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

Pittsburgh Water Quality: Yesterday

Since the area’s first settlement by its native people, residents have drawn water from the historic Allegheny river. In the 17^th century, local spring water often tasted of sulphur, but wells – which relied on underground water and could offset the taste – were difficult to dig. For sanitary reasons and against the ever present danger of fire, officials established its first formal system, consisting of four 47-foot deep wells with pumps, in 1802. But the city’s blooming population soon outgrew this simple system, and in 1828, the city unveiled a river pumping station and a 1 million gallon reservoir. This process would continue to grow and expand into Pittsburgh’s current water management system, which produces 70 million gallons of water daily.

The 19^th century saw another hurdle arise for the city’s water managers: waterborne illness. Likewise, contamination of the Allegheny reached such disastrous levels that the need for a treatment plant and process became obvious. After years of debate over design, Pittsburgh’s first filtration and treatment plant was constructed in 1907. By the 1950s, the area’s water, formerly only treated with chlorine, needed a purification upgrade: Alum was introduced into the process – until the construction of a full chemical treatment plant arrived in 1962.

Pittsburgh Water Quality: Today

Uniquely, the city of Pittsburgh only draws its water from the Allegheny River with no need for groundwater sources. As water travels through over the land, it picks up naturally occurring minerals and animal or human pollution. This often manifests as a musty or earthy odor or taste, especially after construction or lots of rain. Pittsburgh’s water also faces contamination from stormwater pollution, as anything that enters a storm sewer is ultimately released.

Like many older cities, most of Pittsburgh’s water mains and water infrastructure are cast iron pipes, the drinking water industry standard until the mid-1960s. Older cast iron pipes are prone to corrosion and biofilm contamination from chemical reactions. These chemical reactions create clusters of corrosion and bacteria along the inside of the pipe, diminishing the space that the drinking water travels through. Sometimes these clusters break off and travel with your water to your faucet, resulting in water cloudiness, red water, and off-taste and odor.

Quench Water Coolers – A Better Drinking Water System for Pittsburgh

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 a Quench office water cooler produces crisp, clean, great-tasting water – and at a fraction of the cost of bottled water delivery services.