Our feature OKI Wanna Know is a chance for you to get that intellectual itch scratched. This week, we check out a leaky pump house with WVXU's Bill Rinehart.
Logan Blancett of Anderson Township noticed something while on a walk.
He writes about a pump house with a pipe that is discharging water 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He describes it as like a constantly running faucet. What is it?
Greater Cincinnati Water Works asked for safety's sake that we don't reveal the location.
Its superintendent of the Water Quality Treatment Division says it's part of their infrastructure. Jeff Swertfeger says specifically, it's part of the water storage system.
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"We have elevated tanks, which I think we've all driven around. We see the water towers that are in the city, and that includes the big structures like in Mt. Airy and Mt. Washington — some of those big impressive structures" he says. "We also have tanks that are sitting on the ground, that are at ground level. We also have a lot of underground tanks, too."
We'll get back to those underground tanks in a moment.
First, Swertfeger says all these different tanks help keep the water pressure steady, and can be used as reserves if there's a water main break, or the intake valves at the Ohio River have to be closed.
All three kinds of tanks — above ground, underground, and towers — have the same functions, he says: to store water, and to keep the pressure up.
"We like to put the storage at the highest part of our system. Because if we pump up to there, the water from there it can the furthest reach then, when it comes out of those tanks."
Water towers are built with gravity-driven water pressure in mind, not aesthetics. When you think of a water tower, you probably envision just a big round metal tank sitting on top of four long legs. But, Swertfeger says, it wasn't always like that.
"Back in the 1920s, 1950s, we did a lot with aesthetics. Looking at the Mt. Airy water tower, Mount Washington — there's an old one that used to be in service, no longer in service on Ferguson Road — they spent a lot of time putting some really, really nice towers up with those facilities."
Other examples include the Elsinore Arch, and the pump house on the Ohio River near the Combs-Hehl Bridge.
Building something like those today would likely be expensive, and the utility is trying to keep costs down.
To that end, Swertferger says Greater Cincinnati Water Works sometimes draws less water out of the Ohio River during the day.
"Then we make up that pumping at night, so we'll pump a lot more at night because electricity is a lot cheaper at night."
So, why does this particular pump station and storage tank constantly have water running?
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"That's a repair that we need to make," he says. "But in order to make that repair, we have to take that tank out of service. So we're just waiting for the right time that we're going to be able to get in and make that repair so that the water's not coming out."
Swertfeger says demand for water is usually higher in the summer, so they're waiting for cooler weather.
"The water's not getting contaminated from that. We do need to fix it and we will when we determine we have a good way to take that tank out of service and do the maintenance we need to do on that."
Swertfeger says they do check the storage tanks regularly for contamination. He says they'll do spot checks in person and test samples, and there's continuous remote monitoring.
"I can sit here at my desk, open up the computer system and see what the quality is of that water in the tanks," he says. "We monitor that very, very closely. That is really important to us, to make sure that the water is moving well within the tanks, and that the tanks are not contaminated."
Can you swim in the underground tanks?
Now, back to those underground tanks. Another listener, Andy Harris wants to know if you can swim in them.
"Well, I wouldn't recommend it," Swertfeger says. "I mean those are secure facilities. We don't let people in there. No, not really. Not really allowed to do that kind of stuff."
Yeah, but technically speaking... theoretically... is it possible?
"I guess theoretically, if you were to go into something like that, it would look a lot like a large swimming pool. But it is extremely dangerous to do that. We have water constantly going in and out of those kind of things, and I wouldn't want somebody to get sucked up when we're drawing water out of those, to get in trouble that way."
So it would basically be a one-way trip. And not to mention, it's probably pretty dark down there.
If you have a question about the area that's like a steadily dripping faucet in your mind, ask OKI Wanna Know by filling out the form below.
