ST. CLOUD - Some of us take clean drinking water for granted, but a lot of work goes in behind the scenes to keep it safe and clean.

To do this, the city of St. Cloud has a water treatment plant that operates 24-hours a day for the entire year.

The plant is perched right next to the Mississippi River, the main source of drinking water for the city.

The facility is located in Hester Park, from the outside it doesn't look like that large of a building, that’s because two-thirds of the plant is actually located below ground.

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The water is first pumped through an initial intake station located right next to the river. The water then goes through three separate steps before it’s safe for drinking.

The first steps involve the water going through huge 100,000 gallon tanks to separate solids from the liquids. The water is also slowly filtered and chemically treated to remove any unwanted contaminants. Once the chemicals dissipate the water is clean and ready.

 

The facility constantly checks the water once every three hours to ensure it’s matching or exceeding quality standards. The amount of water in the plant varies throughout the year, but the facility can process a whopping 16 million gallons of water per day if the need arises.

 

Water Tanks at St. Cloud Water Treatment Plant
(Dan DeBaun, WJON News)
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