Saline's Water Will Be a Bit Harder This Week

Notice something different about your water, Saline?

One of the two water softeners in the city's water treatment plan was knocked out of commission Saturday night. Bob Scull, superintendent of water and wastewater, said it is believed that a downed power line caused a surge that knocked out one of the plant's two reverse osmosis units that removes minerals from the city's drinking water. The city is in the process of ordering parts for the fix.

Most importantly, there are no health risks associated with the "harder" water, Scull said. In fact, he said, most residents won't even detect a difference in the taste of the water.

"I think the big difference is that, since the water isn't as soft, people might find they need to use more soap to clean. Or, if people are running a water softener, they may want to increase the settings until we have made the repair," Scull said.

Scull said he hopes to have the second unit running by Friday.

The downed softener doesn't impact the plant's capacity and there are no restrictions on usage. Scull said that with summer's high temperatures, the plant is producing 1.8 million gallons of water each day. The plant has a capacity of 3.5 million gallons per day. The city pumps its water from five groundwater wells and uses two water storage towers.