Why Do People Still Use Soft Water Even Though it Contains More Lead?

Based off of the reading for this week we learned that soft water contains more lead in it than hard water, and that got me thinking why do people spend more money to soften their water when it could be harming them? This article weighs the pros and cons of both hard water and soft water. Soft water is desired over hard water for certain things like washing clothes, dishes, and taking showers, but should not be used for drinking. The reason that soft water is preferred over hard water for washing clothes and appliances is because of the calcium and magnesium found in hard water, limescale buildup occurs when you wash these things with hard water and can cause appliances to not be as energy efficient or issues with the pipes to arise. The lead found in soft water cannot cause as much harm to humans if it is only being used to wash items, so that is why soft water is used to wash items. Hard water is used for drinking water because it does not contain as much lead in it as soft water and contains minerals in it that have health benefits. The diagram shows how water is softened by exchanging hard calcium and magnesium ions for soft sodium ions.