Scale build-up is a well-known source of considerable energy loss, making water heaters and boilers consume more electricity.
INSIDE
n Water hardness
n Alternative water treatment options
n The Forever Chemical
n Rural water treatment
With over 200 voices advocating to federal, provincial, and territorial governing bodies
robust education and certification for water treatment, design, selection, sales, installation, and service Providing networking opportunities through regional meetings and trade shows CWQA provides top-tier certification and training, equipping professionals with essential skills in water treatment, system design, and installation. Stay ahead of industry standards with our recognized programs.
is your trusted partner in water treatment, providing essential resources, certifications, and industry advocacy. Join a community dedicated to improving water quality and advancing industry standards across Canada.
Water quality industry gathers in 2025
The Canadian water quality industry will be gathering for several events over the next 12 months. The 2025 H2O Innovation Summit will be held this year at the Living Water Resort & Spa in Collingwood, Ont. Held from May 28 to 30, the three-day event will include an 18-hole scramble golf tournament, trade show featuring companies within the water quality industry, a welcome reception, new product showcase, and a learning forum.
“Held at the picturesque Blue Mountain, this event combines informative sessions, expert panel discussions, and interactive workshops to provide valuable insights and updates to attendees,” shares the CWQA in a press release. “With a diverse range of expert speakers and industry leaders, this conference offers unparalleled opportunities for networking and collaboration. Join us for an immersive experience tailored specifically for professionals in the water quality field, where knowledge and connection converge within the scenic atmosphere of Blue Mountain.”
To kick off the Canadian Water Quality Association’s events, the organization will be hosting its Groundwater Expo in Truro, Nova Scotia, in collaboration with the Atlantic Water Well Association (AWWA), New Brunswick Ground Water Association (NBGWA), and Nova Scotia Ground Water Association (NSGWA). This event will be held from March 20 to 22. A welcome reception will be held on the first day of the conference. To kick off the second day, education sessions will run from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., which will be followed up by a trade show. To end the conference, the trade show floor will be open while educational sessions pick up again.
The speaker forum includes topics on Business - Rising cost of doing business, Safety - What is required for your company, Succession Planning - Are you wanting to sell your company, is it ready, Water Treatment Valve
Training - programming, servicing, and troubleshooting, Drilling seminar, Pump installation seminar, PFAS removal, and others related to drilling, pumps and treatment. Registration is expected to open by the end of December.
The Plumbing & HVAC team will be hosting two Technical Training Days that will be of interest to the water quality sector. On Feb. 19, the completely virtual Plumbing Systems Technical Training Day will feature education sessions and networking opportunities. On June 4, we will be hosting a water quality specific Technical Training Day. The events start at noon and usually run until 5 p.m.
Early bird tickets for these events are free for the first select number of attendees. Anyone is welcome, so make sure to register.
WATER QUALITY IN RURAL APPLICATIONS
Understanding
the potential impacts of hard water, corrosion, sediment build-up, and other water quality factors allows for proactive steps to the plumbing system.
By Jeff Wahl
Water quality is a principal factor that affects the lifespan and performance of appliances, boilers, ondemand tankless heaters, electric, propane or natural gas heaters, hydronic HVAC systems or any other system in which water is used. Understanding the potential impacts of hard water, corrosion, sediment build-up, and other water quality factors allows for proactive steps to be taken to provide water quality that ensures the installed fixtures, piping, and systems operate efficiently. This prevents frequent maintenance and adds value and cost savings.
A water treatment system extends the life of a home or business’ plumbing, piping, fixtures, and waterusing appliances. Properly treated water will assist with maintaining equipment efficiency and save on energy costs, which are negatively affected by water quality scaling or adhering. This, in turn, prevents flow restrictions and proper heating transference in systems.
When considering water treatment equipment, testing the water for four common parameters is a good practice to identify potential issues such as scaling, discolouration, systems failures, and costly maintenance calls for service. In my experience, this testing practice is not commonly conducted and can have significant impacts in rural areas with no municipal water services.
What is in the water?
Total dissolved solids (TDS) refer to the amount of minerals, metals, organic material, and salts that are dissolved in a certain water volume expressed in mg/L or parts per million (ppm). TDS in water can come from many sources, including natural water springs, runoff from roads, industrial wastewater, agricultural fields, and plumbing distribution systems. TDS is usually comprised of calcium, magnesium, sodium, road salts, potassium, carbonate, bicarbonate, chloride, sulfate, and nitrates.
