Get to Know the Water Treatment Experts at Culligan of Vincennes

After three years managing grocery stores, Jonathan Lane pivoted to the water treatment business in October 2019 when he became General Manager of Culligan of Vincennes, Indiana. We spoke with Jonathan about local water issues, how Culligan helps solve them, and the highlights of his job.
Culligan of Vincennes serves counties in southwest Indiana and southeast Illinois, and your area has a mix of well water and municipal water. What are some top concerns you come across?
We have high total dissolved solids (TDS) content and so our water has high hardness. Customers see a scale buildup. Also, some people want improved drinking water. They know we provide bottled water, but they don’t always know we provide reverse osmosis systems that can essentially make bottled water quality from their own tap.
With wells, we get several positive tests for bacteria and nitrates when people ask us to check their water. You can’t really taste bacteria, and there’s not an odor, so bacteria can be in your water and you don’t know it. You could be having stomach trouble and blaming food, but it could just be your water. Culligan has a fantastic certified Analytical Lab in Rosemont, IL that can test pretty much anything in water.
How do you treat bacteria in well water?
There are multiple ways, like through an ultraviolet light (UV) or with a chlorination system. If you’re using a UV light, you also need a softener and a pre-filter for it to work the most efficiently. We have too high of a hardness to just install a UV—minerals could get stuck on the glass and cause the light to be less effective.
The chlorination system is like a miniature municipal supply where we’re making your water the exact same as it would be under city conditions. Chlorine is a chemical designed to kill anything that’s not supposed to be there, like bacteria. It also can dissolve iron, and some wells have high iron. You can also use a carbon filter to take the chlorine out of the water before it goes into your home.
What kind of feedback do you hear most often from customers about their Culligan products?
Usually customers who have reverse osmosis water love it. Softener customers tell us they love the feel of the water. Soft water makes your skin feel silky and not dry. Softeners also can prevent damage to appliances, clothes, . For example, whenever you open your dishwasher, it’s going to look like the same color as the day you bought it, and there won’t be white spots or scale build up.
In addition to salt, your branch delivers five-gallon jugs of bottled water that sit on coolers. Why do businesses and residences buy water this way?
Bottled water delivery is great for offices, especially in places where you don’t have access to water, like a factory floor. In homes, you may have someone who rents the house and can’t necessarily have a piece of equipment like a reverse osmosis system, but they can have a cooler that’s freestanding and plugs into a wall outlet. A cooler is also an easy setup for people who have a shop or outside garage area. Some people just don’t want to deal with their city water but also don’t want to purchase equipment either. The coolest thing nowadays is that we have a cooler that stores the bottle in the bottom section, so our customers don’t have to lift that 40 pound bottle onto the top.
What do you like most about your job?
I like the customer interaction, and I like being able to fix people’s water. If somebody has a major problem, I like being able to sell them something that can give them peace of mind to know they can use the water in their house. Our potential customers are the entire community—we do something that can benefit everyone.