Softer water is here: Multiyear Greene County effort hits customer taps this fall

“For many years, producing soft water in Greene County was a vision,” said Mark Chandler, Greene County’s Sanitary Engineering Director. “In 2019 ... that vision became a reality.”

Upgrades to the Northwest Regional Water Treatment Plant are part of a multi-year series of projects, called Greene Forward, to reinstitute 20 years of serviceable life to all Greene County’s water facilities and ensure service capacity for the same timeframe.

Reverse osmosis is a water filtration process that uses pressure to force water through a semipermeable membrane to remove contaminants, including calcium, magnesium, and even bacteria and PFAS.

“It’s a very energy-intensive process,” Chandler told the Greene County Commission on Thursday. “One of the reasons we chose this methodology was it helps to protect us from those things that we don’t know that we’re going to have to look for and take care of in the future.”

Fewer minerals in customers’ tap water not only improves the water quality, but increases efficiency of appliances and cleaning products, will likely extend the lifespan of household appliances, and can even improve the taste of your morning coffee, Chandler said.

“For water softening equipment ... the salt consumption will be reduced, you should be able to extend the use cycle periods significantly and you’ll end up with less repairs on your household appliances, dishwashers and such.”

County water customers who have in-house water softeners should consider recalibrating their units to adjust to the changes. Over-softening water can affect plumbing durability, according to the county.

These improvements also include the expansion of treatment capacity from 10.5 million gallons per day to 12 million gallons per day, with a footprint for additional expansion to up to 16 million gallons per day in the future.

Greene County Sanitary Engineering has several other projects in the works as part of Greene Forward. The county is also developing a 57-acre property on Hilltop Road for use as a groundwater-producing wellfield, and is in the middle of replacing the Clifton Water Resource Reclamation Facility, which serves the village of Clifton and surrounding areas, among other projects.