Yes. Phoenix's 2025 water quality report lists 91 to 183 parts per million of sodium in tap water. A salt-based softener adds more, about 8 mg/L for each grain of hardness removed, so softened Phoenix water gains roughly 80 to 140 mg/L. Potassium chloride or an unsoftened kitchen tap avoids that extra sodium.
How much sodium is in Phoenix tap water?
Phoenix lists sodium in the aesthetic water quality table of its 2025 report, next to items like pH, hardness and total dissolved solids. The range is 91 to 183 parts per million. In water, one part per million is the same as one milligram per liter, so you can read that as 91 to 183 mg/L. The report's column for a secondary guideline reads "NA" for sodium. That means Phoenix does not list a federal taste guideline for it in that table.
The same table gives the numbers that drive the softener math:
| Item in the 2025 Phoenix report | Range |
|---|---|
| Sodium | 91 to 183 ppm |
| Total hardness | 172 to 302 ppm, or 10 to 17.6 grains per gallon |
| Total dissolved solids | 464 to 716 ppm (guideline 500) |
Where does the sodium come from? The EPA's sodium advisory says sodium "is widely distributed in soils, plants, water, and foods," and that "Sodium ion is ubiquitous in water because of the high solubility of many sodium salts." The same advisory names human sources too. It says sodium is present "in road deicing chemicals, in water treatment chemicals, in domestic water softeners, and in sewage effluents." Phoenix's report does not break its sodium down by source, so treat that list as the general picture, not a Phoenix diagnosis.
### What the EPA says about sodium in drinking water
Sodium has no enforceable federal limit in drinking water. The EPA issued a drinking water advisory instead. It is guidance, and the EPA says so directly: "This recommendation is not federally enforceable but is intended as a guideline for States."
The advisory gives two numbers.
- For taste: it "recommends reducing sodium concentrations in drinking water to between 30 and 60 mg/L based on esthetic effects (i.e., taste)."
- For very low sodium diets: "For individuals on a very low sodium diet (500 mg/day), EPA recommends that drinking-water sodium not exceed 20 mg/L."
Phoenix's range starts above both of those numbers, before any softener is involved. That doesn't make the water unsafe. The EPA advisory itself says that for most people, drinking water is not a big part of their sodium exposure. But it does mean anyone on a doctor-ordered sodium limit should count tap water in the total.
How much sodium does a water softener add?
A salt-based softener works by ion exchange. Nebraska Extension explains that it removes "the hardness ions calcium and magnesium" and replaces them with "non-hardness ions, typically sodium supplied by dissolved sodium chloride salt, or brine." More hardness in means more sodium out.
The rate does the work here. Nebraska Extension says "sodium is added to water at a rate of about 8 mg/L for each grain per gallon (gpg) of hardness." Its own example: "water that was 10 gpg of hardness will have about 80 mg/L of sodium."
Now apply that to Phoenix. We ran the numbers from the city's hardness range and Nebraska's rate. These are estimates, not lab results for your tap.
| Phoenix water | Hardness removed | Sodium added by softening | Rough total sodium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Softest end of the range | 10 gpg | about 80 mg/L | about 171 mg/L (with 91 already present) |
| Hardest end of the range | 17.6 gpg | about 141 mg/L | about 324 mg/L (with 183 already present) |
The low and high sodium readings may not happen on the same days as the low and high hardness readings. So think of the last column as the outer edges, not a forecast.
### What that means per glass and per day
Numbers in mg/L are hard to feel. So here is the same math per day. Say you drink 2 liters of tap water a day, which is the amount the EPA advisory uses in its own example.
- Unsoftened Phoenix water: about 182 to 366 mg of sodium a day from water.
- Softened Phoenix water: about 342 to 648 mg of sodium a day from water.
For scale, the FDA says "The Daily Value for sodium is less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) per day." It also says "Americans eat on average about 3,400 mg of sodium per day," and that most dietary sodium comes from packaged and prepared foods. So softened water at the high end would use up a bit over a quarter of the daily value if you drank 2 liters of it. Food is still the big source. Softened water is a real but smaller one.
That's why the answer depends on who is drinking. A healthy adult on a normal diet probably won't notice the difference on a lab report. A person told to keep sodium very low has a harder budget, and 300 or 600 milligrams from water can matter.
Who should care, and how do you avoid the extra sodium?
Start with a health question, not a plumbing one. The EPA advisory says people "under treatment for sodium-sensitive hypertension should consult with their health care provider regarding sodium levels in their drinking water supply." The Minnesota Department of Health says "A water softener that uses sodium chloride (salt) increases the amount of sodium in the water you drink at home," and suggests that anyone with a history of high blood pressure consult a doctor about drinking softened water.
If you need less sodium from your water, you have three solid options.
- 1Keep one cold tap unsoftened. Nebraska Extension says "Drinking and cooking with softened water is often avoided by having a cold water line to the kitchen tap that bypasses the water softener." Minnesota's first suggestion is the same idea: have an un-softened tap for cooking and drinking. This is the cleanest fix. You keep soft water for showers, laundry and the water heater, and you drink water with no added sodium. It won't remove the 91 to 183 ppm already in the city supply, though.
- 2Switch the softener to potassium chloride. Minnesota suggests you "Regenerate your softener with potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride (salt)." Nebraska Extension notes it "can be more costly and more difficult to obtain than sodium chloride" and can take more product, since it "adheres more strongly to the resin." Our page on using potassium instead of salt in a water softener covers the setup and the trade-offs.
- 3Treat the drinking water at the tap. The EPA advisory mentions "point-of-use treatment to reduce the sodium" as something to discuss with a health care provider. If you look at an under-sink system, check its certification and performance data sheet for a sodium or total dissolved solids reduction claim. See how reverse osmosis differs from a water softener for how the two split the work.
Two more habits help. Nebraska Extension says "It is not recommended to repeatedly use softened water for plants, lawns or gardens due to the sodium content." So keep hose bibs on a line that bypasses the softener. And set the softener to your real hardness. Minnesota warns that a hardness setting that's too high makes the unit cost more to run and waste water.
A softener is still worth it for plenty of Phoenix homes, since hard water scale is the main thing it fixes. Our page on the benefits of a whole-house water softener weighs that side, and whether softeners work on Arizona hard water covers sizing. The sodium is one trade-off to plan around, not a reason to skip softening. Clean and simple.
HQ Plumbing & Air handles water softening and filtration, including plumbing an unsoftened cold line to the kitchen. We're licensed and insured, with free estimates and upfront pricing.