The second parameter to test for is hardness. This is commonly expressed as milligrams of calcium carbonate equivalent per litre (mg/L). Another common method of measuring water hardness is known as grains per gallon or GPG. Hard water is commonly found in areas that are composed of limestone. Calcium and magnesium are absorbed into the water as it encounters the limestone. Over time, these minerals can accumulate and form a layer of scale inside appliances like dishwashers, washing machines,
"Rural water sources without any regulation, authority, or jurisdiction, have a greater likelihood for the presence of bacteriological, particulate or scaling elements."
and water heaters. Scaling restricts water flow, reduces energy efficiency, and can result in breakdowns and repairs. For more information, please check out the Water Hardness article on page 48.
The third parameter to evaluate for is iron; deposits can accumulate in pressure tanks, water piping and water heaters. If significant amounts are present, they should be drained or flushed regularly to remove the deposits. This is critical in plumbing disinfection systems to prevent the release of iron corrosion by-products.
The fourth parameter to evaluate is pH, which is a measure of how acidic or basic the water is. It is expressed as a number from zero to 14. Neutral water, which is neither acidic nor basic, has a pH of seven. As pH values decrease from seven to zero, the acidity of the water increases similarly, pH values from seven to 14 show increasing basicity. If no water testing is conducted prior to any work starting, how can these four parameters affect HVAC, plumbing and boiler systems?
Know the guidelines
Often overlooked or not considered is that most manufacturers specify hardness requirements for proper operation efficiency and to maintain warranty requirements. To understand water hardness values in greater detail, the commonly accepted value of less than seven GPG is widely used by manufacturers of appliances, heating devices, and some water treatment equipment to ensure proper operation. Installing a properly sized water softener at the entry point of a building reduces hardness levels to acceptable levels, preventing calcification.
Low values of pH less than six will result in corrosion occurring at any place in the water system where water contacts metal. Constant exposure to corrosive water will noticeably shorten the life of household plumbing and installed fixtures, eventually causing pinholes to appear in piping and water heating devices. Raising the pH using specialty media's can prevent future problems with piping and equipment when low values are present in the water.
Levels of TDS (above 500 mg/L), according to Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality, can present an issue for consumers, resulting in excessive scaling in water pipes, water heaters, boilers, and household appliances. Treating high levels of TDS in water can be complex and requires a more detailed approach prior to installing any water treatment equipment.
Iron levels above 0.3 mg/L can accumulate in pressure tanks, water piping, and water heaters. Iron filtration via cartridge or backwashing units can prevent build-up and the requirement to flush tanks and piping. Water testing for these four parameters can identify when the water quality can have an impact on the
Continued on page “43”
A routine water test in a rural well discovered levels of hardness, iron, and dissolved solids, which would have significant impact on the home's plumbing and installed water based equipment. Graphic provided byWahlWater.
The commonly accepted value of less than seven GPG is widely used by manufacturers of appliances, heating devices, and some water treatment equipment to ensure proper operation. Graphic provided byWahlWater.
Educate Your Customers on the Benefits of Chlorine Reduction
Great Tasting, Healthy Water
Drinking lots of water should be at the core of your health routine. Ingesting lots of chlorine and harmful contaminants should not!
Protect Skin & Hair
Protect Plumbing & Appliances
Chlorine quickly destroys rubber seals & gaskets causing costly leaks. Chloramines are corrosive and can cause pin hole leaks in pipes.
Exposure to harsh chlorine and chemicals can damage your skin causing excessive dryness.
Choosing a Solution…
HTO Whole House Water Refiner
t Perfect for municipal hard water markets
t A dedicated tank of catalytic carbon improves contact time for enhanced performance
t High-efficiency upflow water softener for ultimate salt and water savings
t Low maintenance
t Only $0.78 per day* for luxuriously soft, chlorine-free water!
Protect Your Water Softener
Chlorine degrades your softeners polystyrene softening resin shortening its useful life.
Breathe Easy
Clean, healthy air…free from chlorine and volatile organic chemicals (VOC’s). Steam from showers can contaminate the air you breathe.
Whole-House Carbon Filter
t Available with Granular Activated or Catalytic Carbon
t High-quality, certified carbon
t Low maintenance
t Only $0.33 per day* for chlorine free water!
