Do you know what the water from your tap goes through? It's all about keeping it clean

In an effort to highlight the importance of having access to clean water, August is designated as National Water Quality Month.

Having access to safe water is vital to the health and well-being of most species, experts say.

“In Augusta we're at mile marker 200 of approximately a 400-mile long river,” said Tonya Bonitatibus, executive director of the Savannah Riverkeeper. “In each one of the towns located along the river and creeks, there is somebody who is drinking the water out of the river.

“There is also someone flushing their toilet, which takes the water to a treatment plant. After that the water is put back into the river. So chances are, by the time that you turn the faucet on at your house in Augusta, it has been through multiple toilets and different industries upstream.”

The Savannah Riverkeeper is a nonprofit located in Augusta that watches over the water quality of the Savannah River from North Carolina to Savannah.

Bonitatibus said the three goals of the Savannah Riverkeeper are restoration, protection and education.

“We do a huge amount of cleanups and help reduce the amount of litter that is entering our waterways,” she said. “There are sources of pollution that are excessive in our communities. We will often engage in advocacy to help reduce those pollutant loads. We work with anybody and everybody to try and get them to understand the importance of the Savannah River.”

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 was the first major U.S. law to address water pollution, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Growing public awareness and concern for controlling water pollution led to sweeping amendments in 1972, when the law became commonly known as the Clean Water Act.

“The Clean Water Act is the whole reason we exist,” said Bonitatibus. “Fishable, swimmable, drinkable water is the cornerstone of the Clean Water Act. ... The Clean Water Act established a program that is supposed to ultimately reduce the pollution loads into waterways.”

Bonitatibus said the law protects all walks of life.

“The Clean Water Act not only protects aquatic life,” she said. “There are so many different things that rely on water. So the Clean Water Act has significantly improved our water quality since the seventies. It continually restricts the amount of pollution that can be put into waterways.”

Margaret Doss, compliance manager for Columbia County Water Utility, ensures that the county complies with state and federal regulations designated for water utilities.

“We have two drinking water treatment plants,” said Doss. “The Jim Blanchard plant and the Clarks Hill plant. We withdraw water from Clarks Hill (Thurmond) Lake and from the Savannah River. So we're withdrawing water from both of those places. We're treating them at the drinking water treatment plant to make it clean enough to drink.”

The water treatment process:

• Water goes through a distribution system.
• Water from the treatment plant is pumped through the pipes into tanks.
• The water pressure in the tank, the weight of the water pushing down, causes it to go through more pipes to your house.
• Users cook with it, bathe with it, wash clothes with it, wash dishes, flush the toilet and then it comes back to the wastewater collection system to go through the process again.

“At the wastewater treatment plant, our job is to take the contaminants out of the water before we put it back into the environment, into the creeks and rivers,” said Doss. “When you have people that congregate in communities, the natural water cycle doesn't have enough time to purify the water. That's how we ended up with water pollution.”

Doss said in simple terms the goal is to get harmful germs out of the water.

“On the drinking water side, we’re removing germs out of the water so you don’t get sick from bacteria that could cause illnesses like amoebic dysentery, cholera or typhoid," she said. "On the wastewater side, we're getting the dirt and the germs out so that we're not polluting the river.”

Drinking water treatment process:

• Pump water from the Savannah River or from Thurmond Lake to the drinking water treatment plant.
• Add an oxidant called potassium permanganate, a chemical that will bind up the manganese that's naturally present in our water.
• Once it arrives at the treatment plant, a coagulant is added that will cause all the little particles that are in the water to start sticking to each other.
• Next step is a sedimentation basin, slowing the water flow down allowing all of those larger particles to settle out.
• Next the water goes through a multimedia filter, which has some anthracite coal, sand and gravel in it. The water percolates down through that filter to get any remaining solids out of the water.
• After the filtration, chlorine is added for disinfection. Salt water is given an electrical charge to create a strong sodium hypochlorite solution.
• Fluoride is added to the water for healthy teeth.
• Phosphate is added to the water to protect pipes.

“None of these chemicals are dangerous to you, unless you consume them in large amounts,” said Doss. “They're going to protect our system and they're going to protect you. So it's not dangerous.”

Doss said avoid flushing anything other than toilet paper.

“Flushable wipes are not okay to flush,” she said. “What flushable wipes don't do in the time frame necessary is biodegrade, like they're advertised. They get through our system too quickly and if they run into each other, they make ropes. Those ropes get hung up in our pumps. They can also get hung up in a manhole or in a pipe and cause a backup.”

Doss said pouring grease down a drain also is a no-no.

“People will pour grease down the drain after they cook, while it’s hot,” she said. “When it gets in my sewer system, it cools, congeals and makes a grease clog. Doing this can stop-up a pipe.”

Doss said much of that grease and oil can be recycled.

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with several funders and Journalism Funding Funding Partners.

Erica Van Buren is the climate change reporter for The Augusta Chronicle, part of the USA TODAY Network. Connect with her at EVanBuren@gannett.com or on X: @EricaVanBuren32.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Do you know what the water from your tap goes through? It's all about keeping it clean