City just told me I can't use salt in my softener. Options?

[Axxlrod]

City just sent me a letter saying that any water treatment system that uses salt is no longer allowed, and I have 90 days to change my water treatment system. Ugh. I'm wondering if any of you have encountered this and what options are available. I think I can use potassium instead of salt in my softener, but I just checked Home Depot's website and potassium is $38 per bag! Instead of $6 per bag for salt.

 

[Wash4Life]

Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you. I'm curious to see what answers are myself.

My hot take upon reading what you're city's doing is, "Gotta love government."

 

[water guy]

1st Phase

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

California. Ugh.

 

[eckert16]

Salt based systems waste water and flush additional water into the sewer. There are more modern filtration/treatment systems available that don’t use salt. The trade off Is that components of the system must be replaced every x amount of water conditioned. Some say the costs are comparable, considering that you save on wasted water/sewer.

Unfortunately water treatment is a Google rabbit hole. There’s information and disinformation. For example, if you Google “water softener no salt” you’ll find a page pretty quick that says “there’s no such thing”... well that’s because they call them water conditioners now, the technology is different.... but ultimately they do they same thing remove dissolved solids from water making it softer.

 

[Earl Weiss]

First and foremost ge ahold of the actual regulations and review them carefully.

 

[OurTown]

First and foremost ge ahold of the actual regulations and review them carefully.

With your attorney.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

Salt based systems waste water and flush additional water into the sewer. There are more modern filtration/treatment systems available that don’t use salt. The trade off Is that components of the system must be replaced every x amount of water conditioned. Some say the costs are comparable, considering that you save on wasted water/sewer.

Unfortunately water treatment is a Google rabbit hole. There’s information and disinformation. For example, if you Google “water softener no salt” you’ll find a page pretty quick that says “there’s no such thing”... well that’s because they call them water conditioners now, the technology is different.... but ultimately they do they same thing remove dissolved solids from water making it softer.

Softeners do not remove/reduce dissolved solids... neither do the "conditioners"
Softener use ion EXCHANGE resin - they pull some ions from the water and replace them with others.

 

[AnalyticWash]

California. Ugh.

What starts in California tends to gradually make its way to other parts of the country. This might be a problem for all of us in the near future...

 

[cmawash]

would a grand father clause exempt your system, let the new guys handle the problem

 

[2Biz]

I think I would have to find out the "Why's"? What is the current system hurting? Does the new ruling/mandate also affect domestic softeners too or just commercial? Are they offering an alternative and and/or incentive to switch?

How can the reject water from a softener be any worse than raw sewage?! Wow, what will they think of next!?

 

[Axxlrod]

I looked into this more. The letter references the city code, and upon review, it was adopted in 1993. I built this wash in 2008, and the water softener was shown on the plans and in place for final inspection. So that's pretty weird that no one has said anything until now.

This letter was sent out to all commercial water users in the city. I guess they don't care about residential users.

I will look into salt-free water conditioners. I talked to a car wash operator yesterday that uses one, and he said it works about half as well as a water softener.

 

[MsR]

would a grand father clause exempt your system, let the new guys handle the problem

Nope, no one will be Grandfathered in

 

[MsR]

I think I would have to find out the "Why's"? What is the current system hurting? Does the new ruling/mandate also affect domestic softeners too or just commercial? Are they offering an alternative and and/or incentive to switch?

How can the reject water from a softener be any worse than raw sewage?! Wow, what will they think of next!?

It has everything to do with the new green agenda the government is pushing.

 

[Greg Pack]

How hard is your current water? Do you have touch free autos?

I could go without a softener if I was self serve and friction only

 

[washnshine]

How hard is your current water? Do you have touch free autos?

I could go without a softener if I was self serve and friction only

I know a location that runs ryko soft gloss units with no soft water. Every car gets a spot free rinse and the cars look fine.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

What starts in California tends to gradually make its way to other parts of the country. This might be a problem for all of us in the near future...

like a cancer

 

[2Biz]

I know a location that runs ryko soft gloss units with no soft water. Every car gets a spot free rinse and the cars look fine.

How do you run a SFR system without a softener if you have hard water?

 

[Earl Weiss]

With your attorney.

Well, you may or may not seek to consult with counsel after you read it. You may actually understand it and see if the inspector missed something, Getting an attorney involved right away may be needlessly costly and piss them off for which they may nit pick later.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

I know a location that runs ryko soft gloss units with no soft water. Every car gets a spot free rinse and the cars look fine.

Hmm. "Spot free rinse" typically means "RO System," which means if they have hardwater, the RO feedwater would need to be softened. So I assume they have a softener, but the effluent goes to the RO, only?