Quench: The Cleaner, Greener, More Affordable Water Cooler for Cleveland

Cleveland Water Quality: Yesterday

In 1796, Cleveland was established at the midpoint of the shore of Lake Erie on the banks of the Cayahoga River. Early settlers used unfiltered water from local spring wells, causing many residents to get sick from water-borne diseases like cholera and dysentery. When the wells were dry, resident Benhu Johnson would deliver lake water for 25 cents for two barrels. By 1853, the growing city needed a reliable water supply and began to pump water from Lake Erie.

As the city grew and the demand for water increased, the water at the intake crib – a structure that surrounds and protects the intake shaft from possible pollutants – on Lake Erie became increasingly lower in quality as the intake crib began to pump sediment as well as water. City engineers built a new crib tunnel 6,000 feet offshore in Lake Erie. As the population grew, the city built the water intake cribs further out into Lake Erie, ultimately extending the intake cribs 5 miles from the shore. In 1911, Cleveland began to add chlorine to the distribution system, but many residents found the water to be unpalatable as the water was not filtered before distribution. City planners built Cleveland’s first filtration plant, Baldwin Filtration Plant and Reservoir, to serve filtered and chlorinated water to the system.

Cleveland Water Quality: Today

Over 90% of the water entering Lake Erie comes from upstream lakes – Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron – as well as several rivers and streams. As water travels over the land or through the ground, it is exposed to runoff from the urban, suburban, and agricultural area, sediment, chemical contamination, and microbial matter. Cleveland’s water system has been in operation for over 150 years and like many older systems, its water mains are constructed of cast iron. Older cast iron pipes are prone to corrosion and biofilm contamination from chemical reactions. These reactions create clusters of pipe deterioration and bacteria, resulting in “rotten egg” taste and smell. To combat the corrosion and biofilm contamination that has become synonymous with cast iron pipes, many municipal water departments added high levels of chlorine, which has its own taste and smell issues.

Quench Water Coolers – Discover a Better Drinking Water System for Cleveland

No need to worry about what your office’s drinking water might have picked up on its journey to your glass. Quench offers a full complement of filtration and purification technologies to remove sediment, reduce chemical contaminants, including lead, and get rid of off-tastes and odors. That’s how we can guarantee that Quench office water coolers produce crisp, clean, great-tasting water – and at a fraction of the price of bottled water delivery services.