LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Bourbon Lens podcast’s “Thursday Thoughts” series visited the Crescent Hill Water Treatment Plant for a behind-the-scenes look at how the Louisville Water Company transforms raw Ohio River water into safe drinking water, speaking with Chris, the utility’s manager of water quality and compliance.
Chris opened the conversation by explaining the role his team plays in the process. “So I’m the manager of water quality and compliance. And we are one unit of the water quality team that makes sure that the water is safe to drink and that the customers want to drink it. So it’s an important job,” Chris said.
The discussion centered on what Chris described as water’s “recipe” — a profile shaped entirely by geography and geology. “There’s no water that’s the same. Everywhere you go it’s gonna be different. And so here we are we rely on the Ohio River, which supplies the water. So Mother Nature gives us a lot of different variables day to day,” Chris said. “The main recipe of water as we know it in the Midwest or here in Louisville is high mineral content. And that’s what gives water the taste that we say water tastes like.”
Chris also pointed to a geological detail with major implications for Kentucky’s signature industry. “One of the unique things about Kentucky, geologically, there’s the minerals here, the geology here is really low on iron. And so it’s a good friend to the bourbon industry because iron, as you probably know, is a contaminant for the bourbon process. So that’s a good partnership,” Chris said.
Walking through the treatment process, Chris explained why removing sediment from the Ohio River is one of the first major steps. “The Ohio River drains a massive watershed, like the entire northeast of the United States. So there’s a lot of sediment transported in that river. So we gotta get that out of the water. People don’t want to drink mud,” Chris said.
Disinfection, however, remains the top priority for the utility. “What could really get the entire distribution system in trouble or contaminate the water that would affect the entire customer base is our pathogens that naturally occur. And so that’s an hour by hour risk that exists with a source like the Ohio River,” Chris said. “The disinfection process is still number one by far the most important, most critical chemical process that we have to manage.”
Chris detailed how the utility maintains water safety well beyond the treatment plant itself. “We add a little bit more bleach to maintain a residual bleach so that there can be no regrowth downstream as the water moves. And so water has a shelf life. Most people think that water, you know, you open the tap and it’s just the same as it always is, but water has a shelf life,” Chris said.
The plant also adds lime to adjust pH, a step Chris said protects customers with older infrastructure. “We still have a lot of customers that have lead service lines, the pipes that come into their house are made out of lead, or made out of galvanized, which is another risky material. And the pH helps control any corrosion that would happen in those pipes,” Chris said.
Every chemical used in the process, Chris noted, must meet strict industry standards. “All of the chemicals that we use are — they’re called NSF certification. So they have to be certified for use in water systems. So they have to be chemical free, contaminant free, only used for that purpose,” Chris said.
The full episode is available now on the Bourbon Lens podcast. More information on Louisville Water’s treatment process is available at LouisvilleWater.com.
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Bourbon Lens is a podcast dedicated to exploring Kentucky’s bourbon culture, history, and the people and places that shape it. New episodes are released weekly, featuring conversations with industry experts, historians, and Kentucky insiders.
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