Thr

ree Rive
ers Wate
er Filtra
ation Pla
ant
Fort Waynes
W
Threee Rivers Filtrration Plant trreats, softens and filters drrinking water to serve overr
250,000 people in Fort Wayne and
a surroundiing areas. Treeated water iss pumped outt of the Plant
and in
nto Fort Wayn
nes water disstribution system.
Plant Capacity: 72
2 MGD
Origin
nal Plant Com
mpleted: 1933
3
Capacity
C
addittion 1954
Capacity
C
addittion 1979
Lab
L addition 1993
Electrical
E
geneerator addition
n 2006
High
H
Service Pump
P
Station 2007
UV
U disinfectio
on 2012 - 2014
Histo
ory
Fort Waynes
W
first water works was
constrructed in 1880 and the watter supply
came from deep wells. The orig
ginal cost
of thee works was ju
ust over $250
0,000. During
g the period bbetween 18800 and 1930 thee pipes
carryiing clean water were exten
nded as the co
ommunity greew. The late 11920s saw accute water
shortaages during th
he summer sp
prinkling season and there w
was general ccommunity diiscussion
aboutt the need for new water su
upply. By thee early 1930ss the capacityy limitations oof an
underrground waterr supply (wellls) became more
m
and moree apparent. A 1930 engineeering study
indicaated that the existing
e
waterr wells had reached capacitty and that drrilling additioonal wells
would
d not producee enough wateer to justify th
he cost.
The 1930 study alsso looked for other sourcess of a sustainaable water suppply. It deterrmined that
there were no smalll lakes in thee area with enough of a wattershed area tto be able to cconsistently
meet the
t needs of a growing ind
dustrial comm
munity. The sstudy looked aat using the M
Maumee River
at or below
b
Fort Wayne
W
as a posssible water supply.
s
The M
Maumee Riveer would havee furnished a
sufficcient and conssistent supply
y, but the quallity of the watter was questiionable becauuse the
Maum
mee received much
m
of the drainage
d
inccluding sanitaary sewage from the Cityy itself.
The St.
S Joseph and
d St. Marys Rivers were alsso consideredd as a raw watter source. T
The St. Josephh
was determined
d
to be preferablee as a water su
upply becausee it had a morre steady flow
w and better
waterr quality than the St. Maryss.
In 193
33, the origin
nal Three Riveers Water Filttration Plant w
was completeed at the pointt where the Stt.
Marys River and th
he St. Joseph River come together
t
to fo rm the Maum
mee River. Thhe original
Plant provided filtrration and waater softening facilities to tr
water per dayy.
treat 24 millioon gallons of w
The original
o
Plant included a 20
0 million gallo
on finished w
water reservoirr and a pump station that
would
d send water out
o to homes and businesses. The consttruction was financed withh a $2.5
millio
on bond issue.
The Plant
P
was consstructed on a 25 acre tract of land east oof Spy Run A
Avenue. The ssite is
historrically significcant and saw the passing of
o the prehistooric mound buuilders, nativee Americans
includ
ding Iroquois, Shawnee an
nd Miami, Freench trappers,, British conqquerors and finnally the

Amerrican pioneer. Flags of Fraance, Great Brritain and thee early Unitedd States flew ffrom forts
locateed within a gu
unshots distaance of todays Plant.
The site at the conffluence of thee rivers was chosen as the llocation for thhe Filtration P
Plant in 1931
for seeveral reasonss. The land was
w already ow
wned by the C
City. Its centrral location m
made it easy too
send water
w
to all paarts of the city
y from the Plant. Also beccause of its naatural setting the site couldd
be lan
ndscaped and made attractiive.
The desire
d
to makee the Plant bu
uilding a landm
mark carried tthrough the pplanning and ddesign phasess.
The building
b
was designed
d
in a gothic architeectural style bby the firm off Hoad, Deckker, Shoecraft
& Dru
ury of Ann Arbor,
A
Michigaan and originaally consistedd of a central tower with w
wings
extend
ding from fou
ur sides. The exterior of th
he building w
was covered w
with Indiana liimestone.
Many
y of the cornerrs feature carv
vings of even
nts in the histoory of water, water relatedd scenes or
Indian
na wildlife.
Otherr significant water
w
utility faacilities
were completed co
oncurrent with
h the Plant
in 193
33. The St. Jo
oseph River Dam
D and
Pump
ping Station was
w built acrosss the St.
Joseph River from what is now Johnny
Appleeseed Park previously
p
Ciity Utilities
Park. The dam creeates an upstreeam
reserv
voir where waater is stored to
t supply
City Utilities.
U
In 195
54, an expanssion of the oriiginal Plant
doublled its capacitty by adding facilities
f
to
provid
de complete treatment
t
for another 24
millio
on gallons of water
w
per day
y (MGD).
In 197
79, ground was broken forr yet another
expan
nsion. The 19
979 expansion
n of the
filtrattion and soften
ning facilitiess added anoth
her
St. Josseph River Daam
24 MG
GD of capaciity to the Plan
nt bringing itss
total ability
a
to prod
duce finished water to 72
MGD
D. The Cedarv
ville Dam on the St. Joseph
h
Riverr at Cedarvillee was also com
mpleted as paart of the 19799 project to crreate more onn-stream wateer
storag
ge. The projeects in 1979 were
w financed through an $$18 million boond issue.
Both the 1954 and 1979 expansions added co
omplete separrate treatmentt plants to thee water
treatm
ment complex
x. The three in
ndividual plan
nts can be runn independenntly so that vaarious portions
of thee total Plant may
m be taken off-line
o
for ro
outine maintennance or repaair as needed. The variouss
additiions to the com
mplex over th
he years weree carefully dessigned to be iin keeping wiith the Plantss
origin
nal architecturre and character.
In 199
93 an addition
n to the Plant was built to house
h
new w ater testing annd analytical laboratories.
The new
n laboratory
y addition pro
ovided more space
s
and moodern equipm
ment for testingg required byy
ever-iincreasing Federal regulatiions. Lab technicians test raw and fi
finished wateer for more
than 120
1 substancees. Some testts are done co
ontinually; othhers are done daily, weeklyy, monthly orr
annuaally. Testing is done at hou
urly intervals within the Pllant so that thhe treatment pprocess can bee
adjustted as needed
d to meet chan
nging raw watter conditionss. In additionn, the Plant coollects and

