To the Oct. 27 letter “Hard Water” that essentially corrected your Oct, 20 “Sodium” article, I had all intentions of writing to address that article, but thankfully Jerry Stendafl handled the issue.

As Mr. Stendafl states, water hardness is defined by calcium and magnesium content. These constituents are present in surface waters as dissolved salts of calcium and magnesium, such as calcium carbonate. They are the breakdown products of minerals found in the rocks and soils over which surface waters flow. Additionally, there are many other dissolved salts that occur in surface water and groundwater.

We have choices when it comes to softening our water. I opted for potassium chloride when I moved here and I highly recommend it. Potassium is good for us; sodium is not. Water softened with potassium chloride tastes very good in my opinion, and there is no difficulty of washing off soap in the shower, as there is with water softened with sodium chloride. Sure, it’s more expensive, but it’s worth it. And it’s not a frequent expense at all.

If you shop around, you can find a significant deal on the potassium chloride at a “big box store.” At least you could (haven’t checked lately), until the national supply chain disaster caused by an administration who pays Americans with our hard-earned tax dollars to be unemployed as millions of jobs go begging.