welcome to Inside Louisville, where we introduce you to the people, places and things that make up Kentucky's largest city.

This week we take you inside the Louisville Water Company.

Now, when it was created in 1860, it was known as the Water Works, serving about 500 customers.

The original Louisville Water tower still sits on the riverbanks of the Ohio.

It's the oldest standing ornamental water tower in the country, and in fact, it's on the National Register of Historic Landmarks.

Well, today, the Louisville Water Company serves nearly a million people.

That's 20% of Kentucky's population.

It's also known as some of the best tasting water in the country, consistently winning top rankings when it comes to taste.

Here's a look back at some of the history of the Louisville Water Company.

The year is 1854.

That's when the Kentucky legislature votes to create the Louisville Waterworks, Kentucky's first public drinking water provider.

But it wasn't until 1860, when production would begin on the banks of the Ohio River, where the Louisville Water Tower and the original pumping station still stand today.

But back then, few people wanted to pay for water service when they could get it out of a family.

Well, as they had done for years.

In fact, the real push to get the city water service wasn't for public health.

It was because of fire.

The Great Fire of 1840 destroyed much of downtown, highlighting the need for more than just buckets of water from wells to fight catastrophic fires.

At first, the water service is mostly used for fire hydrants, street cleaning, and the newfangled hydraulic elevators.

In 1893, the steam engine pump was constructed, and groundbreaking water filtration experiments were discovering how clean water could help prevent diseases that were running rampant in the late 19th century.

In 1909, the Crescent Hill Water Treatment Plant goes online with six filters, and within a year, Louisville's typhoid death rate dropped by 60%.

The Crescent Hill facility took over for the original pumping station, allowing for larger, more modern pumping stations to operate the water supply.

Reservoir Park also became one of Louisville's premier swimming spots when the Crescent Hill Swimming Pool opened in the heart of the water treatment facility.

Electricity comes to the water company in 1928, and the first electric pump goes online slowly replacing the old steam pumps.

But in 1937 those steam pumps would be put back into action when the worst flood in Louisville's history threatened to shut down the city's drinking water supply.

The pumping stations were flooded with nearly five feet of water, and a steam boat was brought in to bring power back to one of the old steam pumps, and the loss of the city's drinking water was narrowly avoided.

In the 1960s, the Louisville Water Company was expanding operations, sending water outside of Jefferson County for the first time.

After 100 years in business, they began the long process of identifying and replacing old wearing pipes, including those that were made out of lead.

In the 1970s, the Louisville Water Tower Pumping Station Number one, the Crescent Hill Reservoir, Gatehouse, and shelter House are all added to the National Register of Historic Places.

And if you've ever wondered what's inside, water towers are built to lessen the pressure of the water.

Steam engines would pump water from the river with such force that it could blow the roof off of a container or bust normal pipes.

So they shot up in the tower, and gravity is used to push it through your faucet.

At home.

Louisville's water tower and original pumping station underwent massive renovations in the past year, carefully restoring all of the ornamental artifacts and statues that make it an iconic landmark in the city of Louisville today.

Well, Kelly Dearing-Smith is the vice president of marketing and communications for the Louisville Water Company.

We just heard a little bit about the really cool history of the water company.

What sort of stands out most to you about the the history of this?

>> Yeah, I think for me it's Louisville Water is this blend of a utilitarian.

We provide water to nearly a million people, but there's also this aspect of form and function.

And what I mean by that is we have incredible structures.

The Louisville Water Tower, the original pumping station that are National Historic Landmarks.

But we have 450 people every day providing something that most people take for granted until you turn on your faucet.

I like to say there's a story in every glass of water, and it depends on where you're coming from, what that story could be.

So to think about 165 years ago that the founders built these grand structures that have stood the test of time, they were marketing a product that nearly nobody used in 1860.

And today, every city, no matter where you live, you are anchored in water.

So it's an incredible story to be part of.

And and I never thought about water the way I do now until I came to Louisville.

Water.

>> Sure.

Yeah.

And it is a unique to Louisville too, because of the amount of people you all serve, nearly a million customers.

