By Tricia E. Cupp, Senior Editor, Heather B. Thomson, News Editor, and Megan M. Kuziara, Associate Editor

From the July 2004 edition of Water Technology magazine. For a free introductory subscription, click here .

In recent years, water treatment dealers nationwide have inevitably heard the news no POU/POE dealer ever hopes to hear - regulators have passed a softener discharge ban in their community or a community they service.

So far, the softener and discharge bans have taken on a wide range of appearances nationwide. From Texas, where a 2001 statewide regulation banned discharge of softener waste into septic systems, to the Midwest where some Michigan communities have banned brine discharge into the municipal sewage system, and California, where just last month the city of Fillmore became the second California city to prohibit any new water softener installations - period.

The following pages detail the measures the POU/POE industry is taking to overcome these bans and offer a small sampling of the hardships endured by the many water treatment dealers affected throughout the country.

Water softener ban shakes up Southern Cal

On June 11, the water treatment industry turned its attention to the West Coast when Fillmore , CA became the second Southern California city in three months to declare a ban on all new automatic water softener installations.

At issue is brine discharge from softeners into the Santa Clara River , which covers a 100-mile watershed. The federal government deemed part of the river "chloride-impaired" and the city was forced to lower the chloride level in the water, targeting softeners.

As a provider of water treatment products and services, the ban has impacted the way GoWater, Inc. (Kinetico), Santa Barbara , CA , does business.

However, as a water treatment professional and a member of the Fillmore City Council, Ken Smedley, GoWater's vice president, was able to plan for potential problems early on.

Changing gears

According to a city-wide survey, about 80 percent of residents did not know about the ban before it went into effect.

"As a licensed dealer, we try to educate customers about the ban," he said.

GoWater started alerting customers prior to the ban that it was coming, and that it impacted only installations. The dealership also began pushing rentals instead of sales, to prevent future complications with customers.

"People wanted to act right away to get their systems installed before the ban," said Smedley.

Water softeners for residential and commercial use that were in existence prior to the ban are not affected - at least, not yet.

Dealers, however, fear the city's next step may be to ban existing softeners. The city has discussed a disincentive for people to not use softeners and has talked about imposing a significant penalty on residential wastewater bills, according to Smedley.

"The only way to have the penalty removed would be to have the city inspect your home, to make sure you don't have a softener," explained Smedley.

Now that GoWater has stopped selling softeners in Fillmore, the company has been forced to deal with the loss of revenue by focusing on the sale of other Kinetico drinking water systems.

"Our water is pushing 30 grams of hardness, so there is still a great demand for water treatment systems," Smedley said.

Waging a grassroots battle

Smedley, along with the Pacific Water Quality Association (PWQA), of which he is a board member, haven't given up on the water softener issue in California .

"It will take a grassroots effort to convince state lawmakers that it's hindering businesses and the economy," he said.

MT dealers hopeful ban reversal clears

It may appear to be business as usual this summer for Archie Thomas, owner of Kinetico Quality Water Systems of the Bitter Root, Hamilton , MT , despite a statewide ban on softener system brine into septic systems, but that may not be the case if the POU/POE industry does not get the current law reversed.

According to Thomas, the water treatment business has not suffered any significant consequences as a result of the softener ban yet, but dealers need to keep their eyes and ears open.

"Right now, we're just keeping our heads down," explained Thomas. "On one hand, we don't have any choice but to do that. On the other hand, we have to be more offensive."

Fighting the ban

In February 2003, the Montana Depart-ment of Environmental Quality created the DEQ4 Circular, which, in part, outlined the decision to ban the discharge of water softener waste into septic systems.

Don Dammel, a Culligan dealer from Kalispell , MT , has been instrumental in fighting the legislation since its inception and hopes that by October 2004, the language will finally be reversed.

A group Dammel assembled to fight the ban, including members of the Montana Water Quality Association, is proposing a rule change that will allow the use of a direct initiated regeneration (DIR) water softener on any newly installed septic systems.

