New Water Treatment Process From Hungerford & Terry, Inc. Can Reduce Sodium Levels In Drinking Water

A new ion exchange program that promises to reduce sodium in drinking water is in a three-month testing program by Hungerford & Terry, Clayton, NJ.

Many areas of the USA have elevated sodium levels that reach above the 50 mg/L -- the standard for many municipalities and states as the recommended upper limit indicator for sodium in water. This new testing method of ion exchange from H&T is less costly than reverse osmosis, the popular method utilized by many municipalities today. The problem is that in the reverse osmosis system, everything is stripped out of the water in a water blast of about 600 lbs per sq in. through a semi-permeable membrane. The clean water goes to the other side of the membrane. And, the sodium along with the good minerals like calcium and magnesium are also taken out with the sodium from the clean water.

The next step is that the cleaned water must be retreated with the calcium and magnesium that was lost in the process. If this is not done that "cleaned" water will strip the water pipes.

With the cost effective H&T ion exchange process, the water is run through a tank with beads that have charged ions. The ions in the sand like beads attract particles including the sodium and exchange the sodium for hydrogen – instead of stripping the water, it only removes the undesirable impurities. The H&T process of ion exchange was originally used in the power generation industries for boiler feeds and transformed into a technology option for drinking water purification.

The H&T ion exchange testing program is scheduled to conclude in the summer of 2011

SOURCE: Hungerford & Terry, Inc.