for further advice re installation. In case of dif-ficulty contact Softener Supplies on 0�483 753 40�.

StorageTank

Main

OutsideTap

Hard

Pipework run in 15mm copper or plastic

OPTION 1.

15mm pipework to feed drinking tap and outside tap.

1�

Often it is not practical to run a �5mm pipe from the point of entry to the kitchen sink, so the best option is to run a small 3/8” white plastic pipe instead. This is sufficient for a separate drinking tap.

The existing outside garden tap can be left on softened and if possible a new one fitted near the point of entry connected to the hard supply before the softener.

Where there is sufficient pressure, over 4 bar, and the run is not too long, then 1/4” drinking line can be used.

Bypassing the softener whilst watering the lawn.If the existing outside garden tap is connected to the softened supply, then the water softener can be bypassed whilst watering the lawn. Just close the inlet, or outlet, or both, and open the bypass valve. Remember to reverse this when finished.

StorageTank

Main

OutsideTap

(Soft)

Pipework run in 3/8” or 1/4” plastic drinking water line.

NewOutside

Tap(Hard)

OPTION 2.

3/8” or 1/4” plastic drinking water line.

Section 4

Hard Water Drinking Tap Installation Guide

�3

If the pipe run from the point of entry to the kitchen sink is difficult, then the separate hard water supply can be run in 3mm drinking water line which is very small indeed. It can be tucked under carpets, behind coving and generally made to disappear.

Due to the low flow rate, an accumulator tank must be installed under the kitchen sink. These contain 4 litres of hard water readily available instantly, so you can fill your kettle and within about ten minutes the tank is full again.

StorageTank

Main

OutsideTap

(Soft)

Pipework run in 3mm plastic drinking water line to accumulator tank.

NewOutside

Tap(Hard)

OPTION 3.

3mm plastic drinking water line.

14

Sometimes it is not practical to run a separate pipe to the kitchen sink. As an alternative, a separate hard water drinking tap can be installed at a utility sink or wash basin.

A bracket is available to mount a drinking tap beside a wash basin. The supply is best run in 3/8” drinking water line or �/4” if there is sufficient pressure.

There is no regulatory requirement for a drinking water tap to be fitted at the kitchen sink. It may be installed at any convenient position.

Sink

StorageTank

Main

Faucet Bracket

OPTION 4.

Separate hard water drinking tap at a different location.

Section 4

Hard Water Drinking Tap Installation Products

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Available Products

Products are available to make the installation of a separate hard water drinking tap easy and inconspicuous.

Three Way TapsThis tap works as a normal hot and cold mixer but has an additional tap at the bottom for drink-ing water. Available in chrome, white, antique gold and seventies throwback.

For your nearest installer contact Softener Supplies on 0�483 753 40�.

Extended FaucetThis is a longer reach version of the standard faucet. Both types are available in silver, white, chocolate, gold and cream.

Standard FaucetOur faucets are the lever operated type. The lever can be held down for a short burst or lifted up to run continuously.

Drinking water tubingAvailable in 3/8”, �/4” and 3mm diameters.

AccessoriesAccumulator tanks, saddle valves, brackets, taps, drinking water line etc.

Hello, I’m Harvey.Thank you for taking an interest in softened drinking water.

We have published this booklet to help clarify the position regarding the issue of separate hard water drinking taps when installing a domestic water softener.

We have been selling and installing water softeners for nearly 30 years and during that time opinions have shifted and new knowledge has been gained. Although we may be considered biased, this booklet is a determined effort to include the opinions of all relevant bodies.

During the research and drafting, consultations have taken place with the following:

World Health Organisation (WHO).Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).Department of Health (DOH).Water Research Advisory Scheme (WRAS).

Reference is made to the following:

WHO Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality;

The EC Commission Council Directive 98/83/EC 3rd November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption;

The UK Statutory Instrument 2000 No. 3184 dated 4th December 2000;

UK Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999.

We hope you find this booklet informative.

Harvey Bowden (Chairman)Harvey Softeners Ltd. © 2005

(L458 �2/05)