TDS, or total dissolved solids, is the amount of non-water substances dissolved in water.
This includes organic and inorganic materials, like minerals, metals, and salts.
Common types of TDS in water include:
- Calcium
- Potassium
- Sodium
- Magnesium
- Aluminum
- Lead
- Arsenic
- Chlorine
- Nitrates
- Pesticides
- Fluoride
These substances are all soluble, meaning they can be dissolved in, or absorbed by, water.
Minerals, like calcium and magnesium, enter groundwater through the rocks and soil.
Other more dangerous pollutants, like pesticides, enter the water in agricultural runoff and other human sources.
Worst of all, chlorine and fluoride are added in water treatment facilities.
Lead, on the other hand, often leaches into tap water from old plumbing and lead-based service lines.
The bottom line is, if it can dissolve in water, it could be lurking in your tap.
TDS is measured in milligrams per liter (mg/L) or parts per million (ppm), which describes how concentrated the total dissolved solids are in the water.
If the TDS is below 250 mg/L, your water might be lacking in healthy amounts of minerals like calcium and magnesium.
Anything above 1000 mg/L is considered unsafe to drink, and your water filter may struggle to function properly if the TDS is greater than 2000 mg/L.
Ready to see how your water stacks up?
Testing for TDS in water is easy with a simple handheld TDS meter that you can order online.
Just dip the test strip into the water and the electronic gauge will tell you the concentration of TDS in your water.
However, it can’t tell you the exact types of TDS, and that’s the most important part because some of them could be dangerous contaminants.
In order to find that out, you’ll have to get your water professionally tested by a state-certified laboratory.
They’ll send you a water sample collection kit for you to mail in and get your results.
How TDS Affects Your Home
Total dissolved solids can negatively affect your home in several ways, including:
- Damaged plumbing and appliances
- Lower water pressure
- Higher electricity costs
- Stained and dingy dishes and clothes
- Unhealthy house plants
- Water filter wear-and-tear
Many of these are due to high levels of hard minerals like calcium and magnesium – the two most common types of total dissolved solids.
Hard minerals can build up in pipes and reduce water pressure.
At the same time, hard minerals can damage appliances and lead to problems, like:
- Limescale buildup in your water heater
- Stains on dishes after the dishwasher
- Dingy and stiff clothes after the laundry machine
- Soap that won’t lather so you have to use double the detergent
Your appliances will probably wear out faster too, especially your water heater.
And of course, if scale buildup in your pipes becomes too extreme, you might have costly plumbing replacements to deal with.
TDS in water makes your appliances work harder, and this can lead to higher electricity and water utility costs.
Water heaters with limescale deposits have to burn more electricity to heat up the water inside.
At the same time, you might have to rewash your laundry when clothes come out dingy, and that means double the water usage.
You can also expect to use more laundry detergent because high TDS in water reduces soap lather.
Because you’ll have to wash your clothes with more detergent, sometimes in multiple loads, your clothes might fade more quickly.
No matter how well you clean them, your dishes come out of the dishwasher with white spots on them.
And worst of all, high TDS in water can leave a filmy soap scum in the shower and bathtub.
On the bright side, high TDS can sometimes be good for your house plants.
In fact, some of the substances that cause high TDS in water can actually help your plants grow.
Nitrates and potassium, two common substances that contribute to high TDS, promote plant growth.
In fact, one of the main ways these substances get into your water in the first place is contamination from fertilizers used in agriculture.
However, nitrates aren’t exactly healthy for humans to drink, and they can indicate the presence of other even more toxic compounds.
How TDS Affects Your Health
High TDS doesn’t necessarily mean your water is unhealthy to drink, but some of the substances that contribute to high TDS are extremely dangerous, including:
- Nitrates
- Lead
- Arsenic
- Pesticides
- Chlorine
- Fluoride
None of these are materials you want in your body.
Lead exposure, for example, can cause serious damage to the brain and nervous system.
Studies show that lead exposure can be especially bad for children and cause significant learning difficulties, behavioral disorders, and lower IQ.
According to the Center for Disease Control, even chlorine and chlorine byproducts, which are added intentionally to public water systems as a disinfectant, can increase the risk of cancer and damage the liver and nervous system.
Remember, TDS levels above 500 mg/L require further testing for specific contaminants, and anything above 1000 mg/L is considered unsafe to drink.
pH & Total Dissolved Solids
TDS has a big impact on the pH level of your water.
pH refers to how acidic or alkaline it is.
The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14, with 0 being the most acidic, 14 being the most alkaline, and 7 being neutral (pure water).
Ideally, you want your water to be slightly alkaline between 7.5 to 8.5.
Most tap water tends to be slightly acidic due to common contaminants like chlorine.
Fortunately, pH is easy to balance by removing these contaminants and adding the right amount of alkalizing minerals back into the water with a high-quality filtration system.
How to Reduce TDS In Water
You have a few different options for reducing TDS in tap water.
One is with a water distiller.
Distillation is a treatment method that turns the water into steam, then collects the steam in a separate container where it condenses and turns back into water.
In the process, the dissolved solids and other contaminants get left behind because they cannot turn into steam.
Another method of removing TDS is through ion exchange, which uses electrically charged sodium ions to replace the dissolved solids.
The most effective way to remove TDS and contaminants, however, is a reverse osmosis (RO) system.
Reverse osmosis works by forcing highly pressurized water through a very fine, semipermeable membrane, trapping up to 99.9% of contaminants on the other side.
Cloud Water Filters also include several other stages of filtration, including ion exchange to remove excess TDS minerals and a final remineralization stage to add healthy calcium and magnesium back into the water.
The result is safe, delicious drinking water with perfectly balanced pH.
Cloud even uses built-in software to track and monitor your water quality 24/7 through an app on your phone.
