Get to Know Culligan of Napa Valley, California

Culligan of Napa Valley (Calif.) is among the 12 branches that Wasif Asghar manages as regional manager at Culligan by WaterCo. Wasif has worked at Culligan for nine years—eight of which he spent on the commercial and industrial side of the business.

He’s both a Master Water Specialist and Water Treatment Specialist III, which are credentials that reflect his vast knowledge of water problems and how to solve them. We sat down with Wasif to chat about common water issues in Napa and Solano Counties and why he’s devoted so many years to the company.

The area Culligan of Napa Valley serves has a lot of well water. What are some common issues associated with that water source?

Each well is different. Some have very high levels of hardness in the water that need to be removed because the hard water is choking the plumbing and the showerheads. Some have iron that is coloring the toilets red.

There’s also well water that is laden with high mineral content, so it’s always a challenge to treat iron, manganese, and arsenic in that belt. Fortunately Culligan has great equipment that can take care of these. We have arsenic filters as well as our Total Defense Cartridge that addresses all three together.

What is the municipal water like in the two counties?

Most of the time the problem is chlorine. It keeps your pipes disinfected and keeps the water clean from bacteria. The problem is nobody likes the taste of chlorine. That’s why we provide carbon filtration, which absorbs it. Also, there’s a lot of hardness, and some people don’t like too many minerals in their water. They want reverse osmosis to make it crisp and nice and tasting like water as it’s meant to be.

What are some common problems residents experience from hard water?

Your house pipes get scaled with hardness. Your showerheads and utensils get stained with white hardness. You’ll be using double or triple the detergent to make the soap clean your clothes. Hard water can make your skin dry and affect your hair. With a softener, you don’t even need a shampoo and your hair will come out as silk.

You’ve worked at Culligan for nearly a decade. What keeps you connected to the company?

In an indirect way, we are involved with community health. We save lives and do a lot of good for the community. And because it’s such an old brand, there’s a culture that is great, and accommodating, and thrives on respecting each other. I meet a lot of proud Culligan folks when I travel across the country and even overseas.