Re: Clean Water and a Healthy Planet

Interesting thing about the chloride levels in discharge... Long before home water softeners became popular, the measurement that was important was the levels of sewage from upstream sources.  In the latter part of the 19th century, analytical techniques were developed for electrical measurements if several ionic species in fresh water.

When several scientists correlated the data they found a strong correlation between the chloride ion concentration and the diluted sewage levels.  Since sewage was considered undesirable, yet more difficult to detect, the chloride level stood in as proxy.

Over the course of decades, and the influence of uninformed legislators the association of Cl- to contamination became less of an issue, and water quality was suddenly tied to the chloride level, not the sewage level.  A clear case of institutional senility.

In the absence of softeners, the correlation still remains valid, but when the boot of Cl- from the brine is added to the effluent, the "sewage warnings" start to glow red; even though the brine is in fact sanitary. 

Now the Calif sited may in fact be suffering from the salt load, but the river sites are probably mistakenly pointing blame, unless *everyone* is softening every gallon... but even then...

Take a look at the situation of seawater infiltrating the Rhode Island shoreline. Many wells have become too salty to drink.