Chemical Cost Cutting Yields Big Results for the City of Akron

Known as the Rubber Capital of the World, Akron is Ohio’s fifth largest city and has a long tradition of innovation and civic engagement. The City of Akron Water Supply Bureau has a similar vaunted history, and it produces and delivers roughly 35 million gallons of water per day (MGD) to roughly 300,000 customers in the city and surrounding areas.

Akron continually invests in its water system to consistently meet or exceed Federal and State drinking water standards. Its plant draws water from the protected watershed of the Upper Cuyahoga River and is a “conventional” surface water treatment plant with coagulation/flocculation/filtration for particle removal and chlorine addition for disinfection. Specific chemicals used in various combinations to meet their treatment goals include potassium permanganate, chlorine dioxide, powder activated carbon (PAC), alum, and sodium hypochlorite.