How Greater Cincinnati Water Works turns Ohio River water into drinking water

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Greater Cincinnati Water Works supplies drinking water to more than 1 million customers, with most of it coming from the Richard Miller Treatment Plant off Kellogg Road on Cincinnati’s east side.

A walk-through of the system shows how river water is cleaned, disinfected and delivered to homes across the region.

Pulling water from the Ohio River

The process starts on the Kentucky side of the river, where water enters an intake pier and flows into an underground tunnel.

“The intake pier on the left — that’s our original intake, we still use it today — that’s where the water goes into the tunnel,” said Bruce Whitteberry, superintendent of water quality and treatment for Greater Cincinnati Water Works.

Workers descend more than 100 feet at the river station — below the bottom of the Ohio River — where pumps move water through the system in a way designed to keep air out of the pipes.

First-stage settling at California Golf Course reservoirs

From the river station, water is pumped to the California Golf Course area for its first stage of treatment. There, the utility removes about 95% of solids — including silt and clay — before the water moves on.

Water then flows into large reservoirs, where it typically sits for two to four days to allow remaining particles to settle out naturally.

Rapid sand filtration at the Richard Miller Treatment Plant

After time in the reservoirs, the water travels through pipes to the Richard Miller Treatment Plant for additional treatment, including rapid sand filtration.

The filter building contains 47 sand filters, and each can filter about 6 million gallons of water per day. As water trickles through the sand, more particles are removed.

Activated carbon treatment to reduce taste and odor issues

Next, water is treated at a granular activated carbon facility built in 1992. The facility has 12 filters designed to capture organic substances.

Whitteberry said this step helps reduce taste and odor concerns and can lower the amount of chlorine needed later in the process.

UV disinfection for chlorine-resistant organisms

The water then goes through an ultraviolet disinfection facility built in 2013, which targets microorganisms that can be resistant to chlorine.

“Each one of these pipes … that says Sentinel, that’s the actual treatment unit,” Whitteberry said. “So that’s where the ultraviolet lights come in contact with the water.”

Final treatment before it reaches your tap

From there, water travels to clear wells, where operators add chlorine and fluoride and adjust the pH.

“One of the functions of the clear well is to allow time for the chlorine to react with the water and kill all of the organisms that weren’t killed by this,” Whitteberry said, referring to the UV disinfection step.

Quality checks at every step

Water Works personnel monitor water quality throughout the process, collecting hundreds of samples each day to ensure it meets or exceeds state and federal health standards.

After the final treatment and testing, the water is ready to be distributed to customers across the region.

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