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.”