What is the best part about the drought being over? Duh, it’s over! But the worst part about the drought being over, is also that it’s over. After more than seven years in an official state of drought, it should be celebrated that California is no longer experiencing a huge lack of water. However, this is also a problem … here’s why:
The Water Problem
When drought restrictions are in place, especially since they’ve been in place starting in 2011, communities and individuals are hyper-aware of how much water they are using, what they are using it on, how much water they’re preserving, and what the quality of all that water is. In essence, everyone is proactive about water conservation.
But, when drought warnings are no longer in place, water conservation quickly fades from the forefront of our brains. We easily forget in our exuberance that even though the drought is over, our responsibilities are not. And this simple act of passiveness contributes to long term consequences.
Look at it this way, roughly 18% of California residents are in At-Risk dry areas; therefore they are more purposeful about their water needs. That’s nearly 6,900,000 people! Keep in mind that number is less than a quarter of California’s total population. Imagine for a minute what it would be like if the entire state took this time of reprieve to continue and further water preservation practices? Now, that would be something to celebrate!
How We Can Help?
California has 154 major reservoirs that can hold approximately 33,000,000 acre-feet of water. That’s an astronomical amount and doesn’t include wastewater treatment plants or groundwater wells. We want to keep all that water safe from water containments. However, many of us are contributing to polluting that water! Say what?
Water softeners dump copious amounts of salt into the sewage system each year, which contaminates our clean water. A typical family water softener is 1 cubic foot and will create 500-1500 pounds of this salt annually. A commercial water softener, which is oftentimes required, is 20-50 cubic feet and many companies have more than one operating. This is why over 50 California communities have regulations in place and why you’re starting to see things like rebates to remove your water softener.
But there is an easy fix! It’s called The Salt Miner. It is a low cost add on or retrofit that can easily be installed; enough that if you’re a DIY person you could do it yourself.
The Salt Miner
The Salt Miner prevents salt discharge at the source. Without getting too technical, The Salt Miner will collect the brine from your water softener and produce a semi-solid sludge that is gathered to then be effortlessly dumped into the trash or even be recycled!
The experts at The Salt Miner are readily available to answer any of your questions about their unique and efficient product and are happy to schedule appointments to help you install your very own Salt Miner today.
In the meantime, remember that there is still much we can do to protect and preserve our precious water sources as we celebrate this long-anticipated end to severe and extreme drought. Remember to #StayVigilant.
