Water Production personnel operate and maintain the City's award-winning groundwater production and transmission system, capable of producing up to 29.5 million gallons of fresh, clean drinking water each day.
Click on to learn more.
College Station's water system includes over 490 miles of water distribution lines, groundwater wells, pump stations, and two elevated water storage tanks. Our water system is rated "Superior" by the State of Texas and in fact has received awards for outstanding operations and maintenance from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
College Station pumps water from deep wells located on city-owned land over the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, in the Carrizo, Sparta, and Simsboro Sand formations. The maximum temperature of the water as pumped from underground is 118 degrees Fahrenheit. To reduce the temperature, the water is pumped through cooling towers at Sandy Point Pump Station, lowering the temperature to below 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Raw water transmission lines carry the ground water approximately 13 miles from Sandy Point Pump Station to the Dowling Road Pump Station for further treatment. Fortunately, the source water for College Station is clean enough that only chlorine disinfection is needed to treat the water to Safe Drinking Water Act standards.
While no single disinfectant is right for all systems, public water systems in Texas of College Station's size must have some form of chlorine residual to inactivate harmful microorganisms and prevent contamination in the water distribution system. College Station disinfects its drinking water with gas chlorine to provide an effective chlorine residual. The decision of which disinfection method to use must take into account several factors, including source water quality, water treatment goals, regulatory requirements, storage capacity, and cost.
After the water is disinfected, it is pumped into the water distribution system, which includes three elevated storage tanks. The elevated storage tanks provide an adequate supply of water pressure for use in our homes and businesses and fire protection for the residents of College Station.