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July 11, 2010· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

VWC: Soften this water!

By NickelDime — John B.

For months, I’ve sat on the sidelines and dutifully paid $50 per month to Culligan for the exchange tank service that softens our water.

This week on my ‘staycation’ I happened to see the Culligan truck visit more than 2/3 of the homes on our street.  The serviceman quickly exchanged new tanks for old, left our community presumably on his way to Sylmar to process our excess calcium.

Each truck carries a only few dozen of these tanks, and each home on our block has 2-3 tanks apiece.  How many trucks do Rayne and Culligan have servicing SCV households? How many trips do these trucks take up and down the hill?  How much are we shelling out to these exchange tank companies?

And for those who aren’t writing $50 checks every month, rest assured, you’re paying extra for the privilege of hard water.  It’s murder on your pipes, sprinklers, fixtures, appliances and just about anything that has the ultra-hard water passing through it.  Some SCVTalk readers have shared horror stories of hastened replacement schedules for everything from regulators to dishwashers.  Ultra-hard water is an expensive nuisance, and we pay one way or another.

Valencia Water Company has at least done something about the hard water problem.  In late 2008, they released a salt-free system that could one day be scaled (no pun intended) to all SCV residents — not just VWC customers.  It was big news in the water tech world.

400 residents of the community near Copper Hill Drive and Decoro have had the pre-softened water for nearly two years.  I’ve heard mostly-positive reviews on the water treated by the system, ranging from “great” to “still needs some softening.”  Cancelling out the anecdotal outliers, I’d bet the results put the pre-softened water in line with what we’d get from most other utilities.

So, where’s ours?

In April, Michael Alvord of VWC spoke with The Signal’s Jim Walker and provided an answer:

“We figured that if we expanded the treatment plants to serve all of our customers, it would increase the average bill $5 to $6 a month,” Alvord said.

Considering the troubled economic times, this didn’t seem like a good idea. “We’re sort of in a holding pattern,” he said.

Right.

So instead of paying $50 a month (or some equivalent in replacing hard-water damaged fixtures), we could be paying $5-$6 a month?  But in these economic times, why would we want to save money?

HEY VWC, SOFTEN THIS WATER!

Comments (16)

  1. CoastalSageJuly 11, 2010 at 10:40 am
    As you know, about half of Valencia Water Company’s water is State Water Project water purchased from Castaic Lake Water Agency (CLWA). In or about 2002, Dan Masnada, General Manager of CLWA told me, to my face, that pre-softening water for the benefit of CLWA’s ultimate consumers was an unnecessary service and boondoggle. He wanted to spend CLWA’s available cash for other purposes, primarily building infrastructure (at public expense) to service new developments all over Santa Clarita and to buy additional water supplies to make sure future developments would have water. Remember than Dan Masnada is a former employee of Valencia Water Company, which is owned by Newhall Land. The short and sweet of things is that until real “consumer advocates” are elected to the Board of Directors of CLWA, you will be stuck with crappy, salty water and the cost of softening (and it destroying your plumbing) will fall on you. The voters and taxpayers of Santa Clarita are stupid, lazy sheep in the minds of those running (and owned by) Santa Clarita’s development community. Nothing is going to change without a major “Voter Revolt”. If you are angry about the quality of your water, and angry about being taxed to remove chlorides and pay for fancy desalination infrastructure to benefit Newhall Ranch and the strawberry farmers, run for the Board of Directors of CLWA. They have directorships which will be contested this Fall. Also, a massive letter writing campaign, complaining to the California Public Utilities Commission about the quality of water served by Valencia Water Company (which is owned by Newhall Land) would also serve as an irritant to Valencia Water Company’s management. A letter writing campaign won’t accomplish much, because the PUC is so worried about the Santa Clarita Valley running out of potable water, they are not very focused on the quality of the water. The PUC’s address is: Michael R. Peevey, President California Public Utilities Commission San Francisco Office (Headquarters) 505 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102 By and large, most public interest groups in California consider the PUC to be more worried about serving private water company owners and the real estate development community than the public, but it doesn’t hurt to try. By the way, here are the names of the PUC Commissioners: http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/aboutus/Commissioners/
  2. spineflower2July 11, 2010 at 11:27 am
    Amen to the Good Old Water Boys network gettin’ the boot this fall! It’s the only way things will change. Vote for the incumbents and you lose the moral right to complain about your water or sewer bills!
  3. Kevin D. KorenthalJuly 11, 2010 at 11:36 am
    Not to use this blog post for political purposes, but expanding (and improving if possible) this project to all of the retailers will be one of my top priorities if I am elected to Castaic Lake Water Agency. http://www.korenthal.com .
  4. TimBen BoydstonJuly 11, 2010 at 11:50 am
    Go Kevin Go.
  5. Pauline HarteJuly 11, 2010 at 12:55 pm
    Wow, super explanation of the water-softening issue, Jeff. GO KEVIN !!
  6. drive66July 11, 2010 at 6:56 pm
    50 bucks! My Culligan bill is 67 bucks plus a 2.95 delivery fee. I’m being robbed!
  7. drive66July 12, 2010 at 10:43 am
    We have 2 tanks swapped out twice a month. I think that’s the discrepancy. Culligan told us once a month wasn’t enough because the water is so hard. How is yours with once a month, if you don’t mind me asking. 20 bucks is 20 bucks! Thanks for the info!
  8. cashJuly 12, 2010 at 1:50 pm
    Double up on the showers, it saves on softening usage and it’s fun too! Culligan tried to sell me two tanks and I declined. One works fine in my home.
  9. BrianJuly 11, 2010 at 7:12 pm
    So much to treat perfectly fine water! Time to sue!
  10. Jim FarleyJuly 12, 2010 at 6:35 am
    The water hardness has gone up in the last couple of months. The two Culligan tanks we get that used to last a month are now out in two weeks. I confirmed through Valencia Water that the hardness has indeed increased. So now we are faced with doubling our water softening cost or accepting ruined dishes. Is anyone else noticing a big change since about May? One way to help the deposits in the dishwasher is to run a rinse with about 1/2 cup vinegar after the regular wash is done. I think I’ll invest in more vinegar rather than doubling my tank consumption.
  11. drive66July 12, 2010 at 10:45 am
    The Culligan man said they are pulling more water from under ground and that causes the water to have more minerals and to be harder, so we opted for the twice a month scenario.
  12. cashJuly 12, 2010 at 1:51 pm
    Jim, use paper plates and don’t was them! Ha!
  13. Kevin D. KorenthalJuly 12, 2010 at 1:14 pm
    One thing that most people don’t realize is that water hardness increases in the cooler months because the agency is requesting less State Water Project Water because ground water levels are meeting the demand. As we go through the summer, harness levels will reduce for everyone who is not situated very close to one of the 11 groundwater pumps located throughout the valley. Those people get almost 100% ground water year-round and groundwater is where most of the hardness comes from.
  14. Kevin D. KorenthalJuly 12, 2010 at 1:16 pm
    The solution of course is to employ the Valencia Water softening technology at every one of the groundwater pumps and that is what I will push for if elected in November. And I cannot do that without your help. Please go to http://www,korenthal.com to contribute to and endorse my campaign.
  15. mikeJuly 12, 2010 at 2:40 pm
    I applaud your study on the issue, Kevin.
  16. Tim MyersJuly 13, 2010 at 2:38 pm
    Kevin: Those stains on my mail in ballot when I vote for you are my tears realizing that you will probably fall to the evil incumbent.

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