Wear all personal protective equipment (gloves and glasses). Prepare a brine by mixing water and sodium chloride (common salt) in a mixing drum. Add water and salt in the ratio 4 (water) : 1 (salt).
Backwash the ion exchange water treatment system (equipment in shape of a column, containing ion exchange resin for demineralizing the water) for a few minutes. Backwash (reversing and increasing the water's flow to flush out accumulated matter) will remove suspended solids collected by the bed during the service cycle and will eliminate channels that may have formed during this cycle. It also fluidizes the bed (the layer of ion exchange resin in an ion exchange column) and releases trapped particles. For backwashing, reverse the direction of flow of water, pump the water from the outlet of the ion exchange system and drain from the inlet of the system.
Close all the drain valves.
Pump the brine solution into the ion exchange column, and wait for 20 minutes.
Drain the brine solution and empty the column. Slowly rinse the system with fresh feed water for two minutes to remove excess salt. Close the rinse valve.
Collect the strong hydrochloric acid in a separate drum. From the drum, pump the acid into the column, and wait for 20 minutes. Slowly rinse the system with fresh feed water for two minutes to remove excess acid. Close the rinse valve.
Put the sodium hydroxide in another drum. From the drum, pump sodium hydroxide into the column, and wait for 20 minutes. Slowly rinse the system with fresh feed water for two minutes to remove excess sodium hydroxide. Close the rinse valve.