Video: Columbus Water Treatment Plants

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COLUMBUS, Miss.(WCBI)–Columbus Light & Water customers can safely drink from their tap with confidence. Thats according to Light & Water General Manager Todd Gale. In light of problems people in Flint Michigan are experiencing with toxic drinking water after switching their water source, customers in The Friendly City won’t have to deal with seeing brown water coming from their faucet.

Columbus Light & Water General Manager Todd Gale wants every one of their customers to know that there is enough clean water available for every customer served.

“Average daily use is somewhere around six million gallons a day to 7. So we have plenty capacity. We draw our water from deep wells out of the Tuscaloosa Aquifer,” said Todd Gale/Columbus Light & Water.

That means drilling 12 to 1,500 feet deep. And according to Gale, toxic drinking water problems happening in Flint are not likely to occur in Columbus.

“Primarily the city of Columbus has two water plants, one on Water Works Road and one on Datco Road. Thats mainly for redundancy. We can do 14 million gallons of water a day out of both those plants,” said Todd Gale.

Water from the ground is heavy in iron and that iron must be removed and gases cleaned away. As Well Number 8 near the Datco Plant pumps water from the ground, it goes straight to the aerator.

“Its oxidized through the aerator process, it goes to the clarifier. We add the lime and chlorine. It forms floc, floc settles out your treated water comes to the top. Goes through your flume there to your filters. And from the filters to the clear well,” said Mitchell Brown/Treatment Plant Supervisor.

From the clear well, treated water is pumped to the storage tanks downtown. The state regulates these plants by checking for lead and copper. So at this plant and the one on Water Works Road, there is less of a chance for water being smelly, funny tasting, or brown in color by the time it reaches your home.

“We check it every two years. There are so many samples we have to take every two years for the houses in the city,” said Mitchell Brown.

Customers at Columbus Air Force Base also receive water treated at those plants within the Friendly City.