Westerville Water Plant Sustains Growth for 100 Years

The average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water per day at home, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Although we use water for drinking, cleaning, cooking and bathing, we often don’t think about the source or quality of something that we all need to survive. Westerville proudly supplies high-quality water for its residents through its award-winning Water Division and is currently celebrating a major milestone.

Dec. 30, 2024, marks 100 years since the building of Westerville’s Alum Creek water treatment plant. Before 1924, Westerville residents relied on well water, but the City’s growing population needed access to a much greater quantity of safe, potable water that was free of viruses and bacteria. With assistance from the Ohio State Department of Health, representatives from Westerville’s budding Water Division identified Alum Creek as the best water source to support the growing community.

“Alum Creek is a very clean water source compared to many other water sources out there, so that benefits Westerville,” said Water Operations Superintendent Robert Gardner. “Over the past hundred years, the City has been fortunate to have City Councils and administrations that have been supportive of the Division’s development, and that still remains. We have a community that supports the water system by investing in the water plant and making sure our equipment is up to date and state of the art.”

The original plant, which still stands at 310 W. Main, could treat 600,000 gallons of water per day, or six times the amount of water that Westerville’s wells provided. It removed hardness, lowered turbidity (the cloudiness of the water) and used chlorine–a relatively new technology that replaced boiling–to disinfect the water.

As water usage continued to grow, it was important to have a constant, reliable pool of water. The Alum Creek dam was built in 1935 so the water level of the creek would not drop too low for a continuous supply of water to the treatment plant. The dam’s construction resulted in a 53% increase in water use in just over a decade.

In 1970, a new plant was built that could process 3 million gallons per day (MGD). The plant was expanded in 1980 to 6 MGD to accommodate higher demand, which now averaged 2 MGD.

“When I first started here many years ago, I was told Westerville had an excellent reputation for its water system and that ‘We take a lot of pride in it, the plant is meticulously cleaned and we focus on customer service,’” said Gardner, a 41-year Water Department veteran. “I took that as a directive to uphold those high-quality standards.”

Today, the Westerville Division of Water still seeks to provide safe and potable water in a quantity sufficient for safety and security according to best standards. The City’s water treatment plant is licensed by the Ohio EPA and treats 7.5 million gallons a day, 365 days a year.

“Westerville provides incentives for operators to get additional licenses through the EPA to ensure that best practices are followed and our standards remain high,” said Gardner. “We try to be proactive and work closely with the Public Service Department to quickly react to any problems that may develop. We answer the phone with a real person and we respond right away.”

Gardner says all residents play an important role in protecting Westerville’s source water.

“There are a lot of entities at work, in addition to the Water Division, that help protect our water supply and those are all our partners and people who understand the importance of protecting the raw water, ensuring we have proper assets through our asset management plan, employee training and customer service to keep all of our customers happy,” said Gardner. “Those entities include our citizens who all value the environment we live in, our City Councils over the past century who all have supported protecting our natural resources and supporting Westerville’s Water Division, our Public Service and Parks and Recreation Departments that help protect our water supply and maintain our water system, the Ohio EPA, the Army Corp of Engineers, Friends of Alum Creek and many others who have supported a clean environment along with a safe and abundant water supply.”

Learn more about the Water Division at www.westerville.org/water .

Elevated Storage Tank Locations

Elevated water storage tanks are an essential part of Westerville’s water distribution system. They have a single line running up them, allowing water to fill the tank when there is extra water available or distribute water when demand exceeds treatment rates. The tanks also help maintain consistent water pressure and equalized flow throughout the system and provide a large supply of water for firefighting and extra storage in case source water becomes unavailable or unusable.

E. Main St. Tank - 200,000 gallons. Built in 1921 retired circa 1975

Otterbein Tank - 300,000 gallons. Built 1958, Near South High School

Maxtown Tank - 1,000,000 gallons. Built in 1968, Near Hoff Woods Park

Pointview Tank - 1,500,000 gallons. Built 1979, Near Huber Village Park