And I don't think a lot of people realize how far it goes.

>> That is true.

So Louisville Water started in 1860 as Kentucky's first public drinking water provider.

Today we are the largest, so 20% of Kentucky's population relies on Louisville water.

And so that's all of the Louisville area.

But it's also the communities that surround us.

So it's hardened Spencer, Oldham, Oldham, Shelby, Nelson.

And oftentimes we are selling water.

We're partnering with water districts to get water to those folks.

So whether you live in the downtown Louisville area, where your studio is at today is some of our original service area, or whether you're 55 miles away in the Glendale area where Ford's EV battery plant is, that has a little bit of Louisville water in it as well.

>> Yeah, it it stretches so far.

So talk to me a little bit about the process.

>> Yeah.

>> People understand how does this work.

>> Well it doesn't magically appear in your faucet okay.

>> It feels that way.

>> It does doesn't it.

Yeah.

So it takes on average about two days to produce your drinking water.

It's a manufactured product.

It comes from the Ohio River, both surface level and about 70ft below.

We're incredibly lucky to have the river.

It gives us this abundant, amazing natural, natural resource.

But it needs to it needs to be treated before it's turned into drinking water.

So at Louisville Water, we take the water from the Ohio River.

We're making sure that we remove anything in there that we don't want you to drink.

We're taking it through a filtration process.

And then in about two days, after a couple hundred science tests, it's totally safe for you to drink.

We do that every day, 24 seven.

And on average, we're producing around 130 million gallons of drinking water.

So that's part one of the process.

But then we have to get it to wherever you live.

And that travels through about 4300 miles of water main.

So this is water main that's under the ground.

We have booster pumping stations, elevated storage tanks.

And it's a continual process.

The water is always under pressure in those pipes so that when you turn on the faucet, the water comes out as a reliable asset for your house.

Yeah, that's a very simple way of looking at it.

But I think one thing I always stress to folks is that you might think of a water utility as just this, this entity that sends something to your house.

We're really in the business of public health.

We make a product that cannot be recalled.

We can't bring the water back.

There's no second guessing.

So science and engineering grounds what we do.

It's also why we are just over the top about talking about water and water quality.

The only time people see us or hear from us.

It cannot be when something breaks we need money.

Or there's a national story about water.

We want you to value what comes out of your house and and realize how important it is to everything you do in your life.

>> Yeah, one of the, I guess, downsides of having a 165 year old water utility is that some of those water mains.

>> That you mentioned.

>> Are a century or more old.

>> Yes.

>> So I know a big part of what you all are doing now is trying to figure out how to repair and maintain these underwater mains that are, I mean, more than a century old.

And so how do you do that?

And and what goes into that.

>> So there's, there's a, there's a huge amount of engineering at Louisville Water Company.

And in a very simple term, it's like taking care of your house.

It's preventative maintenance.

You don't want to wait until something happens to put the roof on or to put the new windows in.

So at Louisville Water, we take advantage of of technology with robots.

We look at the age of a pipe, we inspect pipes.

We're looking at where we might have some issues in the past, and then systematically replacing or repairing miles of pipe.

Every year we have pipe that goes back to 1860, 1870.

We have a project underway right now replacing a pipe that was installed in 1879.

Replacing those pipes can be complex because where cows and pastures were in 1879, there are homes and businesses today, so there's a whole community conversation to replacing those pipes.

But we do it on an annual basis because we want to ensure reliability.

It is inconvenient.

Construction is never easy, but my goal is for you to embrace the inconvenience, to appreciate the convenience of having water.

There's been a lot of advancements in engineering, though, that where we literally can use some robotic devices to send them through pipes and try to determine the strength of that pipe, and that helps us determine when we need to replace or repair the pipe so that it doesn't break.

On average, Louisville water would have between 450 to 500 water main breaks a year.

Most of the time you never know, though, we're able to reroute the water, fix the pipe, and sometimes they're often on small pipes.

>> Wow.

>> That's incredible.

>> Yeah, it keeps us busy.

>> Yeah, it does.