WaterGroup 185DFACF-150
Aqua Flo® High-Flow Whole-House Filter
t Only $0.81 per day* for chlorine-free water!
t Annual maintenance required
The amount of scale collected can affect the overall loss in heat transfer. Graphic provided by Ball-Tech Energy.
Continued from page “41”
installed plumbing, fixtures, and equipment.
Impacts of water quality
By creating a barrier at the bottom of your water heater’s tank, hard water and sediment will significantly decrease the efficiency of your water heater or heat exchanger. This is because your unit will have to work harder and longer to keep your water warm. This leads to an increase in water heating bills and can also mean that water will not be hot enough when required for use in homes and businesses.
The stress that poor water quality places on water heaters, appliances, and piping takes its toll over time. Not only will you need to make more repair calls throughout their lifespan, but they will require replacement due to a failure in a quicker fashion.
Sediment (such as sand, silt, or rust particles) can impede valves, filters, and water lines. This effectively results in restricted water flow and puts unnecessary strain on water-based appliances and equipment, leading to reduced efficiency and potential breakdowns.
Corrosive water can cause the deterioration of internal components, leading to leaks, malfunctioning valves, and premature failure of appliances. Over time, the risk of flooding is elevated due to the degradation of piping, which often starts as pinhole leaks.
Calcification build-up in piping can result in reduced water flow at fixtures and adherence to water heater elements and heat exchangers. When cumulative over extended periods of time, this can result in the failure of the appliance or water device; replacement units are often having to be installed well before the manufacturer’s suggested
life expectancies.
Legionella is a type of bacteria that can cause a serious and potentially life-threatening form of pneumonia. The bacteria is found naturally in water and can grow and multiply in systems such as hot water tanks, cooling towers and large plumbing systems. When these systems are not properly maintained and disinfected, the bacteria can thrive and be spread through the air in the form of small droplets or mist.
Identifying potential risks
Understanding the water source in an application is important to identify the potential risks. Do not assume that because a water supply originates from a regulated source that it does not contain hardness or other contaminants.
Rural water sources without any regulation, authority, or jurisdiction, have a greater likelihood for the presence of bacteriological, particulate or scaling elements. Water testing results can be obtained directly through municipalities and rural water sources should always be sampled prior to the start of any installation of water-based equipment or plumbing work in buildings. Testing can be facilitated with local laboratories, using portable test kits or through water treatment dealerships in your local region.
Jeff Wahl is the owner of Wahl Water with more than 25 years of experience providing water treatment solutions and education for rural water. He is the contributing author for Wahl H2O and a certified installer technician for the Canadian Water Quality Association (CWQA) Jeff can be reached at jeff@wahlwater.com.
The Forever Chemical
Exposure to PFAS can cause potential risks to human health and the environment, and we are only just understanding these chemicals.
By Jason Jackson
Exposure to PFAS, or scientifically known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, can occur from any number of consumer products, outdoor and indoor air, food, or drinking water. This exposure, along with the limits of exposure, is only now being understood as sampling and monitoring are required.
According to Health Canada, new PFAS are continually being developed and reported to the government of Canada. This can cause potential risks to human health and the environment. But like many innovations or technologies, the full understanding and long-term effects are still to be determined.
We know that PFAS can affect a person’s liver, kidney, thyroid, metabolism, immune system, and reproductive systems. Each person will have different levels based off exposure, general health, and their unique individuality.
PFAS can be excreted from the body in several ways. While testing and research is ongoing, what is understood is that it can leave the body through
urine, blood during menstruation, and breast milk. However, for those who have kidney disease, it may be difficult to excrete PFAS in urine as compared to healthy individuals.
PFAS is a group of thousands of synthetic chemicals that are used in industry and consumer products. The most common types are perfluoro octane (PFOS) and perfluoro octanoic acid (PFOA). What we know about PFAS is that it doesn’t breakdown easily and persists for long periods of time. When applied to textiles, it repels dirt, water, and grease. These base properties created products that include non-stick cookware, sunscreens, textiles, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, vehicle components, fire-fighting foams, fire retardants, packaging materials for food, pesticides, and electronics.
It's important to understand that PFAS doesn't breakdown in nature readily and stay in the environment for long periods of time, thus dawning the term forever chemicals.
