Recently, Dr. Leon Stanislav and Dr. Jeannie Beauchamp toured Clarksville’s water treatment plant.
The following is a letter he wrote about the experience that was published by The Leaf-Chronicle on April 16, 2015:
Dr. Jeannie Beauchamp and I recently had the privilege of touring Clarksville’s water treatment plant.
Clarksvillians can take great pride in this state-of-the-art facility. We had the pleasure of seeing every process from the raw water drawn from the Cumberland River to the final distribution product.
The plant is amazing. They no longer use simple filtration to remove particles form the water source. They have upgraded to a sedimentation system in large reservoirs using a charged chemical process. From mixing, coagulation, and sedimentation the turbidity is slowly removed and the water clears itself of particulate debris. Then it is filtered to eliminate any remaining harmful matter and finally disinfected.
As an example of the latest in technology, the plant uses a chlorine generator that takes simple table salt and converts it into the disinfectant that is fed into the clean water before it goes out into the community. This eliminates the potential dangers of using chlorine gas as was previously done.
The security and safety of the whole process is meticulously scrutinized by engineers and operators 24-7. There are monitors, pressure gauges, computer feeds, pH readers, fail-safe mechanisms with redundancy, shut-offs, and continuous lab analysis that insures the safety of our water and the operators themselves in the work environment.
The sophisticated main control room staffed by two people all day, every day looks like something that could launch the space shuttle. The entire plant is extremely clean and well kept. Additionally, the facility is growth-capable to meet future demand.
It was an honor to meet Pat Hickey, Gas & Water general manager, and his very professional team – Chris Lambert, senior director; Phillip Whittinghill, plant manager; and Randal Gillum, assistant manager. Clarksville should be quite proud of the facility and it’s very capable staff.
Leon E. Stanislav, DDS
Dr. Stan’s letter can also be read on The Leaf-Chronicle’s website, here.