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Alabama Town Installs Eco-friendly Water Quality Improvements

  • By Christina Miralla
  • Nov 08, 2011

Hard water hasn’t been medically tied to health issues, but its high mineral contents can lead to serious infrastructure breakdowns. However, one Alabama town aims to alleviate its water hardness once and for all.

The small town of Harpersville located in Shelby County, Ala., has a growing population of 1,620, according to the most recent Census data. Its well water system has a hardness rate of between 16 to 18 grains per gallon (gpg) – the U.S. Geographic Survey (USGS) classifies very hard water at 10.5 gpg. Harpersville water surpasses USGS water hardness specifications as it contains high levels of calcium and magnesium.

Hard water concentration effects can lead to lime scale corrosion on pipes, boilers, heat exchangers and water-fed equipment, such as kettles and washing machines, which result in poor water flow and the early renewal of capital equipment – along with additional use of chlorine in an effort to numb the effects.

Harpersville businesses and residents needed to remedy the calcification-causing water.

Water solution company, Water Processing and Well Supply, has been in the Alabama water industry for over 40 years. They approached the Mayor of Harpersville with a suggestion for a new water filtration system that would help alleviate the town’s hard water problems.

Following a site survey, Water Processing and Well Supply installed an industrial Scalewatcher system onto a 6-inch pipe leading from the town’s well supply.

The computerized, electronic water conditioner is environmentally friendly and provides a permanent solution to hard water problems without the need of chemicals, salt or maintenance. It works by producing a varying electronically applied force field, induced by a coil wrapped around the outside of the pipe work, which keeps the minerals in suspension, thus, prevents lime scale forming. The water’s increased solubility dissolves existing lime scale which is gradually flushed away.

No scientific evidence reveals Scalewatcher's effectiveness, but some Harpersville residents have noticed a difference.

“We did not advise or inform the public that we had installed Scalewatcher,” said Mayor of Harpersville Theoangelo Perkins. “However, within weeks customers started commenting about the water saying that it was not as hard and tasted better.”

Within two weeks of the industrial Scalewatcher system installation, local residents were contacting the Harpersville Water Board to comment about the water quality improvement.

The EPA has a complex method of measuring watershed quality using 15 indicators. According to the latest 100 point water scale, Harpersville scores an 80 – the higher the better. As the town continues to invest in water conditioning, the national water quality score will climb, and this is something Mayor Perkins already has planned for Harpersville.

“We are pleased with the Scalewatcher results and the services of Water Processing and Well Supply”, said Mayor Perkins. “We plan to install two further units when funds become available.”

About the Author

Christina Miralla is the associate content editor for 1105 Media, Inc. She can be reached at cmiralla@1105media.com.

Comments

Thu, Dec 20, 2012 John March Toronto, Canada

We have been a Scalewatcher Distributor for 18 years and have installed hundreds of systems. From domestic units to pulp and paper. The issue most of the time is putting the Scalewatcher technology in the hands of people who who do not understand how it works or where it can be installed and should not be installed. Our failure rate on applications after we have the information on the process is less than 5%. If you want to read the technical literature have a look at Faraday's Law it has been around a long time.

Wed, Jan 11, 2012 Kirk Slater Wanganui, New Zealand

Gidday readers, I'm a plumber in a place called Wanganui in New Zealand. I am familiar with this type of technology and have installed a unit on a boiler system to try to control the calcium build up within the tube bundle. (small commercial unit operating at 65 degrees Celsius) Unfortunately it did not work and ended up replacing the tube bundle and installing a water softener. (ion exchange type). On questioning the supplier after the failure, he suggested that other electrical devices like pumps etc, may have had an adverse effect on the field set up by the coil applied to the outside of the pipe approximately 1 metre from the equipment that it was meant to treat.(water supply to). While this technology is meant to prevent the scaling effect of the water I have my doubts and when the water leaves the pipework via a tap (you guys call it a faucet) it will revert back to hard water again. Also any water that is stored in a tank, will need an additional unit fitted to the outlet of the tank to retreat the water. Finally the only true ways to eliminate hard water is to either distill or soften the water by the ion exchange method. The latter is the most proven method and has been around since Adam was a boy. How hard is water? In my town Wanganui the hardness varies between 180 ppm to 250 ppm. Yes I do have an ion exchange water softener Cheers..

Tue, Nov 29, 2011

I read the article and have done my research in the past about this technology; not necessarily Scalewatcher", but the technology. I too have been in the water treatment industry (as a municipality) for over 25 years and I know that this technology does work. I used a scaled-down version of the technology on my home and the water went from 17 grains down to 9 grains. I haven't used the water softener for over 3 years now and with the water tasting better, I haven't used my R.O. unit for about 22 months. Nay sayers or otherwise... the proof is in the pudding. I am not ready to spend the municipalities funds for a wide base remedy; not because I don't want to, but moreso because of small-town politics. But I continue to watch this particular industry and report to those politicians that; as I, want to know.

Sat, Nov 26, 2011 Chuck NM

500 years have past since Columbus "proved" the earth was not flat, yet there are still people who believe it is flat (Flat Earth Society). And others who say man never really went to the moon! Wonder why San Antonio Housing Authority invest thousands of dollars into more Scalewatcher equipment, AFTER trying one unit. Why did Arizona State University came out in April and state, "with scale reductions of over 90%" after extensive testing. There is not enough room here to list the positive observations I have personally seen with my Scalewatcher unit handling our water (50+ US grains hardness). Keep your heads in the sand. The world continues to move on without you.

Thu, Nov 10, 2011 Pam McDowell Oxford, Pa.

Amazing, after over 18 years of proof, one application at a time, some minds will never open. I challenge Dan, Josh Miller and the"crock" poster to contact me at Scalewatcher North America.

Wed, Nov 9, 2011

Yes and if you place magnets around your fuel line you can get 100 mpg!! What a crock.

Wed, Nov 9, 2011 Josh Miller San Francisco, CA

"No scientific evidence reveals Scalewatcher's effectiveness, but some Harpersville residents have noticed a difference." Wow -- really?

Wed, Nov 9, 2011 Dan

I can not believe this scam is still occurring. "producing a varying electronically applied force field, induced by a coil wrapped around the outside of the pipe work" This type of gadget has been around for as long as I have been in the water field (over 40 years). It is just flim flam and has no scientific basis and has not proven record of success.

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