tests water
w
sampless from variou
us parts of the City everydaay to make suure that it meeets health andd
safety
y standards.
In 2005 and 2006, Ciity Utilities innvested $4
million in a major eleectrical upgraade at the Plannt
includinng the construuction of backkup electrical
generatoors capable off powering thhe entire Plantt
in the evvent of an eleectrical outagee. Electrical
upgradees throughout the Plant cleared the way
for the nnext phase off improvemennts.

New electrical gen

nerator built in 2006

In 2007 , the new highh service presssure North

Pump S tation was coonstructed to ssend water
from thee Plant out to all parts of thhe City. It hass
four pum
mps, each cappable of pumpping 16
million gallons of waater per day. The project
replacess the original high pressuree pump room

built in
i 1933 and in
ncreases the effective
e
capaacity of finishhed water storrage. The desiign of the
buildiing and pump
ps allows spacce for two mo
ore pumps to bbe installed, oone of which will be
installled in year 20
013 as part off the ultravioleet (UV) disin fection projecct. The originnal east pump
buildiing is being reecycled and will
w soon housse the new ulttraviolet lightt disinfectionn system that iis
curren
ntly under con
nstruction and
d will be operrational in 20014.
ater
Treatting the Wa
Waterr flowing into
o the Three Riivers Filtratio
on Plant is tre ated using a ccombination oof physical
and ch
hemical proceesses. The firrst step in thee treatment prrocess involvees the additionn of ferric
sulfatte, lime, and carbon
c
to the raw
r water. The
T chemicalss are physically mixed intoo the water
with large
l
paddles.. In this floccculation stagee, the ferric suulfate causes tthe formationn of sticky
clump
ps in the wateer called flocc. Soil particcles and otherr materials in the water sticck to the floc.
Durin
ng flocculation
n, the lime beegins to soften
n the water annd the carbonn soaks up agrricultural
chemiicals and help
ps to remove taste
t
and odor. The water moves into ssettling tanks where the flooc
particcles continue to
t grow and pick
p up the caarbon. The cllumps of floc eventually beecome so
heavy
y that they setttle to the botttom of the tan
nks. The wateer is then draiined off from
m the top.
Waterr goes through
h the flocculaation and
settlin
ng processes again,
a
then reeceives a
chemiical treatmentt of chlorine and
a fluoride.
The chlorine
c
kills bacteria
b
and germs.
g
The
added
d fluoride willl remain in th
he water to aid
d
in thee prevention of
o tooth decay
y.
Finallly the water flows
fl
into filteers where it
moves by gravity through
t
severral layers of
filtering material. Because of a difference in
n
electrrical charges between
b
the water
w
particless
and th
he filter materrial, the filter media attractt
and trrap micro- org
ganisms that are
a resistant to
t
chloriine disinfectio
on. The filterrs also trap an
nd
hold many
m
of the remaining miccroscopic
particcles that causee the water to be cloudy. The
T

Setttling basins oon the south sside of the Pllant

cloudiness, or turbidity, of the water is a general indicator of water quality. It is measured in

Nephelometric Turbidity Units, or NTU. The goal of the Plant is always to produce water with
less than 0.1 NTU of turbidity. Federal regulations require that water be treated so that turbidity
does not exceed 0.3 NTU.
An ultraviolet light (UV) disinfection process to be implemented in 2014 will increase protection
against an intestinal parasite called Cryptosporidium. Although Crypto has never been found in
Fort Waynes drinking water, new federal regulations require that all water systems that receive
their water from a river, lake or stream implement added precautions. Traditional chlorine
disinfection does not kill Crypto, but filtration physically removes it from the water. Treating
water using ultraviolet light deactivates Cryptosporidium, and will allow City Utilities to meet the
high standards set by the US Environmental Protection Agency and Indiana Department of
Environmental Management.
Following the treatment process, water is stored in an underground reservoir at the Plant until it is
pumped into the pipes that carry it to customers in Fort Wayne and vicinity.