The water supplied by Kiltiernan Group Water Scheme is deemed as hard water and we investigated the capability of us softening the water with our current infrastructure.

Glan Agua responded as follows:

“There is absolutely no problem running the RO (Reverse Osmosis) in Kiltiernan WTP but the Scheme has to realize the following:

  • Water in Kiltiernan is hard but it is not scale forming in the pipes and it is fully compliant with the contract.
  • Running RO will reduce hardness and alkalinity for only 25 – 40 % as this is only a supplementary plant treating up to 40% of flow, so it may not bring any improvement to the end user (reduction of hardness from 380mg/l to circa 250mg/l), as the scaling will be still present when water is heated or cooked.
  • Week of trial is not enough as there is lime in the system it will take a minimum 4 – 6 weeks to see any improvement if any
  • The cost of running of the RO will nearly quadruple the current cost of treatment. We have checked at the commissioning stage, plant run with RO uses approx. 3.0 times more energy than run currently, RO has a waste ration of 40% – so use of RO will mean 2 – 3 hours longer borehole pump operation from the source. RO also requires antiscalant dosing – additional chemical and its cost of using.
  • Use of the RO plant will require additional CRF funding for membrane replacement every 3 – 4 years this is an approximate cost of €20k replacement each time (current setup is that RO is to be used on an emergency basis if elevated NO3 and NO2 is present in the water and there is no membrane replacement required in 20 years of operation).
  • Kiltiernan GWS’s water is one of the best waters in the Galway Bundle No.2. Additional treatment is not justifiable from the drinking water legislation/water safety point of view.

Since this is a substantial cost variation please consider the impact of the treatment cost outlined above and if Scheme Members are willing to try it out, please confirm the instruction to go ahead with this testing and I’ll advise the cost of same.“

The message is quite clear from the perspective that our duty is to provide quality water that is compliant with regulations – “Kiltiernan GWS’s water is one of the best waters in the Galway Bundle No.2. Additional treatment is not justifiable from the drinking water legislation/water safety point of view.”
Also additional treatment may not address the issue of those who require it most while the cost incurred would be quite substantial.
With reference to the document below, the WHO indicates that there are some benefits to hard water.
In conclusion the board of directors have decided not to invest in measures to soften the water, at this point in time.
Water Hardness