|
Retire My Softener… Please!!! |
|
Are you letting your money go down the drain? Don’t be too sure you’re not.
Growing concerns surrounding water quality, water conservation and the costs associated with recycling, have recently resulted in a flood of legislature. Most is aimed at reducing consumption, but recently, more attention has been focused upon reclamation, particularly dealing with limiting the costs of both water treatment and system maintenance. While this may seem like a relatively simple topic, many different considerations enter into the equation. And the additional costs aren’t all being shouldered by the water districts (and by extension, their customers). You’re probably paying a good bit more than you should, as well. On this site, we will offer a simplified explanation of some of this legislature, as well as the affected technology, the reasons behind it, how it may affect you, the costs involved, and what you can do about all of it.
INTRODUCTION
The salt loading impact from water softeners on water reclamation plants has long been a controversial issue. The discharge of salt from the regeneration of water softeners into the wastewater collection system has a negative impact on recycled water and wastewater plant effluent. Higher salinity increases the treatment costs and reduces the potential for reuse of wastewater for non-potable irrigation and industrial purposes. It can also impair a wastewater treatment agency’s ability to comply with discharge standards for chlorides or other mineral constituents of the wastewater. Furthermore, it makes it more difficult for water agencies to comply with the State and Federal discharge standards for total dissolved solids (TDS) in the treated water. State and Federal agencies enforce very strict limits on the amount of TDS and mineral concentration before recycled water can be reintroduced to the environment. Significant fines are imposed on water agencies found to be in non-compliance with high TDS and mineral concentrations in the treated water.
On the other hand, the public can derive benefits from access to soft water. Water softeners reduce the “hardness” of the water, which can have several benefits for consumers: smaller amounts of soap and detergents (non-synthetic) are necessary for laundry and cleaning processes; reduced staining, spotting, scaling; bathing and showering feelings; increased fabric life; and energy saving in water heating due to less scaling. In addition, many industries, including hospitals and high-tech manufacturers, need soft water for various uses; process boilers and cooling towers can be made more efficient, for example.
In areas with a high market penetration of water softeners, because of the higher salinity levels in the wastewater stream, reclaimed water has diminished usefulness for certain end uses, especially certain irrigation, industrial, and groundwater recharge applications. The higher salt load resulting from water softeners may necessitate that treatment processes beyond those commonly used in reclamation plants be considered.
MARKET PENETRATION In recent surveys conducted in the City of Los Angeles and part of the city of San Diego, it was determined that between 25-50% of the households responding to the surveys had SRWS (self-regenerating water softeners). In the Rancho Bernardo area of San Diego, the figure was approximately 54%, of those households with water softeners. In a phone survey conducted in northern San Diego County in April 1992, 24.6 percent of the households had a working water softener unit. About 83 percent of the households with water softeners had SRWS, while 16 percent had exchange-tank units. Of those households with self-regenerating units, 70 percent had timer models and 20 percent had DIR models. The remaining households did not know what kind of unit they had. Since 1991, about 75% of the SRWS systems sold are demand-initiated-regeneration, or DIR, models, but less efficient models including the timed-regeneration variety are still readily available on the market.. The DIR systems are preferable to the timed systems, because they regenerate only after a certain amount of consumption, rather than elapsed time. According to the WQA, most water softener models currently on the market achieve a standard of 2,850 grains of hardness removed per pound of salt used in regeneration. However, recent advances in SRWS technology have produced more efficient models that provide a higher standard of 3,350 grains removed per pound of salt used in regeneration.
AS A RESULT…
Consequently, various states, municipalities and publicly-owned treatment works (POTWs) across the country are taking stances that are increasingly aggressive, against the installation of new SRWS systems, and even continued use of existing systems (both timed and DIR). Many areas have long restricted the use of SRWS systems for commercial and industrial use...now they are beginning to limit or eliminate their use in residential applications as well.
Various alternative technologies have been proposed by the industry, with varying levels of success. Some, while better than SRWS, from an environmental standpoint, still fall short of the mark, in terms of achieving the benefits sought by the average household:
· Prevent hard scale build-up in appliances, plumbing and fixtures · Lower cost of installation · Lower overall cost of operation of the softener (chemical, salt, water consumption, electricity, service) · Higher efficiency, with the attendant lower power consumption and longer life of appliances · Compliance with present and probable future legal limits
So, the residential SRWS user is faced with a few options, in order to continue to enjoy the benefits previously offered by the SRWS system. Following is a description of the various types of systems being commonly offered, and a comparison of their advantages and disadvantages.
WHERE WILL YOUR NEXT DRINK OF WATER COME FROM?
Last, but certainly not least, each of us needs to think about where our next drink of water will come from. If we don’t change the way we do things, and change very soon, that may well become more important to us than the question of where our next meal will come from. Here is some clarification. |
|
Home |
