Have you ever heard of TDS in drinking water? If you’re like most people, you have not. TDS refers to “Total Dissolved Solids,” and, more accurately, the total concentration of dissolved substances in drinking water. If you want to better understand the water you drink, you should know about TDS.

Dissolved Substances in Drinking Water

So what are some of the dissolved substances in drinking water? You could expect to find inorganic salts consisting of positively charged cations along with negatively charged anions. The word cation means a “positively charged ion” and the word anion means a “negatively charged ion.” Some examples of cations include calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium. Some examples of anions include carbonates, nitrates, bicarbonates, chlorides and sulfates. So, most municipal drinking water systems have these things in their water! The TDS level equals how much of those solids are present in the water.

Signs You Have Elevated Levels of TDS in Your Water

If you have elevated levels of TDS in your drinking water, it might taste bitter or salty. If you’ve got a lot of calcium and magnesium, you might have hard water along with scale formation and staining on your sinks.

Drinking water is safe for consumption if the TDS level is between 50 and 150 parts per million. If the level is 250 to 300, it’s fair. Once it goes over 300, you wouldn’t want to drink it. And if it’s all the way up around 1,200, steer clear of it!

Water Filtration Systems Will Help

If you’re able to measure TDS levels, do so. When you have high TDS levels, it can change the way food tastes when it’s cooked in that water. It can also contain too much copper or lead which might make you sick.

Do you feel like your municipal water isn’t good? If you want to have better water quality, Shell Water Systems can help. Water softeners as well as whole-home water filtration systems are available– please call 1-866-341-6220 to ask questions and find out more information about what Shell Water Systems offers.