Water softeners use salt to remove the contaminants they have filtered. (Photo by Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
A northwest Iowa town plans to spend up to $10 million to enhance its drinking water treatment so that residents will cease their use of water softeners.
Those in-home treatment systems — which are often used to remove minerals in groundwater — are believed to be a prominent source of chloride that Emmetsburg’s wastewater treatment plant is discharging into a nearby creek at levels that are too high.
“In Emmetsburg, almost everyone has a water softener in their home,” said Kimberly Kibbie, the city administrator of Emmetsburg.
Water softeners continuously filter the drinking water that passes through them, and periodically they use a salt brine to clean the filter material. The brine flushes down a drain and, in Emmetsburg, eventually goes into a creek that flows into the Des Moines River.
High chloride concentrations in streams have the potential to kill fish and other organisms.
The Department of Natural Resources amended Emmetsburg’s wastewater discharge permit in 2010 to include new limits for chloride, and it first issued the city a notice of violation for exceeding chloride limits in 2014, according to DNR documents. The city was fined $4,750 in 2016 for repeatedly exceeding the limits and was ordered to find a solution to the problem.
But an affordable solution has been elusive, Kibbie said. The city considered diluting the treated wastewater with water from a quarry or from new wells.
“None of those were either economically feasible or didn’t get us to the correct outcome,” she said. “The only item we have left is reverse osmosis. That allows our customers not to have to use water softeners if they don’t wish to.”
Reverse osmosis systems remove contaminants from water by forcing it through a semipermeable membrane and other filters. They can make saltwater drinkable.
Such systems are uncommon among municipal drinking water supplies in Iowa, but Des Moines Water Works, for example, uses the technology at one of its three treatment plants.
Emmetsburg recently announced it has increased its water rates by 20% to help pay for the new system, which is expected to cost between $8 million and $10 million. A typical household will pay about $5 more per month, the city said.
The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2026 — a deadline imposed by the DNR.
“We’ll probably have to do some incentives to try to get people to not use water softeners or to use the on-demand-based water softeners so they’re not putting more salt into our system than is necessary,” Kibbie said.
The city is also planning a major overhaul of its aging wastewater treatment plant to reduce the amount of nutrients it expels — namely nitrate and phosphorus — along with copper, for which it has often violated DNR limits.
That project is expected to cost about $30 million, and the city also increased its sewer rates to help pay for it. A typical household will pay about $20 more per month, the city said.
Kibbie hopes to offset some of the expense for the projects with grants or other public funding.
“You’re talking $40 million for a community of our size,” she said. “That is a lot to take on.”
Emmetsburg has about 3,700 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
by Jared Strong, Iowa Capital Dispatch August 23, 2022
by Jared Strong, Iowa Capital Dispatch August 23, 2022
A northwest Iowa town plans to spend up to $10 million to enhance its drinking water treatment so that residents will cease their use of water softeners.
Those in-home treatment systems — which are often used to remove minerals in groundwater — are believed to be a prominent source of chloride that Emmetsburg’s wastewater treatment plant is discharging into a nearby creek at levels that are too high.
“In Emmetsburg, almost everyone has a water softener in their home,” said Kimberly Kibbie, the city administrator of Emmetsburg.
Water softeners continuously filter the drinking water that passes through them, and periodically they use a salt brine to clean the filter material. The brine flushes down a drain and, in Emmetsburg, eventually goes into a creek that flows into the Des Moines River.
High chloride concentrations in streams have the potential to kill fish and other organisms.
The Department of Natural Resources amended Emmetsburg’s wastewater discharge permit in 2010 to include new limits for chloride, and it first issued the city a notice of violation for exceeding chloride limits in 2014, according to DNR documents. The city was fined $4,750 in 2016 for repeatedly exceeding the limits and was ordered to find a solution to the problem.
But an affordable solution has been elusive, Kibbie said. The city considered diluting the treated wastewater with water from a quarry or from new wells.
“None of those were either economically feasible or didn’t get us to the correct outcome,” she said. “The only item we have left is reverse osmosis. That allows our customers not to have to use water softeners if they don’t wish to.”
Reverse osmosis systems remove contaminants from water by forcing it through a semipermeable membrane and other filters. They can make saltwater drinkable.
Such systems are uncommon among municipal drinking water supplies in Iowa, but Des Moines Water Works, for example, uses the technology at one of its three treatment plants.
Emmetsburg recently announced it has increased its water rates by 20% to help pay for the new system, which is expected to cost between $8 million and $10 million. A typical household will pay about $5 more per month, the city said.
The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2026 — a deadline imposed by the DNR.
“We’ll probably have to do some incentives to try to get people to not use water softeners or to use the on-demand-based water softeners so they’re not putting more salt into our system than is necessary,” Kibbie said.
The city is also planning a major overhaul of its aging wastewater treatment plant to reduce the amount of nutrients it expels — namely nitrate and phosphorus — along with copper, for which it has often violated DNR limits.
That project is expected to cost about $30 million, and the city also increased its sewer rates to help pay for it. A typical household will pay about $20 more per month, the city said.
Kibbie hopes to offset some of the expense for the projects with grants or other public funding.
“You’re talking $40 million for a community of our size,” she said. “That is a lot to take on.”
Emmetsburg has about 3,700 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.
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Senior reporter Jared Strong has written about Iowans and the important issues that affect them for more than 15 years, previously for the Carroll Times Herald and the Des Moines Register. His investigative work exposing police misconduct has notched several state and national awards. He is a longtime trustee of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, which fights for open records and open government. He is a lifelong Iowan and has lived mostly in rural western parts of the state.
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Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site.