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Why Soft Water? 

 

 

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Prices and Process

 

The price for this service is established based upon your usage requirements.

 

In general

 

1 person will require our SS-45 portable exchange water softener – delivered every 28 days. The price for this service is $39.00 a month plus tax. (1)

 

A two person residence will require our SS-61 portable exchange water softener – delivered every 28 days. The price for this service is $43.00 a month plus tax.

 

Question: Is this service available for more than two people?

 

Answer: Yes, however, we will present to you other rental water treatment options that may be more affordable.

 

Why? Because of the tremendously hard water in the valley; the cost to provide the appropriate portable exchange soft water capacity may exceed your budget for soft water.

 

Therefore, we like to take the Henry Ford approach (2) to all of our service. Our company wishes to provide our services at a price that all people in the Phoenix metro area can afford and enjoy .

 

Detailed information on the Boyett’s Family Rayne Water Conditioning SS-Model Exchange Service Softener

 

Models SS-45, SS-61

 

Application

 

For providing soft water service to the customer on a regular exchange basis. This portable softener can be used in a variety of installations for domestic and commercial applications. It can be installed individually or in groups of two or more – either in series for higher capacity in extreme hardness areas, or parallel for greater flow rate.

 

General Description

 

The SS-Model Softener is compact and portable. It is a down-flow design with no moving parts. The tank is constructed of T-304 stainless steel of low carbon content with heli-arc welded top and bottom and fusion seam-welded shell. The top has three openings: one 1 ½” threaded hole for filling the tanks and two 1” threaded holes in the top of the inlet and outlet tank connectors.

 

The complete SS-Model assembly includes: two 1” tank connectors; two plastic distributors* - one short (inlet), one long (outlet); one outlet distributor seal ring; two distributor springs; two 1”

 

This information was duplicated from the Rayne Corporation 1985, 1988 brochure; form R2007. All rights are reserved.

 

Question: Will each city outlaw salt water softeners

 

Answer: Yes, Michael J. Lacey (Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources) came to an Arizona Water Quality Association (http://www.azwqa.org/) luncheon and said eventually we will not be allowed to put salt into the drain.

 

This is current legislation that has passed the house and is headed to the Arizona State Senate to make law.

 

Arizona State Legislature

 

Fifty – first Legislature

 

Second Regular Session

 

EENR

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 

HB 2117

 

technical correction; dry wells; regulation

 

NOW: performance standards; water softeners

 

Sponsor: Representative Fann

 

X Committee on Energy, Environment and Natural Resources

 

Caucus and COW

 

House Engrossed

 

OVERVIEW

 

HB 2117 makes a technical correction for the regulation of dry wells.

 

Summary of the Proposed Strike-Everything Amendment to HB 2117

 

The proposed strike-everything amendment to HB 2117 provides minimum performance

 

standards for residential water softeners and prohibits time-clock regenerated ion exchange water

 

softeners from and after January 31, 2016.

 

HISTORY

 

Laws 2011, Chapter 201 established the Joint Legislative Study Committee on Water Salinity

 

Issues (Committee) to study issues and problems related to water salinity and water softener

 

usage in the United States, other countries and Arizona. The Committee was required to meet

 

and consider the following issues:

 

Ø The relationship between water salinity issues and possible effects on water conservation,

 

groundwater quality, and the quality impacts on water reclamation facilities, the nature of

 

water, reclaimed water and its use on golf courses and other uses and other potential effects

 

on tourism as they relate to high usage of water softeners in Arizona;

 

Ø The financial impact and necessity of water and wastewater treatment to address salinity

 

levels and the potential costs for treatment methods and facilities; and

 

Ø An examination of sources of excess salinity caused by high water softener usage and

 

possible responses.

 

A water softener is a device that softens hard water by removing certain minerals. An ion

 

exchange water softener uses a cation exchange resin and a brine/salt storage tank to exchange

 

calcium and magnesium ions for sodium ions. After continued use of a water softener, a brine or

 

salt solution is passed through the resin, replacing accumulated calcium and magnesium ions

 

with sodium ions. The waste solution or “regenerant” is composed of calcium, magnesium and

 

excess sodium ions and is released into the wastewater treatment system. A time-clock softener

 

operates with a timer that triggers regeneration when the resin is estimated to be saturated with

 

hardness and by water usage calculations. Based on many calculations, the system usually

 

regenerates at a specific time each day.

 

PROVISIONS

 

• States that the restrictions on, and the performance standards for, residential water softeners

 

apply from and after January 31, 2016.

 

HB 2117

 

Fifty-first Legislature

 

Second Regular Session 2 February 14, 2014

 

• Stipulates that all regenerated ion exchange water softeners installed in this state must be

 

installed to operate at maximum levels of efficiency for their design.

 

• Prohibits the sale or installation of time-clock regenerated ion exchange water softeners.