Recommended treatment
In 2024, Health Canada published the Objective for Canadian Drinking Water Quality – Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances that recommends a treatment-based value for a group of PFAS in Canadian drinking water. This objective sets a goal for a maximum level of contaminants in drinking water while accounting for current treatment technologies and testing
Continued on page “47”
Those working with PFAS need to fully understand the risks, implications, exposure, and requirements of providing the consumer with a system that will remove PFAS consistently.
Photo provided by msu.edu
The Objective for Canadian Drinking Water Quality – Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances sets a goal for a maximum level of contaminants in drinking water while accounting for current treatment technologies and testing methods.
Continued from page “45”
methods.
The objective outlined by Health Canada sets the value at 30 ng/L. This value is the sum of 25 specific PFAS and is to reduce PFAS exposure in drinking water with a test result of “non-detect."
There are various options available when looking at PFAS treatment. Ion exchange resins, high-pressure membranes, and granular activated carbon adsorption can all be effective. These technologies have advantages and disadvantages depending on the composition and concentration of the PFAS substances. The selection of the technology requires an understanding of the source water chemistry and the treated water goals or objectives. Separately selected or configured together, correctly designed and applied, these technologies can be effective municipal drinking water treatment plants, institutions, and point-of-entry or point-of-use for homes.
According to a study published by the U.S. EPA, granular and powdered activated carbon treatment is the most studied treatment for PFAS removal. Adsorption captures PFAS both by physical and chemical processes and accumulates PFAS in the highly porous surface area provided by activated carbon. Carbon is effective in
"Those who are working with PFAS need to fully understand the risks, the implications, exposure and the requirements of providing the consumer a system that will remove these chemicals consistently."
adsorbing long-chain PFOS and PFOA but not as effective with short-chain PFAS like perfluoro butane sulfonate (PFBS).
An alternate treatment option is anion ion exchange resin. Ion exchange resins are made up of highly porous, polystyrenic materials. Positively charged anion resins attract negatively charged PFAS ions. Ion exchange resin removes PFAS through two mechanisms — ion exchange and adsorption. With ion exchange, there is no regeneration of the resin, therefore no contaminant waste stream.
Removing PFAS
High-pressure membranes, such as reverse osmosis and/or nanofiltration are effective at removing PFAS. Applied research has shown that these types of membranes are typically greater than 90 per cent effective at removing a large range of PFAS; this includes short-chain PFAS. Reverse osmosis suits point-of-use type applications. One disadvantage is the waste stream concentrated with PFAS and may require additional considerations.
For residential consumers, any of the discussed treatment technologies can provide a cost-effective point-of-entry or point-of-use option. Points to consider for both the installer and consumer include: Will this be a whole home or one tap installation? What are the costs (installation, maintenance, water consumption, disposal)? What monitoring or testing requirements are needed? How long will the application treat water before service? Is the system NSF or CSA certified? What qualifications will the business selling, installing and eventually servicing need to deal with PFAS?
The water treatment industry has well qualified businesses and individuals, but PFAS is new to many. Those who are working with PFAS need to fully understand the risks, implications, exposure and requirements of providing the consumer with a system that will remove these chemicals consistently.
As PFAS awareness increases and testing for these contaminants increases, consumers and municipalities have real decisions to make. The cost of infrastructure and treatment at a municipal level is one option, but so is the consumer's point of entry or point of use. To clarify, consumers could be anyone, any business, institution and or even a municipality looking for a cost-effective user-based solution.
Jason Jackson, the senior technical sales specialist for Purolite Ontario and Eastern Canada. With over 25 years of experience in the water/wastewater and energy sectors as a business owner, licensed plumber, licensed pump installer mechanic, municipal water system operator, backflow and cross connection specialist, well technician, CWQA master water specialist, fuels technician, and refrigeration plant operator. He can be reached at jason.jackson@ecolab.com.
When it comes to bad smell or taste, the problems homeowners detect can almost always be attributed to chlorine or chloramine.
Municipal Water: Are You Leaving the Job Half Done?
Homeowners tend to decide in-home water treatment based off what they can see, smell, or taste in their water.
By John Cardiff
If you’re installing water softeners to tackle hard water but not talking about whole-home carbon filtration, you’re leaving your customers with unwanted chlorine, chloramines, and disinfectant byproducts in their water.
