Marc Lifsher of the LA Times has a fascinating account of how water softening giant Culligan International Co is fighting California state lawmakers' efforts to ban conventional water softeners.
Many consumers use water softeners to remove the magnesium and calcium that give water that "hard" feeling. Getting that silky hair feeling has a side effect: the products load up municipal sewer lines with salt.
That, in turn, makes it harder and more expensive for sanitation districts to clean and reuse their sewage, which is needed for irrigation by California's parched farmlands. Not all water softeners turn sewage lines brackish, however.
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