Most households in the BACOG area use a traditional water softener to treat the “hard” groundwater that is our drinking supply. But this water treatment technology comes with a cost. Salt, a compound of sodium and chloride, used in the softening process can contaminate our water resources with chloride, and softened water containing elevated levels of sodium can be ingested as drinking water.
You can better protect your family’s health and our local environment by reducing the amount of softener salt used in your home. This is possible by optimizing water softener settings or installing higher-efficiency, lower-salt equipment. And purchasing less salt will mean a cost savings to your household budget.
WHY SOFTEN OUR NATURAL WATER?
Groundwater from the shallow aquifer system is the source of water for the vast majority of BACOG-area households; this is true regardless of whether your water is supplied by a municipality or you have a private well on your property. Natural water from the area’s shallow aquifers is typically very hard, containing high levels of iron, magnesium and calcium. Groundwater acquires these minerals and metals by dissolving them from surrounding soil and rock below ground.
Hardness is usually expressed in grains per gallon of water. Soft water is defined as containing less than one (1) grain of hardness per gallon. According to the Water Quality Association (WQA), water with 3.5-7 grains/gallon is moderately hard. Hard water is defined at 7-10.5 grains, and very hard water is above that. Typical hardness in BACOG-area groundwater is about 30 grains/gallon (very hard) although the number varies from well to well.
Hard water may taste unpleasant and leave crusty, chalky mineral deposits in the plumbing system. High iron levels cause discoloration of laundered clothes and kitchen and bath fixtures, and dissolved calcium and magnesium are primarily responsible for scaling in pipes and water heaters. People use water softeners to remove these minerals from their hard water, which can increase the lifespan of appliances, clean clothes and fabrics better, reduce the amount of soap needed for laundry and bathing, reduce increased energy costs that are possibly due to scale build-up inside pipes and appliances, and improve the flavor of drinking water.
HOW WATER SOFTENING WORKS
Typical water softening equipment works by ion exchange and the use of salt. In the ion exchange process, salt splits into sodium and chloride. The chloride goes away with wastewater, and the sodium enters the home’s drinking water.
Softener units contain resin beads that are covered with sodium ions. As water comes into the unit and flows past the beads, the sodium ions switch places with the calcium and magnesium ions, trapping the hardness ions on the resin beads. The process also releases sodium ions into water flowing to faucets and fixtures. The beads eventually become saturated with calcium and magnesium ions, and the unit must renew the resin by rinsing it with concentrated saltwater. The entire process is called the regeneration cycle and repeats itself every few days. The salty rinse water containing concentrated chloride plus the calcium and magnesium ions is flushed down the drain. Nearly all the chloride from the salt used in water softening re-enters the environment.
While most home water softeners are ion exchange systems, there is a significant difference among the types of operating systems for softener units in how they determine when to regenerate and how much water and salt is consumed in the process.
The older “time-clock” technology uses an electric timer that flushes and recharges based on a regular, set schedule. This type can be very wasteful of both salt and water because the softener will regenerate even when there is still capacity to soften the water or during periods of low household water use such as vacations away. These models also can run out of soft water if there are periods of higher-than-normal water use (e.g., house guests, laundry days). In the BACOG area, a time-clock softening system that automatically regenerates every few days consumes hundreds of pounds of salt in just one year.
The demand-initiated regeneration (DIR) operating system, sometimes called “on demand”, uses a mini-computer that determines when the resin is depleted based on amount of water used and prompts regeneration only at near-depletion levels. Another on demand type requires two tanks, where the first produces soft water while the other regenerates, reversing their roles when soft water is depleted in the first tank. Because these systems do not regenerate until soft water is depleted, they use considerably less salt and water than time-clock systems.
Additionally, if softeners are old or they are not set up to run at their peak efficiency, they can use more salt and water than necessary.
