Smithfield actually uses reverse osmosis at its water treatment plant to treat the town's groundwater. After that treatment, the Town adds sodium hypochlorite and hydrated lime to disinfect the water, balance pH, and help control corrosion as the water travels through the distribution system.

But the treatment plant isn't the end of the journey. That finished water still has to travel through the public distribution system, your service line, and finally the plumbing inside your home before it reaches your glass.

Disinfectants are necessary to help keep water protected during that journey, and corrosion control helps protect the piping system. But that also means the water arriving at your faucet isn't coming directly from the reverse-osmosis plant.

The Town can treat and monitor the public water supply, but it can't control every condition the water encounters inside each individual home's plumbing. If a homeowner wants an additional level of filtration at the point where the water actually enters their home, that's where whole-home filtration comes in.

Disinfection byproducts aren't chlorine itself. They are new chemical compounds formed when chlorine and other disinfectants react with naturally occurring material in water. Two major groups found in treated drinking water are trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and haloacetic acids (HAA5).

These compounds are taken seriously by public-health agencies. The EPA regulates both groups because long-term exposure above its limits is associated with health concerns. EPA identifies increased cancer risk for both HAA5 and TTHMs, and also lists potential liver, kidney and central nervous system effects for TTHMs.

The National Cancer Institute says research on disinfection byproducts helped lead EPA to lower allowable levels of TTHMs and HAA5, and epidemiological research has repeatedly found an association between long-term exposure to trihalomethanes and bladder cancer risk.

The important question for a Smithfield homeowner is therefore not simply whether these compounds are regulated—but how much is actually being measured in Smithfield's water.

A water softener can be extremely useful when the water is actually hard. But installing one where it isn’t needed can create unnecessary tradeoffs.

Traditional softeners exchange hardness minerals such as calcium and magnesium for sodium. This adds sodium to the treated water and, depending on the water chemistry and plumbing materials, overly softened water can increase corrosion concerns for plumbing components and water heaters. It also means unnecessary salt use, regeneration water, and maintenance.

Many national water-treatment companies build their sales process around a standard softener package, rather than designing the system around the water conditions in each local market.

We take a different approach. We perform a hardness test at every home before recommending a system. If your water is hard enough to benefit from a softener, we’ll recommend one. If it isn’t, we won’t sell you equipment you don’t need.