Where our water comes from: A look inside Waco's water and wastewater facilities

Hi! I'm Bella Popadiuk, your Neighborhood Reporter for Waco, Bellmead, and Lacy Lakeview.

WACO, Texas (KXXV) — The city of Waco's water facilities tour on Saturday showcased the journey of drinking water from source to tap, giving locals an inside look at water facilities. The tour included a visit to Lake Waco Dam, the Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) Treatment Plant and the Riverside Treatment Plant.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:“I just had a great time, and I thank Waco for giving us the eye opening of what really goes on in our system," Margie Smith said.

Margie Smith tells Neighborhood Reporter Bella Popadiuk she attended a tour of Waco's water facilities to help understand what is happening with the water in our community.

"We have creeks by our homes, and we noticed that they weren't flowing anymore," she said. "So we knew a big change had happened, and I wanted to know and be more educated, so I can advocate for our neighborhood.”

She's lived in Waco for a huge part of her life, but still learned something new.

“I learned there were several more plants than I thought there were,” Smith said.

On Saturday, the Wading Through Waco water tour started at the Lake Waco Dam. Our drinking water, which comes from the Bosque River– eventually dumps into Lake Waco. The lake is our primary source of drinking water. But that raw water needs to be cleaned safety before it gets to us.

"Water usage is vital," Water Utilities Program Coordinator Nora Schell said. "Like we always say in the water field, you can go without food for a few days. We don't like it. It's uncomfortable, but we cannot go without water."

From Lake Waco, our water goes into a pre-treatment plant called a DAF plant.

“We clean it from the soils and algae and anything else that's growing in there,” Schell said.

Next, it goes to one of two traditional water treatment plants in Waco, Mount Carmel, or Riverside.

On average, the city treats around 45 million gallons of water each day.

"You take it for granted a whole lot," Schell said. "I know I do personally. I just I expect my water faucet to come on all the time, or my toilets to flush, and when it doesn't, then it's like, okay, what happened? Why is this happening?"

The tour wrapped up at a wastewater facility treatment, also known as the central plant.

“There they get to see the yucky water come in, and then how it goes through several step process that it's actually cleaned and sent back into the Brazos River,” Schell said.

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