R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press
General Manager Robert Dunville at Culligan of Upper Michigan discusses the prevalence of dissolved solids in unfiltered tap water. The middle bar holds the amount of calcium carbonate found in 50 gallons of water in a typical American city with 7 grains per gallon. The empty panel all the way on the left is what would be present after water softening.
ESCANABA — Culligan has been treating water — removing harmful bacteria and dissolved solids, adding elements in when desired — in the Upper Peninsula since 1941. The local dealership, a franchise, services the western U.P. and into Wisconsin and was bought by Culligan International in October of 2023, meaning the already greatly experienced business managed by Robert and Theresa Gunville now has more support while still providing the same services. They perform free water testing and offer a number of softening and filtration options for homes, camps, restaurants and all manner of businesses.
In 1921, Emmett Culligan was with his wife in the hospital as she was giving birth. As the story goes, Emmett wandered off, found the boiler room, and engaged in a fascinating conversation with the maintenance superintendent on how zeolite — a microporous sand — was used to soften the hospital’s water. After working on his own systems for years afterwards, Emmett founded Culligan Zeolite Company in Northbrook, Ill. in 1936 to make treated water accessible to homeowners.
In the ’50s, the company name changed to Culligan Incorporated and grew to become nationally recognized, in part due to the “Hey, Culligan Man!” ad campaigns that persisted into the 2000s. In 1970, the name changed again to Culligan International Company.
Over the years, a number of products designed and manufactured by Culligan set the standard for water treatment, said Robert and other representatives for the company. They introduced the first ever mass-produced home reverse osmosis (R.O.) system in 1967. Culligan has also offered bottled water service since ’88.
“I’ve been in the water industry since 1987,” said Robert. “A lot of people I know have migrated to Culligan International.”
Robert had worked for another company on industrial water supply. Scott McKernan, with whom Robert teamed up in 2018, was also in the business.
Both Robert and Theresa, his wife, are originally from Escanaba, so when the opportunity arose to embark on a joint venture with Scott and move back to their hometown, they took it.
Robert and McKernan purchased the Culligan at 902 Ludington Street in 2018.
Upon McKernan’s recent departure from the business, Culligan International stepped in and for the last eight months has been providing additional guidance and support while the same employees and operations have been maintained.
In municipalities, water testing and treating is done at plants before reaching faucets to make sure impurities are within mandated levels, but still, some people choose to install systems in their homes to filter their drinking water — whether it’s because they’re looking to reduce their sodium intake, take out chloride, or reintroduce minerals that are lacking — or treat their whole supply by reverse osmosis (R.O.), which can provide a number of benefits.
“If you have water in Escanaba, for example, you are sitting at about seven grains hardness,” said Robert. That’s seven grains of dissolved solids per gallon. “That much dissolved rock and magnesium, lime, calcium, is inside your water. That’s why water heaters, when you take them out, they’re real heavy, but when you put them in, they’re not so bad? If you take a cross-section of them, you can see the walls of that water heater (are) just solid rock. It’s also what you see at your shower heads, your faucets.”
By installing water softening systems, he explained, “you’re going to have longer life on your appliances. You’re going to have more energy efficiency, because when you start minimizing that space inside your water heater, it has to keep running and running.”
The Gunvilles reported that they’ve had customers finally install treatment systems after replacing appliance after appliance — and then the Culligan product sometimes doesn’t even require a service visit for a decade or more.
In regards to dishwashing, Robert added, “when you remove those minerals out of the water, you’ll have no spotting, you have basically streak-free dishes afterwards.”
People end up using less soap and less water for this reason, said Theresa, and spend less time cleaning their bathrooms and other things around the home.
“The time of cleaning my dishwasher out and cleaning my showers went from four hours a month to two hours a month,” Theresa reported. “I know what I can do with two hours extra — not clean,” she chuckled.
“It’s important for restaurants and hotels to have soft water,” said Paula Jastper, who works in business development for Culligan International. “For a hotel, it saves them on their cleaning and their wear and tear on their appliances. For a restaurant, it’s easier to clean dishes. With the right water system, it’ll help them provide a better consistency of drink. In manufacturing, it can help their manufacturing processes.”
Incidentally, though Paula is based in the Chicago area, she said that attending the U.P. State Fair is a highlight she looks forward to.
Regular water testing is especially important in rural areas; wells that are not connected to city systems must be monitored to check for potentially dangerous bacteria or minerals. Robert suggested testing for e. coli on an annual basis.
Even naturally occurring substances can be harmful. For example, arsenic — notoriously toxic — is found in the ground particularly near mines and often finds its way into drinking water. While the source may be Lake Superior — one of the purest bodies of water — “it depends where in the aquifer you’re passing through as a filtration on its way,” said Robert.
He added that people can’t assume that the groundwater is always going to be the same in a given place, either, because unfortunately leakage and contamination can come from a number of places — septic systems, pollution spills, etc.
Depending on what sort of problem water a place may have and what end result a customer may want, Culligan has a number of options. Some are classic, low-maintenance solutions, while Culligan Connect is a “smart” option that has a phone app with remote control.
“Our goal is always to grow the business but maintain a best-in-class customer service experience,” said Selina Emlen, who, as the director of dealer program development, strives to make sure Culligan of Upper Michigan continues on that path.