Pittsburgh water 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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Pittsburgh water quality: then

Pittsburgh has relied on the Allegheny River as a steady source of drinking water as far back as its original residents, the Iroquois, and Lenape tribes. European settlers would inherit the abundant water source. However, by the 17th century, local spring water often tasted of sulfur, and wells, which relied on underground water that could offset the taste, were difficult to dig.

For sanitary reasons and against the ever-present danger of fire, officials established the first formal Pittsburgh water system. By 1802, it consisted of four 47-foot deep wells with pumps. It didn’t take long for the city’s booming population to outgrow this simple system. In 1828, Pittsburgh developers unveiled a river pumping station and a one-million-gallon reservoir. This infrastructure would continue to expand into Pittsburgh’s current water management system.

The 19th century saw another hurdle for the city’s water managers: waterborne illness. Likewise, contamination of the Allegheny reached such disastrous levels that the need for a treatment plant and process became obvious. After years of debate over design, Pittsburgh’s first filtration and treatment plant was constructed in 1907. By the 1950s, Pittsburgh water, formerly only treated with chlorine, needed a purification upgrade. Alum was introduced into the process – until the construction of a full chemical treatment plant arrived in 1962.

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.