Water
We have one of the purest water supplies in the nation
The Murphree Water Treatment Plant treats and supplies water to all of Gainesville. We're fortunate in Gainesville to be able to tap into the Floridan Aquifer for our water supply. It is some of the purest water found anywhere in the country — the quality of water from our Murphree Water Treatment Facility meets all state and federal standards.
The Murphree Water Plant has been recognized by the American Water Works Association as the "Best Water Treatment Plant in Florida" and has been named numerous times as the "Best Operated Plant" by the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation.
GRU takes great care to ensure that our water remains pure, safe, and available on demand for over 65,000 customers. Gainesville's water consumption averages about 26 million gallons a day on average, but to handle the extra demand placed on the system by drought conditions, we have constructed additional supply wells (for a total of 15 wells) — allowing us to pump and deliver up to 54 million gallons of high quality drinking water per day. After treatment, we can provide our customers with up to 44 million gallons per day of high quality drinking water.
- Minimal treatment of the water drawn from the Floridan Aquifer is required. Nevertheless, it is closely monitored through a seven-step treatment process
- Personnel from our Murphree Water Treatment Plant test the drinking water on an hourly basis and conduct additional testing throughout the distribution system
- Although a virtually impermeable layer of clay protects the aquifer, GRU purchased water saving easements for 7100 acres surrounding our water plant in order to protect it against possible contamination from development
Want to know more about our water? Check out the History of Gainesville Water.
Read more about GRU's water quality or download the full water quality report. ( 3 MB, download time is approximately 3 minutes on a 56K dial-up modem).
* The Water Quality Report download requires Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® 5 or higher to view. Get immediate information and download a free copy of Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®.
