What Are the Downsides of Water Softeners?

Updated: 4/17/2025

Soft water provides plenty of benefits, such as smoother skin and less brittle hair, among other things. The only way to take advantage of these benefits is by installing a water softener in your home, but what are the downsides of what softeners?

At Monkey Wrench Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric, we’ve installed thousands of water softeners across Los Angeles for over 15 years. We’re experienced in not only installing them but also maintaining them and helping homeowners fix any issues they may have with their water softeners.

Water softeners have a couple of disadvantages worth knowing about, such as

• Brine discharge is not environmentally-friendly
• Banned in some areas
• Require routine maintenance
• May corrode galvanized steel pipes
• It only softens water and doesn’t filter it completely

It’s important to highlight not only the advantages but the downsides of a product, too, so you can decide if it’s the best choice for your home. Before we analyze each of these downsides, we will briefly go over how water softeners work in the first place.

Let’s jump right in.

How Do Water Softeners Work?

Water softeners rely on ion exchange to help treat hard water, common in Los Angeles, and transform it into soft water. The main component of water softeners is salt (sodium). Without salt, this water treatment system cannot soften water.

Here’s a breakdown of how water softeners work,

1. A water softener is made up of a brine that holds rocks salts and a resin tank where the water-softening process occurs.
2. Water enters a home’s main line and immediately enters the resin tank.
3. As the water is being treated, the minerals that cause hard water—magnesium and calcium—interact with the sodium in the brine tank.
4. The magnesium and calcium minerals remain in the tank, releasing the softened water into the home.
5. Once the resin tank is filled with hard water minerals, sodium-concentrated water is extracted from the salt tank and added into the resin tank.
6. The salinated waste water is drained, and the resin tank is ready to continue to soften the water.

The process by which a water softener replaces the extracted hard water minerals and replaces them with salt is called regeneration. The water softener will regenerate as long as the brine tank has salt.

Besides soft water, water softeners also prevent limescale from building up due to a lack of hard water minerals.

Downsides of Water Softeners

Limescale reduction and soft water production benefit many homeowners, but does help the environment? Do these water-softening systems have other potential drawbacks?

Brine Discharge from Water Softeners Aren’t Environmentally-Friendly

Water softeners can be beneficial to a home but at the cost of potentially damaging the environment. The brine discharge from softeners is sometimes released into a yard or drained into a public sewer system.

Regardless of where the salted wastewater is released, it can have the following effects on the landscape.

• Hurts plants: The salt buildup from a water softener’s wastewater can sometimes damage and even kill plants in your garden and surrounding areas.
• Damages marine life: Salt buildup from wastewater can also end up in streams and rivers. High concentrations of saline in these water sources can harm aquatic life.
• Wastes gallons of water: Water softeners, on average, waste around 150 gallons of water per week. That may seem like a little, but it can add up to 7,500 gallons of water wasted yearly. This kind of water waste isn’t ideal in areas affected by droughts and water restrictions.

Water softeners’ environmental effects are concerning enough that both environmentalists and public officials agreed that it’s best to prohibit the use and installation of this particular water treatment system.

Water Softeners Are Banned in Some Areas

Water softeners are banned in some states, such as Massachusetts, Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin, and California. There isn’t a state-wide water softener ban in California, but local water districts have the power to ban them. Only the Santa Clarita Valley Water District has enacted a water softener ban in Los Angeles County.

The ban extends to all the communities that make up the Santa Clarita Valley. Homeowners in these areas can be fined up to $1,000 if they’re found to have a water softener installation. Purchased homes with old water softeners may be eligible for a rebate and buyback program offered by some cities in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Although the homes in these communities can’t have soft water, other alternative water treatment systems can help lessen the effects of hard water.

Even if you live in a neighborhood that hasn’t banned water softeners, you must commit to routinely maintaining a softener, or it can fail to function properly.

Water Softeners Require Routine Maintenance

A water softener will continue to soften the water in your home, but only if you keep up with its maintenance. Water softening systems rely on salt and must constantly refill the brine tank with salt.

On average, homeowners should add a large bag of rock salt to their softeners. Homeowners are also responsible for going and paying for salt refills out of pocket.

Aside from adding salt, homeowners should inspect their brine tanks for salt bridges and avoid salt mushing. Salt bridges form when salt inside the brine tank becomes hard and crusty. Salt mushing is salt sludges formed at the tank’s bottom.

A salt bridge can be broken apart using a broomstick’s opposite end. You can also scoop out the salt sludge in the brine tank and add fresh salt to prevent another sludge from forming.

Routine maintenance is necessary for a water softener to work correctly, or it will be more susceptible to breakdowns.

Water softeners can be installed in most homes, but homeowners may not know that the type of plumbing pipe material plays a role in another downside of these water treatment systems.

Galvanized Steel Pipes May Corrode with Water Softeners

Many old homes were constructed with galvanized steel pipes, which are likely corroded after decades of wear and tear. The sodium in soft water can expose corroded pipes and cause them to leak.

Corroded galvanized pipes may have had cracks and leaks covered by limescale. As soft water flows through these pipes, the scale is reduced and can cause the pipes to burst.

Broken pipes can wreak havoc on your home and can cause significant stress. Before installing a water softener, have a technician inspect your home’s pipes to ensure they’re suitable to handle soft water.

At Monkey Wrench Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric, we perform thorough evaluations to ensure that there aren’t any other potential concerns with your home’s plumbing system.

A common misconception about water softeners is they also filter water besides treating it.

Water Softeners Only Treat Water and Don’t Filter It

If you want filtered water in your home, there are better options than a water softener. Water softeners treat hard water and transform it into soft water. A water filter is designed to catch contaminants that can be found in tap water.

Although water softeners don’t filter water, homeowners can install single-use or whole-house carbon filters to catch contaminants like chlorine. This allows homes to have soft water and better-tasting water as well.

2025 Update: Exploring Salt-Free Water Conditioning Alternatives

With increasing concerns around water conservation and environmental impact, 2025 has seen a rise in salt-free water conditioners as a popular alternative to traditional water softeners. Unlike ion-exchange systems, these units don’t rely on salt or brine discharge. Instead, they condition the water to reduce scale buildup without removing calcium or magnesium. While they won’t deliver the same silky-soft water feel, they offer a more eco-friendly solution—especially for homeowners in areas like Los Angeles where water restrictions and sustainability are top priorities. If you’re weighing your options, our team at Monkey Wrench can walk you through which system aligns best with your water needs and your values.

Are Water Softeners Right For Me?

Some homeowners have described soft water as feeling silky and smooth, but the only way to obtain soft water is with a water softener. For all the benefits that water softening systems offer, they also have downsides homeowners should know about. Knowing this information before you decide if it’s the right fit for your home can help you avoid water softener issues and potential stress.

At Monkey Wrench Plumbing, Heating, Air & Electric, we’re certified and trained in water softener installations but recognize their faults. Despite these pitfalls, we know there is no substitute for homeowners who need soft water, and have helped homeowners install and maintain water softeners.

If you have questions regarding water softeners, contact us using one of the buttons below. You can also schedule an appointment through our water softener scheduler.

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