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

Richmond Water Quality: Yesterday

In 1737, the first Richmond settlers drilled wells along the James River to supply water to individual houses. Like in many early American cities, residents of Richmond also dumped waste water back into the James River. As the city’s population grew, the river became overwhelmed with waste and the water wells began to produce contaminated water. In 1830, Richmond became the first U.S. city to utilize a sand filter system to purify its water.Water was pumped from the James River and up 160 feet to the Marshall Reservoir. There it slowly filtered through a layer of sand, and then distributed throughout the city via a network of cast iron pipes. To keep up with the growing water demand, city planners build a couple more reservoirs, including the “New Reservoir” and the Williams Dam.

While Richmond was the first U.S. to filter their drinking water, the process did not produce uncontaminated drinking water, even when the city began chlorinating the water in 1917. A report at the time went so far as to say that Richmond’s “present water supply is unsafe.” This report prompted an upgrade of the whole system, including construction of a new water treatment plant on the banks of the James River. The upgraded system was completed in 1924 and continues to provide water to residents of Richmond and the surrounding area.

Richmond Water Quality: Today

Today Richmond’s water system delivers up to 132 million gallons per day to residents in Richmond and Henrico County. However, many Richmond residents complain that their water is cloudy or has a bad taste or smell. Older cast iron pipes, like the ones used in Richmond, are prone to corrosion and biofilm contamination from chemical reactions. These reactions create clusters of pipe deterioration and bacteria along the inside of the pipe, resulting in a “rotten egg” taste and smell. To combat the corrosion and biofilm contamination that has become synonymous with older cast iron pipes, many municipal water departments add high levels of chlorine, which has its own taste and smell issues.

Quench Water Coolers – A Better Drinking Water System for Richmond

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.