Commercial Water Treatment in Hollister, CA
Hollister's water depends on the weather. In a wet year, most of it is soft imported surface water. In a drought year, the city leans harder on local wells, and that groundwater is very hard. A cooling tower or boiler program that works one year can scale up the next. Hydrovida helps Hollister food processors, hospitals and manufacturers stay ahead of those swings.
What you get
- An on-site look at your towers, boilers and water systems
- A written report with what we found
- Savings estimates you can take to your team
Get your free water analysis
No cost, no obligation. We’ll follow up to set up your on-site water analysis.
What's in Hollister's water
Hollister-area water comes from two places. Imported Central Valley Project water travels from San Luis Reservoir through the Pacheco Tunnel and Hollister Conduit to two local treatment plants: Lessalt, which treats up to 2.5 million gallons a day, and West Hills, which opened in 2017 and treats up to 4.5 million. The rest comes from local wells. San Benito County Water District owns West Hills, and the treated water goes to the City of Hollister and Sunnyslope County Water District.
The difference is big. A softening study for the Hollister urban area's water master plan, using 2004 data, found city wells averaging 334 mg/L hardness, compared with about 100 mg/L for Lessalt surface water. Sunnyslope reports that in normal years its blend runs about 150 to 180 ppm, and that hardness rises when drought cuts surface water allocations. The area got a zero allocation in 2022, 100% in 2023 and 75% in 2024. Each swing changes how much scale your equipment sees.
Who we work with in Hollister
Hollister and San Benito County run on food and agriculture: food processing and packing, cold storage, wineries and growers, plus manufacturing, a hospital, schools and a community college site. Food plants run boilers and cooling towers through a long processing season, and hospitals run towers, boilers and closed loops year-round.
How Hydrovida fixes it
We test your water regularly, not just once, because Hollister's blend changes with each year's allocation. Controllers with remote monitoring let blowdown follow real conductivity, and we adjust inhibitor and cycles as the blend shifts. For boilers, we test, service or replace softeners and protect tubes. When towers or heat exchangers are already scaled from a dry year, we clean them and keep them clean. We write and maintain ASHRAE 188 water management plans and run routine Legionella testing.
Our chemistry is made by Hydrovida, with NSF/ANSI/CAN 60 certified chemistry options available.
A note on softeners
Sunnyslope tells residential customers that with mostly surface water they no longer need home softeners, because softener brine makes wastewater limits harder to meet. Industrial boilers and some process equipment still need soft water, so the answer for a plant is a right-sized softener that regenerates on demand, not on a timer. That saves salt and water and sends less brine to the sewer.
What you can expect
Across 120+ facilities, Hydrovida customers average a 30% reduction in water use and $36K a year in savings. Eight in 10 facilities we analyze find savings, and we've never lost a customer because of performance. Start with a free water analysis.
What we do in Hollister
Cooling Towers & HVAC
Run more cycles, buy less water.
Boilers & Steam
Protect tubes and cut fuel.
Water Softening & Pretreatment
Test, tune, service or replace softeners.
Cooling Tower Cleaning
Remove sludge, scale and slime.
Legionella Risk Management
ASHRAE 188 water management plans and testing.
Controllers & Remote Monitoring
Catch problems the day they start.
- 120+
- Facilities served
- $36K
- Average yearly savings per customer
- 30%
- Average water reduction
- 0
- Customers lost to performance
Averages across Hydrovida customers.
Questions
Where does Hollister's water come from?
A blend of imported Central Valley Project water, treated at the Lessalt and West Hills plants, and local groundwater. The mix depends on each year's surface water allocation.
Why does my scaling get worse in dry years?
Local groundwater is much harder than the imported surface water. When allocations drop, more groundwater goes into the blend.
Do I still need a softener?
For boilers and some process equipment, usually yes. We size it and set it to regenerate on demand so it uses less salt and water.
Do you work with food processors?
Yes. We treat boilers, cooling towers, softeners and wash systems, and we plan service around your processing season.
What does a free water analysis include?
We test your makeup and system water, review your treatment, softeners, cycles and water bills, and show where you can save water, energy and chemicals. There is no cost and no obligation, and nothing changes until you agree.