Homeowners typically decide they need inhome water treatment based on what they see, smell, or taste. The effects of water hardness are easy to see around the home: limescale on plumbing fixtures, cloudy spots on dishes and glassware, dry hair and skin, soap scum in baths and sinks, and dull, stiff laundry. When it comes to bad smell or taste, the problems they detect can almost always be attributed to chlorine or chloramine.
Chlorine and chloramine are used by municipalities as water disinfectants and unless removed by a treatment system in the home, remain in the water. Chlorine has been used by water treatment facilities to kill bacteria, viruses, and harmful organisms in water for more than 100 years. It has almost eliminated waterborne bacteria and disease in water supplies worldwide.
According to Health Canada’s Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality Technical Document – Chlorine (2009), nearly 3,600 Canadian drinking water facilities in 2005 showed that 78 per cent used sodium hypochlorite (bleach) for disinfection, followed by chlorine gas (19 per cent) and calcium hypochlorite (bleach powder) by nearly two per cent of facilities.
More recently, water treatment systems have also started using chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia, as a disinfectant to protect the water from microbiological recontamination or bacterial re-growth during the distribution process. Chloramine provides longer-lasting disinfection as water moves through pipes to consumers.
Potential health risks
Health effects created by water treatment disinfection are generally attributed to the disinfectant byproducts (DBPs) — the reactions between chlorine or chloramine and the organic matter in raw water — more than the chemicals themselves. Two of the most common types of DBPs found in chlorinated drinking water are trihalomethanes (THMs) and halo acetic acids (HAAs). Experts agree that long-term exposure to DBPs in drinking water is a health concern.
Chlorine and chloramine can also have costly and unwanted effects on homes.
Corrosion of pipes and fittings can corrode certain metals, including copper and galvanized steel. Chloramine can cause pinhole leaks in copper pipes, as well as corrode lead and brass components. Chlorinated water can prematurely degrade rubber
seals, gaskets, O-rings and water softener resin. The corrosive properties of these disinfectants can lead to costly repairs or early replacement.
For homeowners who want to remove chlorine and chloramines from their water, the first step is deciding on their filtration goals. Do they want chlorine-free, chloramine-free water throughout their home or just for cooking and drinking?
The benefits of whole home filtration are great tasting, healthy drinking water, protects plumbing and water-using appliances, and no chlorine/ chloramine exposure from showering or bathing.
The best solution
Drinking water or point-of-use filtration systems can be the right solution for homeowners who want a lower upfront investment or want the added security of membrane filtration for their drinking water. These systems can also be simple for the homeowner to maintain if they offer quick-change cartridges.
To remove chlorine or chloramines from water, the contact time required between the incoming treated water and the carbon bed, the home’s water flow rate, as well as the type of carbon are all crucial considerations in choosing the right solution. Granular activated carbon is the most widely used media for chlorine removal and catalytic activated carbon is the most effective for chloramine removal. Choosing a system that is third-party certified to NSF/ANSI 42 is also important.
Whole-home carbon filters are best placed before a water softener to remove chlorine or chloramines. Chlorine levels of about one ppm can cut the life expectancy of water softener resin in half. Some systems offer softening and carbon filtration in a single unit through dedicated carbon and softening resin tanks or as a mixed bed unit. If you’re recommending a mix-bed unit, be sure that the
Continued on page “51”
To ensure performance, the recommended system should be third party certified for chlorine and/or chloramine removal.
carbon bed offers enough contact time to effectively remove the chlorine or chloramines for the wholehome and take the time to understand if the carbon media and softener resin have different required replacement lives. For example, if the carbon needs to be replaced in two years but the softener resin should last 10 years, your customers could end up re-bedding their softener resin far more often than necessary or relying on carbon that is no longer working.
Another consideration is choosing between backwashing and non-backwashing carbon filters. Backwashing filters are more expensive upfront but can handle higher flow rates than non-backwashing filters. They also extend the life of the carbon by backwashing, which prevents it from packing. Nonbackwashing filters are well suited to customers looking for upfront affordability.
However, non-backwashing filters tend to have a shorter carbon bed life so the media will need to be replaced more frequently. Smaller, cartridge-based whole-home carbon filters are also available. While they have a lower upfront cost, they have the added cost of frequent cartridge replacements which can result in a higher annual expense for the life of the system.
Warranty and certification differences between all units being considered should always be presented to the customer before purchase.
Drinking water solutions
Customers who have decided that they only want filtered drinking water have three options: reverse osmosis (RO), ultrafiltration (UF), and carbon cartridge filtration.
Reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration both offer the most comprehensive contaminant removal. Reverse osmosis is the best option for homeowners who
Continued from page “49”
are sensitive to chlorine or chloramines (in which case, they will also want a whole-home carbon filter) or who want the best possible removal of contaminants from their drinking water.
Before installing a RO for your customer, be sure they understand that a separate drain line is required. Ultrafiltration offers a very high level of filtration but doesn’t require a dedicated drain line. Again, checking that the system you recommend has third-party certification for chlorine and/or chloramine removal is the only way to ensure that the system will deliver on its claims.
When recommending a cartridge-style pointof-use filter, be sure that the carbon media matches the chemical (chlorine versus chloramines), that it’s properly sized for the flow rate (the contact time is sufficient for chlorine and chloramine removal), and that the homeowner understands how often the cartridge(s) will need to be replaced. While these systems are the most economical upfront, their annual maintenance costs can add up for homeowners.
What to recommend?
That answer goes back to the homeowner’s goals and the water composition. Whole-home systems are great solutions for homeowners who want the benefits of chlorine-free or chloramine-free water throughout their home, who have chlorine or chloramine sensitivities, who don’t want the hassle of annual maintenance, or who consider the
lifelong cost of the filter more important than the upfront cost.
Homeowners who are primarily concerned about ingesting high-quality water or who are looking for an affordable way to remove chlorine or chloramines from their water will be most interested in point-of-use filtration like RO, UF or cartridge systems.
Helping your customers find the right carbon filtration system for their home will build your reputation as a water expert and help your customers feel good about the water they use every day.
John Cardiff , has been in the water treatment industry for 42 years, starting with Water Conditioning Canada ltd., now known as Canature WaterGroup (CWG). He is the executive vice president of sales and business development for North America. John can be reached at john.cardiff@ canaturewg.com.
Non-backwashing carbon filters are very affordable but have a shorter media life than regenerating filters.
Alternative Forms of Water Treatment
Neglecting scale control is never a good option because eventually the cost of repairs or replacements will offset any initial savings.
By Benjamin Irwin
Water softeners, reverse osmosis (RO) and ultra-violet (UV) systems are normally considered part of traditional water treatment options. However, nontraditional, or alternative technologies, have made their way into mainstream markets due to the benefits they offer, especially with energy, resource, and costefficiency.
Ultrafiltration, or UF, is a relatively recent water filtration process that falls somewhere between reverse osmosis and micro filtration in the filtration spectrum. UF capably removes fine sand/particles, viruses, and bacteria. For reference, reverse osmosis will filter sand, viruses, bacteria, but also ions and proteins down to 0.0001 um.
UF came along in the 1970s as a pretreatment for high purity water
applications in microprocessor and semiconductor manufacturing, then moved on to seawater pretreatment for large RO systems. UF has come into its own in the last decade or so with stand-alone, point-of-entry and point-of-use undercounter drinking systems. The advantage of using UF for residential applications is the relatively low rinse line requirement for point-of-entry whole house systems, and the zero discharge for the point-of-use drinking water systems, which use an accumulative UF membrane that is replaced annually.
Scale control alternatives
For many years, ion exchange water softeners were the only proven method for residential scale protection. These can be identified by the classic brine tank and salt bags required to perform the ion exchange on the media. The systems also require a backwash cycle — using a significant amount of water, and with a high concentration of salt in the discharge (over time becoming a real burden, and source of contamination, for septic systems) — to bring the media back to a point where it can, once again, effectively remove calcium and magnesium.
Homeowners, property managers, chief engineers, and facility maintenance personnel all face the same challenge in battling the ill-effects of hard water. Neglecting scale control is never a good option because eventually the cost of repairs or replacements will offset the initial savings.
The accumulation of scale is well documented as a source of considerable energy loss, making water heaters and boilers use more electricity, natural gas or other fuel to create the same energy/thermal transfer to achieve setpoint temperatures.
Water softeners, however, present their own set of challenges. They require electricity to operate. They take up precious space in already cramped mechanical rooms. They demand, and then waste, hundreds of gallons of water to drain during
backwash and regeneration cycles. And they require regenerants like salt or an even more expensive alternative (potassium chloride) to maintain performance.
Even in the best of circumstances, when a water softening system is performing as it should, achieving clean, improved water bears considerable cost coming in, and then must also be paid for as it makes its way into the waste treatment stream.
