Often, the areas of our nation which have the hardest water also face the worst of the environmental change which is coming. States like Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah in particular are focused on reducing water consumption, but a less discussed problem is the impact of the salt that traditional softeners use.
Here we share examples of how Cascadian ICS systems save our environment
In brief, salt based softeners exchange the dissolved hardness in the water for dissolved salt, and that salt is sent down the drain along with your treated water. Salt softeners also need to regenerate, they need to remove the collected hardness from the media so they don't fill up and quit working. This regeneration process uses highly concentrated brine that is prepared in the 'salt tank'. all this brine eventually ends up in our eco-system and it increases the concentration of salt in the groundwater. Ground water with elevated concentrations of salt is not good for drinking or irrigating crops.
In sensitive areas, this additional salt has lead to complete bans in cities, damaged lawns, and poor vegetation.
For those of us with personal on-site septic tanks and drain fields, your local jurisdiction may prohibit you from sending the salty water into your drain field for various reasons including potential plugging and local damage to the environment. The salinity of the ground will be increased which may cause issues with growing lawn or plants in that area.
