Strict Safeguards Revealed At Local Water Treatment Plant

PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. (CBS) --  The lead water crisis in Flint, Michigan has many in our area wondering if local drinking water is safe.

CBS 3's Anita Oh went inside an Aqua America water plant in Phoenixville, which serves about 450,000 people, to find how the water we drink is treated before it gets to the faucet.

At Aqua's Pickering East treatment facility, there's no shortage of water.

"It's a 15 million gallon per day plant," Curt Steffy, Vice President of Production at Aqua, told Eyewitness News.

But before any of that ever gets here, it's filtered through an extensive treatment process.

"With a coagulant, chlorination for disinfection, filtration, corrosion control, PH adjustment," Steffy explained.

Steffy says water samples are tested at least 12 times a day and are monitored during each step of the filtration and treatment process.

"We're under very, very strict parameters by regulators. We meet and exceed those goals as well," he said.

That's due in part to automated machines like which constantly provide measurements like chlorine levels.

If the numbers hit higher than they should, an alarm goes off that alerts the operator on duty.

"I want people to know how hard we work to provide safe water," Colleen Arnold, Aqua's deputy COO, said. "So that people don't even have to think about it."

With all those safeguards in place, city leaders recognize the water that serves our region can't be compared to that of Flint, Michigan.

"I know our water department is viewed as one of the best in the nation," Councilman Derek Green said.

Still, Councilman Green says the city can be proactive.

Philadelphia officials are now taking steps to make sure similar problems don't happen here.

On Thursday, city council members approved a resolution that would schedule hearings to explain how water is tested in Philadelphia.

"I do have concerns that we do have an old city and we do have some properties that either have lead pipes or lead components," Green said.

No word yet on when those city council hearings will be held.