SALT CONTAMINATES OUR REGIONAL WATER SUPPLY
Whether your home’s water comes from a community or municipal supply or a private well, if you soften your home’s water the salt used in the process will enter the environment. The salty backwash from regeneration of water softeners is discharged to home septic fields, drainage ditches, or community sewers going to wastewater treatment plants — none of which removes the salt.
While water is provided to roughly about 15,000 of the area’s approximately 38,000 population, community supplies are typically not softened (though iron and other components may be removed). Due to the hardness of the region’s natural groundwater, it is likely that
112 Algonquin Road l Barrington Hills l Illinois l 60010 Telephone 847.381.7871 l Fax 847.381.7882 l www.bacog.org
as many as 95% of private well owners utilize water softeners, and some number of homes that receive community-supplied water also have water softeners. These numbers generate large quantities of salty discharge from water softeners, along with the chloride that enters the environment.
Chloride from Septic Systems / Drainage Ditches
BACOG estimates more than 60% of households in the BACOG area utilize septic systems for their wastewater; most of these households send water softener discharge through the septic tank and drainage field, and some number bypass the septic tank and send softener effluent to drainage ditches. Either way, the chloride is not removed and it directly enters the ground and our water resources.
The chloride over time will reach the groundwater aquifers. These aquifers are the source of the area’s drinking water, and we eventually pump this water from our wells back into buildings and homes, where we soften, use and drink it again.
Chloride at high levels makes water taste salty. While chloride is not generally considered harmful to human health, little is known about the effects of prolonged ingestion of elevated chloride in water. High chloride levels can corrode pipes and fixtures, causing deterioration to the plumbing system. This may lead to unsafe levels of lead and copper in the home water.
Chloride from Wastewater Treatment Plants
For residents in areas with sewered wastewater systems (e.g., Village of Barrington, Lake Barrington Shores, Wynstone, several other small areas within BACOG), the collected wastewater goes to a treatment plant. Treatment does not remove chloride, and the treatment plant’s discharged effluent is released into Flint Creek or other waterways.
The salt and chloride in surface waterways can harm freshwater aquatic life and plants, alter reproduction rates, increase species mortality and alter ecosystems. During flood events, these surface waters can recharge the shallow aquifer, contributing chloride to the groundwater.
Road Salt’s Chloride Contribution
It is widely recognized that road salt is the dominant source of chloride to groundwater throughout the state. Water softener salt can also be a significant source of chloride to water resources in areas with dense septic systems, such as the greater Barrington region. While data are not available solely for the BACOG area, groundwater scientists at the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) conclude that water softeners are probably the second most important source of chloride to groundwater in our area.
Many governments are improving road salting practices to reduce salt usage. It is time to also address water softener practices.
REDUCE INSTEAD OF REMEDY
It is far better to find ways to reduce chloride at the source than to look for ways to remediate contamination. For sewered systems, treatment technology to reduce chloride at the wastewater treatment plant would cost millions of dollars to build, meaning higher sewer bills. There is no practical method to remove chloride from septic systems.
It is possible to remove chloride from drinking water by distillation, reverse osmosis (RO) or deionization, but these processes are costly and energy-intensive. Standard water softeners and carbon filters do not remove chloride.
Let’s look at how to reduce salt usage at home, thereby decreasing chloride contamination of drinking water, protecting health, and saving money.
OPTIMIZE OR UPGRADE YOUR HOME WATER SOFTENER
If you are keeping your home water softening system, you need to determine if it is operating efficiently. Also evaluate if you could improve your home practices to reduce salt.
▪ Optimize settings to match the size of your family, your typical water use, and your area’s groundwater hardness.
▪ Track how much salt your water softener uses. An average home uses about 40-50 pounds of softener salt per month. Larger families and households use more water and therefore more softener salt. If your home uses more, a service provider can assess if the softener settings are correct. Even brand-new softeners sometimes have the wrong settings programmed in.
