Soda ash to manage pH levels and hardness of water before filtration

Water filtration is necessary for every household now. May it be well water or municipal water supply; there are some contaminants present that are harmful. Often well water, which was earlier considered pure, contains chemicals and contaminants which cause corrosion of pipes and plumbing throughout the house. This makes water filtration system even more necessary. Soda ash can be added to water to raise the pH and make the water safer for consumption.

The acidity in water is expressed as pH. It is healthy when it is neutral i.e. at a pH of 7. When water is acidic, it is in the pH range of 4 to 6.8. Such water may even have metals like lead, cadmium and copper which causes corrosion of household pipes. There can be other contaminants like manganese and iron as well. To make water non-corrosive you can add soda ash i.e. sodium carbonate. Soda ash is non toxic and added to water in the right proportion, can be useful in raising the pH to 7.0 to 7.5. To adjust the pH and handle hardness soda ash solution has to be mixed with the water using a contact tank.

Soda ash treatment is used to reduce hardness from water. It is used for conditioning water before filtration. Water with high concentration of hardness salts is treated with soda ash. Typically when there is high level of iron present in water you can disinfect it with a chemical feed pump. Hypochlorite bleach and soda ash are mostly mixed as a single solution to feed it into the water system using the same pump unit. Such filtration is called as neutralizing filters using neutralizing solutions. Generally if pH levels are less than 5 or 5.5 then soda ash feeders are preferred for water treatment.

Soda ash is an alkaline compound. It is thus preferred for neutralizing acids found in water. It helps eliminate corrosion from pipes, water heaters, pressure tanks and other water systems. It can also help remove tannins from tannin type water softener. It may thus be used for potable water systems as well.

Soda ash is also used when raising pH levels of swimming pools. Mostly when the pH of water is 7.2 it is advisable to use soda ash. About 3/4th of an ounce is needed. To make it effective as well as safe, walk around the perimeter of pool and sprinkle powder into water. Do not add more than two pounds per 10000 gallons of water at a time. Ensure that pump is running for at least two hours after treatment. Soda ash is also useful in raising the Total Alkalinity (TA). If TA is low it may corrosion of metal, etching of pool plaster, skin and eye irritation and so on. Use about 0.88 pounds of soda ash to increase TA by 10ppm. Use this ratio for the actual size. Use soda to raise TA when pH is also low.

Soda ash is very useful in raising the pH levels of water and for water conditioning or treatment if there are contaminants like iron and manganese in water. Filtration of water after soda ash treatment ensures you get clean and pure water without any harmful effects of contaminants and stable pH levels of water.