ᐅ Setting the water softening system to ensure the water is suitable for drinking and cooking

Hello,

I use a Grünbeck softliq:SD water softening system for descaling my water.
According to Grünbeck’s calculation formula for determining sodium content, I get a sodium concentration of 250.6 mg/l.
This means my softened water exceeds the limit of 200 mg/l set by the drinking water regulations.

My household consists of two adults and two children (4 years and 1 month old). For the infant, I use water suitable for babies purchased from the beverage store.
The rest of the family uses the softened water for cooking and drinking.

I have read that there are mineral waters with sodium contents greater than 250 mg/l. Additionally, the consumer advice center states that the softening process removes minerals such as magnesium and calcium from the water.

I see three options:

• Option: Use the softened water with a sodium content of 250 mg/l for cooking and drinking (after all, some mineral waters contain even higher sodium levels)
• Option: Reduce the softening degree of the water softener so that the sodium content stays below 200 mg/l (this means increasing the hardness of the softened water from 5 °dH to 12 °dH (degrees German hardness) -> resulting in more scaling)
• Option: Use the softened water with 250 mg/l sodium only for cooking, not for drinking (purchase drinking water from the beverage store)

At the moment, I tend to choose Option 1 since there are mineral waters with sodium contents above 250 mg/l. However, if it is not recommended for health reasons, I could reduce the softening degree of the system.

I look forward to your opinions on this topic and recommendations on which of these three options you suggest.

Sodium Content Calculation:
Sodium content softened water (current) = (raw water hardness [°dH] - softened water hardness [°dH]) x 8.2 + raw water sodium concentration [mg/l] = (34 °dH - 5 °dH) x 8.2 + 12.8 mg/l = 250.6 mg/l