Recently, though, chloride discharge from softener brine has been rejected by municipalities that refuse to accept chlorides in their waste stream. This now represents a new waste stream for facilities in impacted areas; no doubt, those facilities will need an alternative.
Negative effects
Physical water treatment (PWT) technologies work by changing the physical characteristics of the solution being treated, though with little or no change in the solution’s chemical composition. PWT is chiefly used to reduce the negative effects of water hardness in plumbing systems, appliances, valves, and equipment (boilers, water heaters, dishwashers, automotive, and process wash equipment) and other components that generate or use heated water.
The vast majority of PWT devices work to promote hardness crystallization (mostly CaCO3) in the bulk solution, so it’s not possible to scale on downstream surfaces.
Media is subject to water chemistry limitations like other resins, such as chlorine, iron, manganese, phosphates, tannins, and pH.
It’s important to stay up to date on the latest training to ensure the whole building water treatment system is performing at anticipated levels.
Media assisted crystallization (MAC) is technology that influences the water solution at localized sites (on the media surface) such that hardness ions and their counter-ions (bicarbonate) combine to form inert nanometer-size seed crystals. Called nucleation, this is where dissolved molecules or ions dispersed throughout a solution start to gather to create clusters in the sub-micron size range. When the remaining dissolved ions reach their solubility shift, they attach to the seed crystals and continue harmlessly downstream, eventually being consumed or end up to drain.
Continued on page “55”
Media assisted crystallization is technology that influences the water solution at localized sites such that hardness ions and their counter-ions (bicarbonate) combine to form inert nanometer-size seed crystals.
Continued from page “53”
While closed loop boiler systems technically don’t qualify as MAC applications because there is no flow-to-drain, systems that incorporate a bottom blow down with scheduled daily discharges have been successful in controlling scale, while reducing or eliminating chemical additives.
MAC media is used in an up-flow design, which eliminates the issue of low flow channeling or high flow pressure drops. The pressure drop (as measured at peak flow rate) is less than four psi. The media is subject to water chemistry limitations like other resins, such as chlorine, iron, manganese, phosphates, tannins, and pH.
The effective life of the MAC media is three years and is dependent on neither the volume of water or the hardness level.
Physical water treatment
Electrically induced precipitation (EIP) is a physical water treatment process that uses an electric field to precipitate dissolved scale forming particles in the water. Precipitate forms on an electrode that must be cleaned periodically. The device in one noteworthy study required cleaning after treating 3,000 litres (800 gallons) of water and reduced scale formation by approximately 50 per cent.
Magnetic water treatment (MWT) is a physical treatment in which the water is subjected to a magnetic field to alter calcium carbonate adhesion properties. Most devices use a series of wires wrapped around a pipe, and a voltage transformer controls the current through the pipe. By controlling the
current, the magnetic field induced by the current can be reversed, causing cations to move to the center of the pipe and anions to the wall of the pipe. MWT also achieved an approximate scale reduction of 50 per cent (so, results similar to those with EIP were achieved).
Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a commercial electro-chemical water treatment process in which ions in the water adsorb to charged electrodes with a high surface area, effectively removing them from the water stream. A few different designs of CDI devices have been developed which all include a forward flow adsorption/regeneration process and a periodic backward flow cleaning and recharging process. Due to the high upfront capital investment and relatively high energy requirement, CDI is currently only viable as a commercial physical water treatment option.
Benjamin Irwin is the technical sales director for Watts Water Quality at Watts Water Technologies. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri-Rolla in mechanical engineering and a master of business administration from Valparaiso University School of Business. He has worked in water treatment and chemical sales for over a decade supporting food plants, data centers, and manufacturing sites across North America. He can be reached by e-mail at benjamin.irwin@wattswater.com.
WATER TREATMENT EXPERTS
Have you noticed some staining or scale build-up appearing on your bathroom fixtures? Is your tap water cloudy? Do you have a cottage or rural property and wonder if the water is safe for drinking? Did you know that 85% of Canadian households have hard water?
A residential water treatment system can solve all these problems, and more:
•reduce hardness, turbidity, colours, taste and odour in water
•create potable water that is safe for drinking
•reduce chemicals used in municipal water treatment
At Water Depot we have been providing water treatment solutions since 1989. Our line of water treatment equipment includes:
