Water Treatment As An Energy Saver?

Dear Royal Soft:


I recently read that you in the water treatment industry are promoting water softening as a "green" technology. Is this for real or are you just saying this to jump on the "green" bandwagon? What about all that salt?

Sincerely,

Skeptical In Westchester County

Untreated hard water promotes a buildup of precipitated stone on hot surfaces such as the inside of your water heater. This buildup acts as an insulator and slows the water heating process, wasting energy. A water softener or a scale prevention system will prevent this build up and save you between 15 and 20% of the energy used to heat water.

Also think about how much sooner your fixtures, water heaters, and appliances wear out (about 25% faster) when using untreated hard water in your home. It takes materials and energy to make fixtures and appliances, and to sell them, deliver them, and install them, so here is another place where water softeners or scale prevention systems save energy.

When considering the salt usage, today's water softener is not Grandpa's salt swallowing behemoth of 60 years ago. The introduction of water metering and modern resins make modern softeners highly efficient, using only about 1/3 as much salt and water as they did a half a century ago. And salt is a relatively benign substance when compared to detergents (please read the side panel on some of these laundry and dish products). When using soft water you will only use about 1/4 of these man made detergents when compared to hard water. Therefore consumers will save money on detergents and introduce fewer of them into the environment as waste.

Why there has been such a negative campaign against water treatment is hard to understand. Even today, with salt free alternatives to softening available, some look at water treatment as harming the environment. In most cases, that is simply untrue, and the attitude is counter productive. Every device to save energy must be considered these days, even if that device has been reviled in the green community for decades. For most homeowners, water treatment will be a way to reduce energy consumption.