Salty water from Santa Clarita residents is endangering the natural environment of the Santa Clara River.

The Santa Clara River flows through Santa Clarita Valley and is the last natural river in Southern California. Water from this river is used by farms for irrigation, and high levels of salt in the water can have a negative impact on these farms.

The Sanitation Districts’ Saugus and Valencia Water Reclamation Plants treat wastewater generated in the Santa Clarita Valley. The treated water leaving the plants that is not directly used for landscape irrigation is sent to the Santa Clara River.

While the water reclamation plants provide a high level of treatment, they do not remove salt (chloride). The concentration of salt in the river is one and a half times the acceptable level established by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Automatic water softeners are said to contribute at least one half of the choride that comes into the treatment plants. While the installation of these water softeners have been banned in the Santa Clarita Valley since 2003, many of these water softeners are still in use today. Salt water pools are also banned, unless they are served by a septic system instead of the public sewer system.

If the effort to reduce the salt content of the water by having residents voluntarily disconnect water softeners fails, then the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District will be forced to install expensive new treatment facilities to remove the salt from the wastewater. It is expected that the sanitation bills for residents will skyrocket to about $500 per year if this happens.

The Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District has initiated a plan to provide rebates to consumers who remove existing water softeners in order to help resolve this problem. The rebate is $100 for the removal of the water softener, and $150 for the removal of the water softener along with replacing it with a qualified alternative unit. Click here for a list of alternative units recommended by the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District.

Do you want your sewer bill to quadruple because your neighbors refused to remove their water softener? Why should you pay for their use of one of these devices?

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