Problems build up for many users

Jasper’s water isn’t quite as hard as nails, it only seems that way.

Since the town tapped into new wells last February, the calcium carbonate content has risen to 180 milligrams per litre from 130.

“That’s considered hard – but not exceptional, and it’s not a health concern,” said Ken Quackenbush, Jasper’s manager of environmental services.

“Alberta Environment puts the limit for human consumption at 500 milligrams per litre.”

But at 180 milligrams per litre, calcium carbonate increases scaling – the build-up of hard deposits – in pipes, especially where a large volume of water is used.

The problem is showing up in the cooling unit for the ice plant at the Jasper Activity Centre, restaurant dish- washing and coffee machines and might cause problems for homeowners with on-demand water heaters.

“At the Activity Centre, it’s just a matter of cleaning out the pipes, but we’re looking at other solutions,” he said.

Installing a water softener is one possibility,  “but we’re not at the point where we would treat water for the whole system,” Quakenbush said. 

“We’re also looking at ionizing the water so that the calcium carbonate doesn’t settle out.”