DUNEDIN - Choosing a water treatment system can be a daunting task. Trusting the business you buy it from can make it so much easier. With all of the reports of scamming, it's nice to know there are Good Water People at Florida Water Treatment (FWT) who are Platinum Dealers for General Electric (GE) and longtime members of the Water Quality Association located at 1398 Main Street in Dunedin and owned by a family whose patriarch is a success proven businessman with Midwestern values.
FWT's customers, including the Gazette's publishers, value the confidence and credibility that comes from FWT's experience in treating Florida water for so many years. Since 1951, FWT has served the Clearwater area and surrounding communities, bringing their years of expertise to every home and business they encounter. FWT provides customized water treatment, conditioning, softening and purification for residential, commercial, well and/or city water users. Professional installation of equipment that's tailor-made to solve each customer's water problems combined with their dedication to servicing the systems they recommended long after installation, makes FWT the ideal choice when purchasing water softeners and purification systems.
FWT also provides emergency services for unexpected problems. They typically respond to 100-150 service calls a week, with nearly all repairs performed on equipment that other companies installed. Their dedication to customer's needs has made them the largest independent water treatment business in the area, and one of the nations largest independent dealers. They're big but still cater to their customer's smallest needs. They even offer routine salt delivery.
"We promise that we are going to be here to service the systems we install. So many other companies sell, but don't perform service. That's like an insurance company without a claims office," noted Herb Bloom. Our employees are not on commissions; they're straight up salary. They arrive in FWT trucks wearing FWT uniforms. We do no sub-contracting."
Bloom has been dedicated to his work in water treatment for over 40 years and continues to act as an advisor at FWT though retired. Bloom brought his "appetite for hard work/get the job done/ be proud of it/ tell the truth even if it hurts/deliver more than what you were paid for" ethics with him from Chicago and Northwest Indiana when he moved here in the 1960s and began working at FWT. I can attest to Bloom's successful methods because as a child I watched a new business open in my hometown of Munster, Indiana, rapidly become the most successful and largest retailer for flooring in Northwest Indiana and South Suburban Chicago thanks in part to Bloom, who worked there and developed Carpetland USA's hard surface division.
Last year Bloom handed the reins of FWT to longtime Dunedin resident, Matt Zarra, who happens to be his son in law. Zarra is married to Bloom's daughter, Jori. Bloom explained that when thinking of retiring he felt he put too much of his energy into FWT to just sell it, even though he was tempted to in the past, and even attended a closing that he backed out of. "The best thing that happened was that my son-in-law decided to take over the business. Matt would have succeeded in any job he took. We are exceedingly lucky to have him," proclaimed Bloom. Zarra earned a Masters Degree in finance and marketing and held a lucrative sales representative position in the pharmaceutical industry before joining FWT three years ago.
Under Bloom's tutelage, which entailed, "Starting from the ground up", coupled with training from GE, Fleck and other manufacturers, Zarra, now a certified water specialist, keeps abreast of the industry's latest innovations while continuing the family tradition of providing quality workmanship.
Said Zarra of FWT's mission, "Our goal remains to be that following any sale, service is provided second to none. Responsive service, whether providing salt delivery, filter exchanges or even repairing other brand products is how we've done business from the outset. We will address our customers water quality concerns whether its stained fixtures, bad taste, odor, bacterial or chemical contamination."
As a public service, FWT will test anyone's water free of charge at their home or if a sample is brought to their office. Zarra offers to anyone contemplating a water treatment system, "If someone is trying to pressure you into buying, you should call us and get a complete water analysis before you agree to buy anything." Whether using a municipal utility or a private well, water quality can vary, especially in Florida, so customization requires water analysis.
Bloom said, "We specifically build equipment based on an individual's water analysis. As opposed to the national brands that make one cookie cutter unit that is expected to fit all. Florida's water is different from the rest…they can't regionalize a system. We can. We test water and build equipment for the water that we have. If a new filter comes out, we can adopt it immediately into our product line. The national brands can take years before they incorporate something new into theirs."
Bloom pointed out a few pluses about their family's business, "The nice part about doing business with our company is that we own it. You never deal with sales people, only principals. We don't give two-hour sales presentations. We don't try to sell. That's not what we are here for. We treat water."
Concerning some of the unscrupulous water treatment businesses that have come and gone, Bloom said, "I've been doing this for over 40 years and what I've found is that with the exception of some companies gouging the public, it's a great industry. It's unconscionable and immoral what some companies have done to consumers. Their mode of thinking was, 'How fast can we come in and sell the equipment and then get out, so we don't have to service it?' We've had several companies try to copy our name and they've tried to tread on our reputation but we've found that within a couple of years they're generally out of business, and we're still here."
Bloom says that he's observed over the years that, water treatment equipment is the last thing people put in their first house and the first thing they put in their second. "Once you have it, you don't want to live without it," he said.
Bloom maintained that purchasing a water treatment system to correct your water is in the long run more cost effective than adding chemicals. "The amount of money for the chemicals ends up being more costly than buying the equipment. The reason the larger hotels and restaurants have water treatment in place is because food and laundry both turn out better with soft water. Vegetables retain their nutrients and hold their shape and appearance when cooked in soft water. Towels wear out when laundered in hard water. Soft water gives 20-30 percent more life to them. And hard water is just inconvenient."
Concerning drinking water, Bloom said, "You won't die from drinking public water but.... there are better tasting and cleaner grades that you can drink. The county cleans water through addition. They add chlorine and other chemicals to purify the water. The pipes the county sends it through are 50-60 years old. The water meets EPA requirements when it leaves the county. But that doesn't mean when it arrives at your home that it still does. We clean through subtraction. We remove mineral contaminants such as calcium, magnesium, lead and mercury, plus chemicals like chlorine and its by products," stated Bloom.
FWT stands behind their equipment, whether its a 5-year or a lifetime guarantee. Call them at (727) 736-2747 or visit their website www.floridawatertreatment.com and they will be happy to test your water, give a complete water analysis and discuss treatment options with you. After all...they are the "Good Water People."