You know... I was asking myself the same thing about water softeners. Reason being, its filled with 50 lbs bags of salt monthly. The water doesn't taste salty to me... But, I wonder what actually makes it into our drinking water. Hard water (before the softener) would seem to contain more minerals. So... What would be better? True, my chickens stop at the first body of water they spot. Lol! They'll stand right in the middle of the puddle filling up.