>> Some of those specific projects I know talk about inconveniences.

The River.

>> Road project.

Yeah.

So tell us what's the what's.

>> Happening with.

>> That right now.

>> Yeah.

So we have a process in drinking water.

When you make drinking water you are removing things from the water.

And that has to go someplace.

So we have an existing pipe that runs parallel to River road that takes the residuals from our water treatment process to a lagoon area.

That pipe has been in the ground for about 50 or 60 years, and we need a redundant pipe.

Well, it's a very tricky project because River road is this beautiful scenic highway, but you have the Ohio River on one side and homes and businesses on the other.

So this has been an incredible, coordinated project to systematically put a pipe in and along River road, where about 70% done with the project on River road.

I just want to acknowledge the community collaboration that we've had to do.

I know it's not easy.

I know we are causing a detour for and causing you to take a different way, but we've been committed this whole entire time to keep access to all the restaurants and homes and businesses.

We've constructed some temporary roads, we've done some unique marketing around these restaurants because they're really important to who we are.

But this is a project that will hopefully end before the spring of 2026.

>> Okay.

>> And then what's the.

>> Next big.

Well, there's always something.

>> Yeah.

Yeah.

So right now we're replacing one of our older mains that's along the Oak Street corridor.

That's in 1879 pipe.

We are installing a new liner at the Crescent Hill Reservoir that that's our that's where the mud settles out of the water.

Also a beautiful place to to visit.

We're also looking at a lot of advancement and advancements in water treatment technology.

When we started in 1860, it was what could you see with the naked eye?

There was no germ theory, no true microscopes as we know today.

Now we're looking at parts per quadrillion, parts per trillion, and trying to determine the best treatment strategy for that.

So Louisville Water has an EPA certified lab.

We have PhD scientists doing research on water quality because you can't stop, because the science is continually evolving.

And so oftentimes what we learn here at Louisville are things that we can apply to other water utilities throughout the United States.

>> And Louisville has become a model.

>> For a lot of those areas.

>> Yeah, we we have an incredible water story, a few things that stand out.

We are the only drinking water provider in the United States that's trademarked tap water in Louisville, Kentucky.

The water is so good.

It has a name.

It's called Louisville Pure Tap.

I never leave home without my reusable bottle.

We are we are just fanatic about endorsing tap water.

Louisville was also the home of filtration experiments in the late 1800s.

So when the Ohio River was so muddy and we were like, we got to get this stuff out of the river, we brought a man to Louisville named George Warren Fuller in 1896, and the filtration experiments that he did really paved the way for safe drinking water around the world.

So Louisville has this pretty cool story.

I also think that we may be the only water provider with a page on their website dedicated to bourbon.

>> Yeah, so that is a big part though is Bourbon story, though it is.

The the.

>> Quality of the.

>> Water here.

>> We're Bourbons best friend and I mean that literally when we started in 1860, some of our first and best customers were distilleries.

Not so much for the recipe, but they needed us for fire protection for those beautiful and large warehouses right here on Whiskey Row.

Over time, we've become part of their recipe.

And so 20 distilleries use our water every day.

We do water and bourbon tastings with our bourbon partners to highlight the value of our water, and how it plays into the recipe of what they produce.

>> So a lot of people say, you know, if our water originates from the Ohio.

>> River, how.

>> In the world does it.

>> Taste so good?

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> It's a secret recipe.

No, you know, all water, no matter where you're coming from, is some.

Usually if it's tap water, it's some type of manufacturing product.

And now people might go, you're not manufacturing water.

But we kind of are.

I mean, we're taking a source that is an interstate highway.

A wet interstate highway is used for recreation.

There's industry along the river.

And how are we able to turn that into some of the highest quality drinking water in North America?

Starts with science continually understanding the river, advocating for safe practices of what goes in the river and what does not go in the river.

Continually testing the water, advancing the science of water, and really investing in the systems.

You cannot operate a water system of this size and not continually invest in the people, in the systems, in the pipe, and how you deliver that water.

We take it really seriously and people take it for granted, right?

I mean, and just the esthetics.

Sure.