▪ Check for leaks in fixtures that use soft water. Even small drips add up. At one drip per second, a leaky faucet wastes 3,000 gallons of water a year. A running toilet can waste 200 gallons of water every day. Whenever softened water is wasted, salt is wasted, too. ▪ Consider softening only your hot water. This can reduce your home’s salt use by half.
When it’s time to replace your softener, upgrade to higher-efficiency, lower-salt equipment.
▪ Consider a demand-initiated regeneration (DIR) softener unit that meters water usage and only regenerates when soft water runs out. This “on demand” equipment can save you money purchasing salt — and cut chloride output by nearly 50%.
▪ Ask for a DIR softener that can achieve an efficiency of at least 3350 and preferably 4000 or more grains per pound of salt (the higher, the better).
▪ Check how often the softener backwashes and how much water is used during regeneration and opt for the model with the lowest water use.
▪ Ask your installer to set up a new softener at its lowest salt setting and at a hardness setting that matches the water hardness at your address.
▪ Assess whether a “salt-free” water conditioning system would work for you. Salt-free systems prevent formation of scale and buildup on fixtures but don’t soften the water, i.e., they don’t remove the calcium and magnesium that make water “hard”.
Local high iron levels could affect the performance of some systems so check the manufacturer’s recommendations.
▪ Install an iron filtration system that uses chemicals other than salt to reduce the iron.
SALT, SODIUM AND YOUR HEALTH
Remember, salt is a compound comprised of sodium and chloride. In the water softener ion exchange process, salt splits into sodium and chloride. The chloride goes away with wastewater, and the sodium enters the home’s drinking water.
People often ask how much sodium is added to the water by a water softener. The answer depends on the hardness of the water coming into the home. The harder the water, the more salt is required to soften it, and the higher the sodium level in the softened water.
Drinking Water Standards
There is no federal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water standard for sodium. A 2003 U.S. EPA Advisory, however, recommends reducing sodium concentrations in drinking water to 30-60 mg/L. The EPA guidance level for sodium in drinking water for individuals on a restricted salt diet is 20 mg/L. One liter (1L) is 33 ounces of water, or just a little over four 8-ounce glasses.
Sodium in natural groundwater and softened drinking water has been measured over the past ten years by BACOG. Per our recent test results from the Illinois State Water Survey’s (ISWS) public laboratory, the sodium levels in our aquifer natural water quality (unsoftened) range from 10-40 mg/L, and the average is about 20 mg/L. In ISWS public laboratory test results of BACOG-area softened water samples, sodium levels ranged from 168-304 mg/L, with an average of 260 mg/L.
Therefore, BACOG-area untreated groundwater falls within or near the EPA advisory recommendation for sodium. Softening our area’s very hard groundwater produces drinking water with sodium levels that exceed the EPA advisory recommendations.
Dietary Salt Standards
On average, Americans consume at least 1.5 teaspoons of salt per day, or about 3,400 mg of sodium. This amount is about 6 times more than the body needs for vital functions (500 mg needed daily). The American Heart Association now recommends no more than 2,300 mg a day and moving toward a limit of no more than 1,500 mg per day for most adults.
While the majority of sodium ingestion is from food, drinking softened water can increase a person’s total daily sodium intake. Assuming consumption of two liters (about 8 cups) of drinking water per day, softened water in this area could provide as much as 300-600 mg additional daily sodium.
Too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and bone calcium loss — all the more reason to reduce salt usage wherever possible. People on a restricted salt diet may want to consult with a physician before drinking softened water on a regular basis.
A solution to the sodium in softened drinking water is a reverse osmosis (RO) unit to remove it. The downside of RO is that it is not very water efficient, but it does have the added benefit of protecting against nitrates, arsenic, lead and other contaminants that, if present, would also be removed. RO has added consumables in the form of required replacement filters and membranes, but it does avoid the need for bottled water and its plastic waste.
SAVE SALT AND MONEY
Buy Less Salt = Cost Savings
The National Water Quality Association (WQA) estimates that moving from an older softener (operating at an efficiency of 1600-2500 grains of hardness removed per pound of salt) to a modern efficiency-rated softener (removing at least 3350 grains to more than 4000 grains per pound of salt) could save consumers as much as 25% to 50% per year in amount of salt used.
In dollars, a typical consumer who is spending $200 per year on salt with an inefficient softener could save as much as $50 to $100 per year in salt costs using a modern efficiencyrated softener. If your larger household spends $400 a year on salt, the savings could be as much as $200 per year. (The WQA notes there are many variables that could impact the amount of money consumers are spending on salt.)
Use Less Salt = Reduce Chloride Contamination
According to the Water Quality Research Foundation (WQRF) report, “Reducing Salt Discharge Amounts by Nearly Half”, optimization of water softeners can cut chlorides by 25%, and replacement of older systems with newer, efficiency-rated equipment can cut chlorides by 47%, which is nearly half. These improvements will reduce chloride contamination of surface waterways and groundwater.
Use Less Water, Detergent and Energy = Cost Savings
Water softeners require significant amounts of water for regeneration. The frequency of regeneration and volume of backwash depend on the hardness of the water, the amount of water used in the home, and the size of the softener.
Softeners typically regenerate 1-3 times per week and produce between 40 and 150 gallons of wastewater per week. If softener settings are incorrect, the amount of water used can be much higher, resulting in higher water bills when on municipal supply and higher electricity costs on a private well. Water use and its costs can be minimized by a water-efficient softener. The WQRF reports that advances in ion exchange water softener technology over the last few decades provide benefits like energy savings, prevention of scale damage to appliances, and reduction up to 70% in detergent use. Optimized softeners provide conservation benefits that have the potential to reduce a home’s heating carbon footprint by as much as 14% per year.
Reduce the Hassle of Hauling Salt
Using less salt in an optimized or upgraded water softener means fewer trips to the store to purchase salt (save on gas or delivery costs), less hauling of heavy blocks and bags of salt, and fewer times loading the salt tank for your softener. Saving your personal time and labor may be the greatest savings of all!
The Barrington Area Council of Governments is committed to helping reduce salt use and chloride contamination of local groundwater and water resources. For further information, please contact author Janet Agnoletti, Executive Director.
REFERENCES
“Basics of Water Treatment”, Water Quality Association, www.wqa.org/improve-yourwater/water-treatment-basics, accessed January 2020
“Best Management Practices for the Discharge of Residential Water Softener Backwash Brine in Unsewered Areas”, May 2012, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management – Office of Water Resources, www.dem.ri.gov/programs/benviron/water/permits/privwell/pdfs/backwash.pdf
“Chloride Reduction”, Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, www.madsewer.org/Programs-Initiatives/Chloride-Reduction, accessed January 2020
“Drinking Water Advisory: Consumer Acceptability Advice and Health Effects Analysis on Sodium”, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/201409/documents/support_cc1_sodium_dwreport.pdf, EPA Report 822-R-03-006, February 2003, accessed February 2020
“Get the Facts: Sodium and the Diet”, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/salt/pdfs/sodium_dietary_guidelines.pdf, posted October 2017, accessed December 2019
“Getting Smart with Softeners”, Water Quality Association, www.wqa.org/, accessed December 2019
Kelly, Walt, Illinois State Water Survey, Email to Janet Agnoletti regarding Sources of Chloride Contribution to Groundwater, June 12, 2014
Poczatek, Bryanna, Water Quality Association, Email to Janet Agnoletti 4/1/2019
“Reducing Salt Discharge Amounts by Nearly Half”, Water Quality Research Foundation, www.wqrf.org/uploads/8/3/5/5/83551838/2018_mmsd_softeneroptimization_toolkit.pdf, accessed November 2019
“Salt and Sodium”, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/salt-and-sodium/, accessed March 2020
Webb, Daniel, Illinois State Water Survey, Call Notes regarding BACOG-area Aquifer Sodium Levels from Test Results, February 2018