Dealers cope with ban on discharges to some sewage systems.
By Amy Poe, News Editor
Water Technology , February 2000
www.waternet.com
Water treatment dealers in Livingston County, MI, were caught off guard in December by a flood of calls from anxious customers, who had been warned to disconnect their water softeners from municipal sewer systems or risk high fines.
Unlike states such as California, where a new law that could lead to softener bans took effect last month, Michigan does not have a history of local prohibitions on water conditioning.
However, Livingston County municipalities, under pressure from the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), have resurrected unenforced softener discharge ordinances or enacted new laws. Local governments notified residents that all softeners would now be required to discharge into dry wells or open ground, in an effort to lower sodium and chloride levels in the effluent or area wastewater treatment plants.*
In the village of Pickney, businesses have been given the option of switching from sodium- to potassium-based softener salts.
In other communities, such as Brighton, businesses were instructed to stop discharging any softener backwash water into city sewer lines within 30 days or pay hefty daily penalties. Store owners say inspectors appeared promptly on the deadline date to verify compliance.
In Hartland Township, all households were required to register the status of their softener backwash line by mail; that information is then confirmed by an inspector. Other towns may institute house-to-house inspections for illegal installations.
Water conditioning dealers who serve the county express surprise and confusion about the enforcement actions.
"[Town officials] didn't say a thing to us," says Todd Ously, general manager of Culligan International's company-owned store in Ann Arbor. "Nobody's ever sat down with us, the ones who're going to have to deal with the problem. The only communication we got was our customers calling."
Particularly confusing to dealers and their customers alike has been regulators wavering stance on brine discharge.
Residents in Hartland Township initially were instructed to destroy their septic tanks for safety reasons when the sewer system began operating in 1996. They then were told to switch to a potassium-based salt to lower groundwater sodium levels.
Now property owners are being forced to reroute their softener brine, but are left without septic tanks to handle the discharge.
Ironically, says Town Clerk Lynn L. Meissner, research by the township indicates that increased salt use resulting from the change to potassium chloride may have helped push chloride levels over the limit and create the community's current dilemma. Nevertheless, Pinckney Director of Public Works David Marshall said last month that his village would be requiring potassium-based regenerant. The utility did not yet have a plan for lowering its borderline chloride levels.
Industry weighs its response
According to Liz Browne, district supervisor of the DEQ's Waste Management Division, for months samples from test wells around four area treatment plants have consistently exceeded state standards of 150 parts per million (ppm) for sodium and 250 ppm for chloride. The US Environmental Protection Agency's nonenforceable secondary drinking water standard for chloride also in 250 ppm.
Browne blamed part of the problem on the fact that these particular sewage systems discharge directly into ground water. In addition, water conditioning units are popular in the area, where tap water hardness can reach 20 grains per gallon as calcium carbonate.
State officials are negotiating consent agreements for compliance with the wastewater districts.
Towns may institute house-to-house inspections
For illegal installations.
Meanwhile, water treatment dealerships are pondering their response to the changes. Culligan manager Ously is in an enviable position compared to some colleagues, since his business offers portable exchange tanks. (Ously says he has stated limiting new customers for the service "because of the wear and tear on our trucks.") Other dealers plan to offer deals on dry well installation.
Carlyn Myer, public affairs director for the Lisle, IL-based Water Quality Association (WQA), says her group is concerned that Livingston County may be the prelude to other state enforcement efforts.
"Remember, they're talking about an aesthetic issue," says Myers of the chloride limit. "[The state] wants less salt, the consumers want less calcium. It's almost like, which mineral should the state make its priority?"
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