The Water Softener Facts website is a great resource on water softeners. Learn how water softeners work, research the right water softener for you and find the water hardness in your area.
Most drinking water in Waterloo Region comes from groundwater wells. Groundwater is typically considered "hard" water due to the minerals the water picks up while it travels underground. Although it is safe for drinking, the minerals contribute to scale build-up in pipes and appliances. Many residences use water softeners that replace the minerals with salt, resulting in softened water.
Water Softener Plumbing Rebate Program
The Region of Waterloo has launched a pilot rebate program in July 2020 for households to change their water softener plumbing to treat hot water only. We’ll offer a one-time rebate of $50 per household for the plumbing change. The program aims to help to reduce salt from entering local rivers and conserve drinking water.
Visit page 115 of the December 3, 2019 Planning and Works Committee agenda to learn more about the program.
| Learn how you could win a rain barrel |
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To launch the Region’s new Water Softener Plumbing Rebate Program, we’re giving away 25 rain barrels this summer! To be entered in the draw, simply check your hot and cold water hardness at home and send in your results. Here’s how it works: You are now entered to win a rain barrel! The contest closes Aug. 31, 2020. We will randomly draw winners from the list of people who submit their water hardness results in September, 2020. You do not need to switch to softening only your hot water to win the rain barrel – but we hope you will consider making this change to conserve water, shrink your carbon footprint and reduce the salt in our community’s waterways. Please read the contest’s full rules and conditions. |
Step 1: Resident registers for program
- Option A: Resident can register online. The form will ask residents to test their water hardness (using a simple kit sent by the Region's Water Efficiency Team) or by scheduling a WET Home Audit. Residents will submit their water hardness results to complete registration for the program.
- Option B: Resident can register during a WET Home Audit with Reep Green Solutions. During the audit, Reep Green Solutions can provide information about the program and test the home’s water hardness to complete the resident's program registration
Step 2: Region confirms rebate requirements are met
- Option A: Resident can email, submit online or mail plumbing receipts to the Region's Water Efficiency Team to confirm rebate requirements have been met. Images, hardness results and receipts can be uploaded to the online form
- Option B: To check that hot water only is now being softened, your water hardness can be tested as part of a WET Home Audit. If you have not had a WET Home Audit before, residents can schedule an audit to complete the water softener program, and also receive a free review of their home's water use.
Step 3: Region issues rebate to resident
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Resident can email, submit online or mail a void cheque or direct vendor deposit form to the Region's Water Efficiency Team. We will forward payment information to the Finance department
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Region's Finance department issues $50 rebate via direct deposit to resident
Why soften hot water only?
Switching to soften only your home’s hot water will save you money on water and salt. It protects the environment too! Softeners use salt and extra water remove the minerals that make our water “hard.” The more water that’s softened in your house, the more salty water is discharged down the drain. Softeners add 16,000 tonnes of salt to the Region of Waterloo’s waterways each year. This harms plants and animals and can even affect the taste of our drinking water when salt levels get high enough.
We estimate softening hot water only saves a household of three 108 pounds of salt and 8,800 litres of water per year. That’s worth $84 back in your pocket, plus four heavy bags of salt you don’t need to haul around.
It shrinks your carbon footprint too! Softening hot water only reduces a household of three’s greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 48 kilograms per year.
Benefits to the home owner:
• Healthier drinking and irrigation
• Reduced backwash water and salt savings
• Fewer heavy bags of salt to carry!
• Increased life expectancy of water softeners
• Reduced chloride impacts on rivers
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions through salt/water savings
Did You Know?
- There are an estimated 142,000 water softeners in Waterloo Region homes. They consume an estimated 1.5 million litres of backwash water each year
- Commercial facilities, institutions and high-rise apartments do not typically soften cold water
- Water softener backwashing accounts for about 7% of a household’s water use in Waterloo Region
- Water softeners in Waterloo Region contribute an estimated 4,860 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year from water, salt and electricity use
Salt-free water conditioning study results
Between 2017 and 2018, Region of Waterloo and City of Guelph hired Metroline Research Group to complete a market research study that involved installing salt-free water conditioning units in 18 volunteer households. To see how well they performed in real world conditions and how people felt about the units after a year of use, read the study results.
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