Press Release – Canadian Water Softeners
For immediate release April 10, 2012
Water softener facts website educates homeowners on soft water
Waterloo Region – With the presence of hard water in Grand River Watershed communities, many local households choose to install a water softener.
In an effort to educate residents in choosing the right softener for their home, the Region of Waterloo, in partnership with the City of Guelph, has launched a new website,www.watersoftenerfacts.ca.
The site features the results of independent testing completed by the municipal partners to measure the efficiency of various water softeners in the marketplace, and provides residents with key items they should look for when choosing a softener, including the amount of salt and water consumed by softener type and yearly operating costs.
“Selecting a home water softener can be an onerous task. To best support inquiries received from local residents, the Water Softener Facts website was developed as a consolidated information source on home softener technologies and their operation,” said Wayne Galliher, the City of Guelph’s water conservation project manager. “When a homeowner chooses a softener that uses less salt and water, they are helping to conserve and protect our precious water resources while lowering their household expenses at the same time.”
Steve Gombos, water efficiency manager with the Region of Waterloo, added, “The softener testing we are conducting is unique to Canada and we feel it best informs residents with the proper information required to have their homes running as efficiently as possible.”
Visitors to the website, which will be updated regularly as new test results become available, can also reference water hardness maps of the region and city to learn the water hardness in their neighbourhood to ensure their softener is programmed correctly to increase its efficiency. In addition, the site provides access to a wealth of information about how softeners work, softener technology options, and other topics related to soft water.
The Region and the City supply residents with some of the hardest water in Canada due to the groundwater sources. Studies have found that 72 per cent of households in Waterloo Region have water softeners, accounting for the consumption of 2.7 million cubic metres of regeneration water and 44,000 tonnes of salt each year.
For more information, please contact:
Wayne Galliher, Water Conservation Project Manager, City of Guelph 519-837-5627, x 2106
Steve Gombos, Manager, Water Efficiency, Region of Waterloo, 519-575-4503
