Where does BSU get your water?

The water that flows though your tap comes from deep beneath the ground in Bonita Springs. Bonita Springs Utilities began providing water in July 1972, to 800 customers. Today the utility pipes drinking water to more than 40,000 homes and businesses, blending it from two processes at an optimum rate for great taste and outstanding purity.
 

BSU draws raw water from the Lower Tamiami Aquifer, a thick sequence of porous limestone and clay beneath the earth’s surface. The water is filtered, treated through a lime-softening process to reduce the concentration of minerals, and disinfected. This is the same basic process BSU has used since its founding.



In 2004, BSU began operation of its reverse-osmosis water-treatment plant. Groundwater for the reverse-osmosis process is drawn from the deeper Lower Hawthorne Aquifer, helping to preserve water in the shallower aquifer. Reverse osmosis forces water through membranes to remove the salt and other impurities from the brackish water that comes from the deeper aquifer.

BSU owns and operates two well fields with 19 wells for the lime-softening water process. The 19 lime-softening wells have an average depth of 100 feet. Eight additional wells at a depth of 800 feet supply water for the reverse-osmosis water process.

The two processes can provide a total of 14 million gallons of water per day for our customers. In 2009, total water production was 2.65 billion gallons. The Southeast Desalting Association honored our RO plant with the 2005-06 Plant of the Year Award for the 10-state region, and in 2007, the American Water Works Association judged BSU’s water the best-tasting in the three-county region.
 
BSU’s tap water, like all drinking water produced in the nation, is continuously tested and monitored. Each year, we distribute our Water Quality Report to member-customers to remind them where our water comes from, what it contains and the risks that our water treatment is designed to prevent.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency sets and enforces standards for drinking water. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sets standards for bottled water based on EPA standards, but they apply only to bottled water transported between states.

As a result, those who choose to drink bottled water don’t often know where the water originates. In fact, as much as 40 percent of bottled water is bottled tap water.
 
Not only is the source of bottled water often a mystery, bottled water is no cleaner, safer or healthier than tap water. Compared to bottled water, tap water saves you money and is kinder to the environment. While many people recycle, studies show that more than 80 percent of plastic beverage bottles are simply thrown away. Trucking cases of filled bottles to the grocery store consumes more energy, pollutes the environment and contributes to global warming.
 
We are proud that our water consistently exceeds both state and federal standards.