 

• Specifies that a person may not install an ion exchange water softener in this state that is

 

connected to a water supply that has total dissolved solids of 750 milligrams per liter or less

 

unless the water softener meets the following salinity performance standards:

 

Ø The water softener removes at least 4,000 grains of hardness per pound of salt used; and

 

Ø The water softener uses a maximum of five gallons of water per 1,000 grains of hardness

 

removed.

 

• Clarifies that this section does not prohibit a city, town or county from adopting and

 

enforcing salinity and water efficiency standards for residential ion exchange water softeners

 

that are more restrictive than those prescribed in the Act.

 

Karen Fann

 

(4) update on HB 2117, 03/31/2014

 

Source: http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/51leg/2r/proposed/h.2117kf.d

 

The Arizona Water Quality Association ( http://www.azwqa.org/index.cfm), which is an association my father (W. Brian Boyett) help found in the 1970’s, has been active participants working with local water authorities and the lawmakers to make our industry is more conducive and beneficial to our environment. My father always said, “Someday our Arizona Water Quality Association will be very influential in aiding our industry to benefit our customers” (or something like that).

 

As the AWQA has met with the water powerbrokers in Arizona, there have been many discussions and written words on how to provide soft water for Arizonians. One of the methods that are looked upon favorably is portable exchange water treatment. One of the reasons this is attractive to the water brokers is that the salt is processed in a centralize treatment plant. By processing the salt in bulk we can more effectively aggrandize the salt savings; therefore eliminating waste. Our company is in the process of working with an industry legend and pioneer, Chub Mchaud CWS-VI on a process known as Zero Discharge. The epitome of our approach is to recycle the water and significantly reduce the salt discharge into the sewer. Therefore, the water treatment plants will not have to treat the salt; and the golf courses will water their grass without killing it.

 

Question: why do the water powerbrokers wish to eliminate salt discharge into the sewer?

 

Answer: There are many. Here is a list:

 

-Too much salt in the water will kill the grass on the golf courses. Golf courses bring a lot of revenue into the state of Arizona. Many people live in this state to play golf. Need I say more?

 

-Removing salt from the water takes extra energy and resources. This increases our water bill.

 

-Too much salt in our drinking water is not healthy.

 

Question: What is Boyett’s Family Rayne Water doing to help with this serious problem.

 

Answer: We are providing products to treat your water that do not require salt discharge. Our onus is to have the most efficient and affordable environmentally friendly products in the Phoenix metro area of Maricopa and Pinal counties and the surrounding regions of Arizona.

 

Here is some excerpts from: Strategy for Water Softener Salinity Control and Management

 

Technical Advisory Committee to Report to Joint Legislative Study Committee on Water Salinity Issues. Phoenix, Arizona January 22, 2014

 

Introduction

 

A Technical Advisory Committee (“TAC”) was formed under the guidance of the Joint Legislative Study Committee on Water Salinity Issues (“Committee”) to discuss solutions and develop recommendations for the Committee’s consideration. Consistent with our charge, assumptions and key findings were derived from the Central Arizona Salinity Study (“CASS”) and municipal studies associated with it……

 

Hard water, high salinity, water conservation and reuse, are all issues in the Phoenix metro area. Source waters are high in both hardness and salinity. Salinity affects reuse and treatment costs. Point of use water softening systems provide a solution to hard water problems from the homeowner perspective, but add to salinity in wastewater, degrading the quality of this resource for reuse and recharge.

 

Managing salinity in Central Arizona is a problem that is becoming increasingly worse over time.

 

The CASS concluded that “salinity levels in reclaimed water and groundwater may increase to a point where these water resources will not be suitable for their intended uses. A “salt balance” will be necessary for the long term sustainability of Central Arizona.” Dr. Herman Bouwer estimated in 1998 that 1.6 million tons of salt accompany the Salt and Colorado River water being imported into the Phoenix metropolitan area annually (Bouwer, 1998). Additional salinity accumulates in groundwater and surface waters as a consequence of local human activities. According to Dr. Bouwer, “An equal quantity of salts would have to leave the area to maintain a salt balance.” 3

 

Water conservation and reuse is critical to meeting projected water supply needs

 

Salinity is one of the major factors impacting water reuse in the State and particularly the Phoenix Active Management Area, which comprises the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.

 

Thorough study has shown that self-regenerating water softeners (“SRWS”) contribute varying levels of salinity to the water supply.

 

The CASS and other efforts show that the market penetration of SRWS greatly affects the overall increase of salinity in local water supplies.

