Houston water services and solutions

Culligan Quench bottleless water coolers.

Take on-demand hydration to the next level. Culligan Quench bottleless water coolers and ice machines use advanced filtration and sanitization technologies such as carbon filtration and reverse osmosis to remove sediment, reduce lead and other chemical contaminants, and get rid of off-tastes and odors. By providing filtered water through a broad array of machines, our bottleless water coolers offer users countless consumption choices.

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Houston water quality: then

When early settlers first arrived in Houston, they relied on a variety of water sources. “Pure, cold, and wholesome water” from Beauchamp Springs was delivered to residents for 75 cents per 30 gallons. Cisterns captured rainwater for households, and shallow wells stored bayou water in barrels.

As the city grew, Houston water sources could not keep up with demand. After the City Market Fire of 1878, Houston City Council sought new sources and built a water works facility that pumped from the Buffalo Bayou. Then, in 1887, a resident drilled an artesian well and accidentally discovered the third largest underground reservoir in the country—a seemingly endless supply of pure water only 180 feet underneath the city.

In emergency situations, Houston would still pump water from Buffalo Bayou to sustain enough water pressure to fight fires. Residents began to suspect something was off, nicknaming Houston tap water; “tar water.” It wasn’t until 1906 that Houston restored confidence by drilling new wells instead of pumping from Buffalo Bayou.

After WWII, Houston city officials developed longer-range solutions from surface water sources. In 1953, city engineers constructed a dam across the San Jacinto River to create Lake Houston. The city also holds a percentage of the water rights to Lake Livingston (constructed in 1969) and Lake Conroe (constructed in 1973).

Culligan Quench water coolers.

Worried about contaminants in your drinking water? We offer a full complement of water filtration and sanitization technologies to remove sediment, reduce chemical contaminants, including lead, and get rid of off-tastes and odors. Depending on your local water quality, your Water Expert may recommend our NSF-certified carbon filtration, which works great for water with TDS (total dissolved solids) levels under 250 ppm (parts per million) or our NSF-certified reverse osmosis (RO) filtration, which is the standard for water with TDS levels over 250ppm.