A water refining system in which spent refining material is removed on a batch basis in small portable containers for regeneration of the material at a central processing plant. The spent material is then replaced with new or regenerated material using a plurality of the same type of portable containers. This provides an exchange type system in which the fixed refiner is of substantially greater size than is usually considered feasible for systems of this type and provides considerable flexibility in selecting the size of the refiner while permitting the use of the same portable containers for evacuating and filling the refiner.