 

The CASS estimates that about 26% of the total homes in Phoenix have a SRWS. A study conducted for the City of Phoenix Water Services Department by HDR found that residential, commercial, and industrial water softening activities contribute 8-10% of the total salinity entering the wastewater system at Phoenix’s three wastewater treatment plants (“WWTP”) – Cave Creek Water Reclamation Plant (“CCWRP”), 23rd Avenue WWTP, and 91st Avenue WWTP (Attachment B, page 4). Additionally, there is a significant increase in salinity from “other communities” that contribute wastewater to these same facilities. It is safe to assume that a portion of this increase is from SRWS (Attachment B, page 5).

 

Examination of data from more recently developed portions of Phoenix provides much different results. The CASS shows that 51% of the homes built after 2000 have SRWS (Attachment A, page 6). A majority of homes within the CCWRP service area fall into this post-2000 category, and the CASS quantified that 36% of the salinity increase at the CCWRP comes from residential uses, which includes additions from SRWS.

 

According to the City of Scottsdale, SRWS penetration is 46% across the entire city. Scottsdale estimates that 78% of the total increase in salinity in their wastewater in the north and central portions of the city are derived from their residential customer base, which includes additions from SRWS (Statistics provided directly from Scottsdale).

 

While the previous examples focus on specific municipalities, there is consensus among the TAC members and non-member participant on the general premise of newer home throughout the Phoenix metro area and Arizona having a higher penetration of SRWS.

 

According to a study performed by the Battelle Memorial Institute (Attachment C), water softening provides significant benefits by:

 

Reducing the cost of heating water

 

Increasing the lifespan of water heaters and other household appliances;

 

Enhancing cleaning tasks including laundry, dish washing, and bathroom fixtures while requiring less soaps, detergents, and housekeeping chemicals for cleaning;

 

Reducing the cost and salinity contribution from cleaning agents;

 

Promoting longer useable life of fabrics

 

In this report it was mentioned under the heading of: Alternatives to traditional self-regenerating water softeners:

 

Portable Exchange (PE) water softening provides soft water to homes and businesses without discharging salt to the wastewater stream at the home or business. Exhausted tanks are regenerated at centralized treatment facilities under controlled environments with brine reclaim and reuse, greatly reducing the potential for salt discharge. Further improvements in centralized plant regeneration could result in no salt or water discharge to the sewer system (reference Chubb’s zero D article).

 

Note from Hayden. The attachment references are not included in this text. However, I will be happy to provide them based upon your request. I have included this verbiage for accuracy and points of reference ‘and to be verbatim in my copy ’.

 

Respectfully,

 

Brian Hayden Boyett BS, CWS VI, CI

 

General Manager, Boyett’s Family Rayne Water Conditioning

 

Office: (480) 969-7251

 

Cell: (602) 291-4157

 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

http://www.azh2o.com

 

References:

 

1. Each person has different usage requirements. According to this link: http://water.usgs.gov/edu/qa-home-percapita.html the average person uses between 80-100 gallons of water each day. For our capacity calculations we will utilize 80 gallons of usage. According to this web page: http://phoenix.gov/waterservices/quality/index.html

 

Water hardness is measured by the presence of minerals, such as calcium and magnesium in tap water. These minerals originate from the soils our source water comes into contact with as it travels from and through watersheds to Phoenix’s water treatment plants. These minerals are leached into the water. Hard water can cause some types of scaling in pipes and water heaters, and on plumbing fixtures such as faucets and showerheads. Many people choose to install water softening devices that reduce the hardness in water. While the city cannot make recommendations as to the type or brand of device, we do suggest that those interested in purchasing a water softening system should contact the Arizona Water Quality Association at 480-947-9850.

 

If you already have a water softening system, and it needs to be set based on the "Total Hardness" level [usually indicated by Grains per Gallon or Parts Per Million (ppm)]. The settings for Phoenix tap water are listed below. Due to the size of the Phoenix water system and variations in source water throughout the year, the hardness numbers are reported as a range. So when setting your water softening equipment, it is suggested that the initial setting should be in the middle of that range, then adjust the setting to your preference as needed.

 

The Total Hardness (Range) is 11-17 Grains per gallon.

 

For our calculations we are going to utilize 14 grains per gallon.

 

If one person utilizes 80 gallons of water per day and the average hardness in the Phoenix metro area is 14 – the daily grains required is (80 X 14 = 1,120) ‘total grains of softening capacity needed every day for one person’.

 

1,120 ‘total grains of softening capacity needed every day for one person’ X 30 days in each month = 33,600 ‘total grains of softening capacity needed every month for one person’

 

2. Henry Ford approach: http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/ford.htm

 

3. U.S. Geological Survey, 1998. The potential effects and management of salt accumulation in south-central Arizona, U.S. Department of Interior, Tucson, Arizona

 

4. update on HB 2117, 03/31/2014. this is an e mail I receive from Dave Perry (executive director of the AWQA): HB 2117, the water softener efficiency bill that barley passed out of the House, has died in the Senate. Expect to see it back next year, perhaps with a few twists and turns.