Currently, he and his committee are into the public hearing stage where the public has an opportunity to voice opinion either for or against a rule change. Once there is a comment period, Dam-mel is hopeful they'll be home free.

Consequences and alternatives

Kinetico's Thomas, however, is very concerned about the effects this legislation could have on his business come October if the language is not reversed. Thomas predicts the softener ban would probably affect 40 percent of his annual sales.

"If this were the law of the land for the foreseeable future we would all be in dire straits," Thomas said.

If Montana does not reverse the legislation, dealers will be forced to implement alternatives for using the septic system as a drain source for water softeners.

One option for customers, according to Gary Fetveit, owner of Pettyjohn's The Water Store, Inc., Kalispell , MT , is the installation of a dry well.

Reversal of fortune in Texas

In Texas, the impact of softener discharge bans and regulations didn't be-come a reality until the spring of 2001, when the Texas Commission on Environ-mental Quality (TCEQ) passed a new set of Onsite Sanitary Sewage Facility (OSSF) rules, which included a single sentence prohibiting water softener or RO waste from entering an OSSF, commonly known as a septic system.

"We [ Texas dealers] were put in a defensive posture when selling systems to those on septics. Some people cancelled their pending sales and others never called as a result," said Bob Boer-ner, owner of Culligan of San Antonio and a member of the Texas Water Qual-ity Association (TWQA).

A quest for alternatives

For water treatment dealers like Rocky Hoffman, owner of Watershed Water Systems, Bracken, TX, who work on rural homebuilding site applications where septic systems predominate, the first indication of a problem came approximately six months after the rule was passed, due to the fact that any construction projects underway when the rule was instated were unaffected.

"Consumers were very concerned, as it did prevent us from making installations easily for them," explained Hoffman.

Once they were aware of the ban, Hoffman attempted to turn to other alternatives, but wasn't sure which of those alternatives were allowed by the TCEQ. If water treatment dealers couldn't discharge into the septic, could they dig a French drain, install a gravel pit for discharge or discharge on the ground?

"The TCEQ never would give us a definitive answer," said Hoffman.

Without answers from the TCEQ, Hoffman was forced to educate consumers that installing softeners with discharge into the septic system was against code, and he discharged the brine elsewhere, never knowing if his actions were a plausible solution.

"We made installations and didn't know if they were legal or not," ex-plained Hoffman. "We tried to do it right in every instance, but it was very frustrating."

After the long fight

Effective April 28, 2004, a new rule was instated by the TCEQ in response to Senate Bill 1633 (SB 1633), which repealed the previous ban. The rule change was due to the tireless efforts by the TWQA and other POU/POE industry professionals.

According to Boerner, the industry compromised on the new rule, which allows regenerant wastes from softeners to be discharged only into the final, or clearwell, pump tank section of an aerobic septic system. Both the Senate Bill and the TCEQ rule are based on the required use of DIR (direct initiated regeneration) units.

Ban complicates life for MI dealers

In Hartland Township , MI , dealers are faced with a different sort of softener discharge ban - this time on discharge of softener waste into the municipal sewage system.

Dealerships like Clearwater Systems (Kinetico), Hartland , MI , admit the ban has caused more complications for the business than actual revenue loss.

"I don't think it's had an adverse economic impact on the business," said Charles Watkins, vice president of operations for Clearwater Systems. "It's simply made it more complicated."

Behind the ban

The softener discharge ban was enacted May 15, 2000 in an effort to lower sodium and chloride levels in the effluent of the area's wastewater treatment plants, which installed grinding systems to take care of their sewer systems. But, the plants had issues with the sodium building up on the grinders.

The ban required that all softeners needed to be discharged into dry wells, unused septic tanks or on open ground.

Restrictions and enforcement have been hit-and-miss across the region according to dealers, although some have received letters threatening fines of up to $500 per day for offenses.

Most customers are simply forced to have drywells constructed to be in compliance, requiring extra money and time to excavate and install the well.

"[The ban] certainly complicates a water treatment dealer's life - the sales people and the installation and service people," Clearwater 's Watkins explained.