Culligan Quench of Richmond

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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Richmond water quality: then

In 1737, the first Richmond settlers drilled wells along the James River to supply water. But, like in many early American cities, residents of Richmond also dumped wastewater back into their water supply. As the city’s population grew, the river became overwhelmed with waste and the water wells began to produce contaminated water. In 1830, Richmond became the first U.S. city to utilize a sand filter system to purify water. Water was pumped from the James River and up 160 feet to the Marshall Reservoir. There, it slowly filtered through a layer of sand and then distributed throughout the city via a network of cast iron pipes.

While Richmond was the first U.S. city to filter its drinking water, the process did not produce uncontaminated drinking water, even when the city began chlorinating the water in 1917. A report at the time went so far as to say that Richmond’s “present water supply is unsafe.” The unsavory report prompted an upgrade of the whole system, including construction of a new water treatment plant on the banks of the James River, completed in 1924. To keep up with the growing water demand, city planners built additional reservoirs, including the “New Reservoir” and the Williams Dam.

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.