Will manufacturers of laundry and automatic-dishwashing detergent soon be required to lower or post the sodium content of their products if they want to do business in California and other drought-stricken states? Perhaps the better question is whether companies should voluntarily lower the salinity levels of their powder detergents, particularly those that value environmentally responsible green stewardship.

Here’s the problem: Drought and climate change are reducing water supplies throughout the Southwest and elsewhere worldwide. The matter has been bubbling for years as states such as California find it ever harder to satisfy the demands of thirsty cities, farmers and endangered fish species, according to a June 26, 2009, report in the Los Angeles Times. Water districts across California are under pressure to “recycle” sewage and runoff that they used to dispose of. “The sanitized wastewater can be used for irrigation, groundwater recharge and even drinking water if the sewage is thoroughly cleaned. But water treatment is expensive.” And sodium and its various complexes known as sodium salts are adding to the burden. Used as fillers, they make up 70 to 80 percent of powder products. This makes it tough for sanitation districts to clean and reuse their wastewater, which is an increasingly crucial source of agricultural irrigation in drought-plagued California.

Two ripe targets are the leading sources of inorganic water pollution in many areas today: powder detergents for laundry and dishwashers and water softeners.

NEW ISSUE SHROUDS LAUNDRY DETERGENTS

California state and local lawmakers are already examining the sodium content of water softeners, and a bill has been introduced (AB 1366) to regulate water softeners out of existence in the Golden State; laundry detergents might be next, especially as activist organizations pick up support from a diverse coalition of groups including golf courses, agriculture, and cities and water districts themselves.

Unfortunately, most laundry- and dishwashing detergent companies have not been forced to consider this issue, but that is changing as activists and state and local leaders work with water districts to supply an increasingly thirsty population with ever-larger amounts of drinking water.

“Preserving usable water is a vital issue to not only families but agriculture,” says consumer advocate Ronnie Cummins, executive director of the Organic Consumers Association, which has begun a study of the environmental and health impacts of laundry detergents. “Laundry detergents are the second-leading source of human-made inorganic nutrient pollution in the United States and other developed countries—and sodium along with phosphates is the primary culprit.

“The problem,” Cummins says, “lies with powdered products, which are larded with salt- based complexes such as sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, and sodium phosphate. Used as fillers for the powder form, they make up 70 to 80 percent of the product.” He points out that liquid laundry detergents have only trace sodium amounts, while green labels such as ECOS from Earth Friendly Products have even less. (These products rely on water instead of sodium salts.)

“The assessment of laundry detergents based upon the sodium concentration is one that has not been addressed by the product manufacturers themselves or the industry regulators or the municipal sewage treatment plant operators,” notes the Australian consulting firm Lanfax Laboratories, which has evaluated hundreds of laundry detergents for their sodium content. The company says, “Many of the products [tested] should be removed from sale as they have the potential to seriously degrade our land environment.”

In the laboratory study, “Fifty-five percent of the front-loading detergents are above the limit of 20 grams of salt per wash, and 68 percent of top-loading detergents exceed this value.” Yet, this limit suggested by the laboratory is what the manufacturers want because they already have it, says an industry insider, adding “Twenty grams will not solve the problem of polluting our limited water supplies."

Because sodium and potassium are both very difficult to remove from wastewater, prevention is better than cure. Maybe it took a water crisis of this proportion, and it’s been a long time coming, but consumers finally are starting to think about the impact that their laundry and automatic dishwashing detergents are having on the environment.