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It is the salts in tap water that cause the problem. The "harder" the water the more the salts it contains. These salts become deposited on the plates and interfere with the lead to lead ion exchange, inhibiting the efficient production of electricity. Limited use of tap water should not really cause much of a problem, but if it was used for several years to "top-up" the cells, it will definitely shorten the effective life of the battery. Best to use distilled or de-ionized water if possible. The word "salt" above refers to any minerals in the water. Soft water is no better for this purpose than hard water as soft water merely contains a different salt, not no salt.
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