Division of Water Treatment
Collins Park Treatment Plant
John Walthall, Commissioner
600 Collins Park
Toledo, Ohio 43605
Phone: 419-936-3021
Fax: 419-936-3053
The Division of Treatment Services, Water Treatment Plant, is responsible for the effective production, filtration, and quality control of water for the City of Toledo. The Division's responsibility starts at the source of raw water, Lake Erie, and extends throughout the treatment process. This Division operates and maintains the largest softening plant on Lake Erie. Filtering an average of 80 million gallons of water per day is a monumental task. At no time in the process is the water allowed to stop moving. Every area within the plant can be isolated, so maintenance or repairs can be made without affecting the flow or quality of the water produced. The Toledo Water Treatment Plant is known not only for quantity and quality of water produced, but also for its dedication to implementing improvements in both testing and treatment of water. It is for these reasons that many suburban communities purchase water from Toledo, and why many businesses choose to locate in the Toledo area.
Tours
Unfortunately, the attacks on our country, September 11, 2001, have caused an increased sense of security in our facility and for that reason we have discontinued tours.
Collins Park Water Treatment Plant
The Collins Park Water Treatment Plant is responsible for providing consumers with crystal clear water of the highest quality. Testing of the water is performed 24 hours per day 365 days per year. This testing gives our operational personnel timely information, so that adjustments can be made to the treatment process to ensure constant water quality is met.
The plant has a quality control laboratory that does hourly analysis on raw and treated water. They supply this information to the Senior Control Room Operator as a data base from which decisions can be made in the setting of chemical feed rates, and adjustments made to the plant required for the proper treatment of the water. The amount of chemicals used in water treatment is comparatively small, so small in fact, that the total amount of chemicals needed to properly treat 100 gallons of water would amount to about one teaspoonful, or 15 parts of chemical to one million parts of water. The process of filtering the water is monitored and tested continuously by a highly trained staff of professionals. Monitoring, like the production process, is also a 24 hour a day job.
The Collins Park Water Treatment Plant employs Engineers, Chemists, Licensed Water Operators, Electricians, Plumbers, Machinists, Laborers, Custodial Workers, Clerks and Administrators.
Water Quality Assurance
The Water Quality Laboratories are responsible for the collection and analysis of samples, which will ensure that the water being distributed meets or exceeds the criteria of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Compliance reports are sent to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency monthly with the analytical results for regulated contaminants. This is accomplished by the annual collection and analysis of more than 5,000 water samples from the water plant and over 2,500 samples from the distribution network. The consistent high quality of water is of utmost importance to the Water Treatment Plant. That is why over 50,000 tests are performed annually from the water samples taken at the raw water source, through the production and treatment process, distribution network and from consumer taps.
Laboratory Section
Within the Laboratory section are the Microbiology, Water Quality and Research Laboratories. The three laboratories are certified by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The Water Treatment Plant ensures that the water is safe and palatable by the means of a very aggressive sampling program. The collection of the water samples is the responsibility of the Laboratory section. Each sample must be correctly drawn, documented, labeled, and delivered to the Laboratory in a timely manner. The proper monitoring of water quality requires individuals that are well trained in a number of technical and environmental fields. This section employs chemists, microbiologists, and sample collectors.