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GRU

Water Quality

Our Community » Content » Water Quality

What we’re doing to maintain the safety and quality of your drinking water

Gainesville’s drinking water comes from the Floridan aquifer. We test and treat it at the Murphree Water Treatment Plant. 

 

 

 

 

Water Quality

GRU takes great care to ensure that our water remains safe and available on demand for approximately 200,000 residents. Gainesville's water consumption is about 23 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. Our consumptive use permit allows us to provide our customers with up to 30 million gallons per day of high-quality drinking water. GRU delivers approximately 8 billion gallons of drinking water to our community every year.

  • Minimal treatment of the water drawn from the Floridan Aquifer is required. Nevertheless, it is closely monitored throughout the multi-step treatment and distribution processes.
  • Personnel from our Murphree Water Treatment Plant test the drinking water on an hourly basis and conduct additional testing throughout the distribution system. Over 63,900 samples are analyzed each year. 
  • Although a virtually impermeable layer of clay protects the aquifer in this area, GRU purchased and maintains a conservation easement for 7100 acres surrounding our water plant. This in order to protect the aquifer against possible contamination.

Water Chemistry 

In case you are curious, here are answers to some of the most common water chemistry questions we receive from home brewers and aquaculture enthusiasts. You can learn more about GRU's water quality data in our annual Water Quality Report

  • Hardness: Approximately 140 mg/L as CaCO3 (8.2 grains/gal)
  • pH: 8.6
  • Sulfate: 97.4 mg/L
  • Chloride: 26.3 mg/L
  • Ammonia: 0.24 mg/L

Water Quality FAQs

Click here to view frequently asked questions about water quality. 

 

PFAS

Discussions concerning PFAS chemicals have gained attention in both national and local news outlets. The US EPA recently published the first round of results from the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) which included PFAS detections in some public water supplies. GRU sampling for UCMR is scheduled for February and August of 2024.

Residential Lead and Copper 

GRU routinely monitors your drinking water in accordance with federal and state laws. We test for lead and copper in customers’ homes every three years. Our historical values for lead and copper are low and have met drinking water standards for 25 years. While these contaminants are not in our source water, they can enter tap water through old, corroding household plumbing materials.

Water Resources

Supplying Future Needs

Saving water is an important part of ensuring an adequate supply of safe drinking water for future generations. Our efforts include: