Brooklyn Park Touts Water Quality, Helps Residents With Softening
Residents of Brooklyn Park can take comfort in knowing the city consistently meets rigorous standards for safe and clean drinking water.
Brooklyn Park gets its water from underground aquifers that travel to the water treatment plant where iron and manganese are removed before being distributed to households.
“The city is in constant communication with the Department of Health on changing regulations. We send all of our water samples out for testing to meet their standards,” said Dan Ruiz, Operations and Maintenance Director, Brooklyn Park. “It meets all EPA and Department of Health drinking water standards, however, it is high in hardness.”
Ruiz encourages the use of home water softeners to improve water quality.
Water Softeners Aid in Appliance Life Span
“Hard water is a little tougher on your appliances. It can create corrosion and if you don’t treat for hard water, you don’t get as long a life in your water heater, your washing machine and your dishwasher,” stated Ruiz.
Approximately 40 percent of Brooklyn Park residents have home water softeners, but newcomers to the city may be unfamiliar with them.
“It’s really important that if you have a water softener you fill it with salt pellets as needed and or push the bypass button so that water does not go into the water softener,” said Ruiz. “If not, it could become a Petri dish of crud.”
The cost of a new water softener ranges from $200 to $600.
Brooklyn Park currently has a program where residents can receive a $100 rebate for purchasing a new, on-demand water softener.
Ruiz also highlights the city’s proactive stance in addressing emerging concerns like per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals [PFAS], which have gained national attention due to contamination issues in other regions.
“Brooklyn Park is already testing for PFAS and all of the water leaving our treatment plant meets the proposed EPA standards which is maintaining a standard of four parts per trillion,” he said.
Ruiz also shed some light on seasonal water usage patterns in Brooklyn Park.
“In the winter, the average water use is about 6.5 million gallons. In the summer during lawn irrigation season, it can soar to over 21 million gallons,” he said.
Brooklyn Park and other cities issue water restrictions due to drought conditions.
To manage this peak demand, Brooklyn Park employs odd-even water restrictions, encouraging residents to use water efficiently and responsibly.
Ruiz says that Brooklyn Park is also committed to assisting residents with any questions or concerns.
“If you have any water-related questions or issues at your house, we’re here to help. Give the city a call at 763-493-8007,” he said.
More information about the city’s water and rebate program can be found on the city’s website.
