The Town of Okotoks’ water supply is drawn from licensed shallow wells near the Sheep River.
Water Treatment Facts
- Raw water is pumped from the 11 wells located in the Sheep River Aquifer into the Water Treatment Plant in Sheep River Park. All water is filtered, flowed through the newly installed (2007) Ultra Violet (UV) disinfection system. Chlorine and fluoride are also added.
- WTP can treat a total pumping capacity of 2,400 Imperial Gallons per minute. This pump rate equates to a daily volume of 3.45 Million Gallons Per Day or roughly 1.75 times the average daily flows at build-out.
- The Town currently has 4.6 Million Gallons treated water storage capacity in three main reservoirs. Each Reservoir has the ability to pump approximately 5,000 Gallons Per Minute each, into their respective distribution system zones.
Water Treatment Process
- Okotoks receives its raw water from 11 groundwater wells that are under the influence of surface water (e.g., river, rain, runoff).
- Clarifiers settle out most of the dirt and other particles (turbidity).
- A coagulent chemical is added that sticks to the remaining dirt particles. This makes the "floc" heavy enough to sink to the bottom of the clarifier. Meanwhile the clear water at the surface of the clarifier moves to the filters.
- Water flows through three gravity filters made of anthracite coal, sand and gravel. They remove even smaller particles.
- Water from the filters receives fluoride and chlorine to disinfect bacteria and other microorganisms.
- See E.
- Ultraviolet light (UV) is an additional disinfection step to inactivate any remaining microorganisms (e.g., Cryptosporidium).
- From here the water goes to reservoirs and the disinfectants are allowed further time to work.
- From the reservoirs, the water is pumped to both the North and South Okotoks water distribution systems.