Patent ID: 8679349

Claim:
A method for removing heavy metals from contaminated water, comprising collecting metal salt precipitates from a water softening process, wherein said metal salt precipitates comprise calcium carbonate, magnesium hydroxide, magnesium carbonate and sodium aluminum silicate, drying said metal salt precipitates to produce dried metal salt precipitates, contacting water having a concentration of one or more heavy metals with said dried metal salt precipitates, and collecting water having a reduced concentration of said heavy metal(s), wherein the water softening process includes: pumping water into a cooler and aerating the water; passing the aerated water through a sand filter; passing the water from the sand filter to a precipitation chamber; and treating the water in the precipitation chamber with lime (Ca(OH) 2 ), soda (Na 2 CO 3 ) and sodium aluminate (Na 4 Al 2 O 5 ) in a ratio of about 27/70/3 of the respective components.