We've all traveled places where water tastes differently and you're like, what is that?

Before you ever know anything about the quality of Louisville water, you know what it tastes, smells and looks like.

And we put a premium on taste.

Is that your first indication of water quality?

>> Sure.

>> And you hear about.

These communities across the country.

That run.

Into contaminated water sources.

And awful health.

>> Problems because.

>> Of water.

>> And so.

>> The trust.

Factor is so important, I would imagine.

And what it is.

>> Do it is we actually measure trust.

We we we, we want to know what people think of us.

So I'm really proud that nine out of ten customers say they trust Louisville Water.

And how does that happen?

It doesn't happen overnight.

Louisville Water considers itself a brand, and a brand means that you put emphasis on community relationships.

We have conversation about what we're seeing in the river about projects that we're doing.

We tell the story of what we do.

You can visit us, we'll come to your school.

We'll come to your church group, your Kiwanis group, your quilt club.

We will talk about water however you want us to talk about water, because I want you to trust us.

And I want you to understand that if there's a national story about water that you're thinking in your mind, I know where I can get that question answered, or Louisville water is going to keep me covered.

If you see a construction sign in your neighborhood, you're going to go, got a detour?

But it's okay because I have safe drinking water and I have reliable fire protection as well, and it takes years to build that trust and communication is a huge part of it.

I'm really proud at Louisville Water that we have put this emphasis on being a community partner.

>> Yeah, and I think a lot of the areas too, that you all serve, you are such a good community.

>> Yeah.

>> And you mentioned some of the things that you all do to outreach in the community, the education programs, the field trips.

Tell us a little bit about that and how obviously you all benefit the community in so many ways, but the community gives back to you all as well.

>> Yeah, we're really building a generation that values water.

>> Yeah, right.

They all have their.

>> Water bottle whether.

>> You're 5 or 55.

Right.

So we have a very robust school program.

We work very closely with the schools and the state aligning to what teachers are teaching, because water can be part of your curriculum.

So we visit schools every year for free classroom programing.

You can come to the Waterworks Museum and take a tour.

You can bring a field trip there.

We will do health programs.

We have a great handwashing program that talks about water and public health.

We do a whole thing on hydration too.

So what's the value of water?

They're one of the funnest things we do, though, I think in storytelling is we brand bottle filling stations.

So if you've been anywhere in the Louisville area, whether it's the airport, the zoo, the arena, the soccer stadium, you'll see a story about water on a bottle filling station.

And we just thought it was kind of a clever way to to tell our story to someone who's visiting.

Right.

Or or maybe somewhere you're visiting with your kids.

Education happens in a lot of different ways.

Social media is a big part of that, and I use my own kids as examples now.

I mean, there are 28 and almost and 25, and I want them and how they interact with us that age group.

I want them to know the story of what's in their water, especially when you sign up for service.

That should not be the first time you hear about Louisville water is when we send you a bill.

>> Yeah, yeah.

And Louisville Water.

Also, you mentioned the Crescent Hill Reservoir and the water tower.

There are so many areas to that I think are unique to Louisville in that we take such pride in the the place of it all.

It's very ornamental and beautiful.

>> Yeah.

>> Our history goes back to 1860.

And when water works, as they were called back then, were coming about, the people looked at them as a place to visit.

You would come down in your horse drawn carriage.

So when you think about the water tower and the original pumping station at Zorn and River road, very similar to facilities that you might see in Boston and Philadelphia and in Chicago.

But fun fact the Louisville Water Tower is the oldest standing water tower of its kind in the United States, and the tower and the pumping station are National Historic Landmarks.

>> Yeah.

And beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

And I know there's also the Waterworks Museum.

Yeah.

How many water utilities have a museum?

>> Just a few.

We're part of a handful.

Yeah.

>> So, I mean, we have an incredible archive collection.

Our founders kept everything handwritten notes, photos, pieces of the original water, waterworks.

So we opened the museum in 2014 to serve a lot of purposes.

One, to tell the story of your drinking water.

There's a great architectural story.

There's an art story, there's a history story, there's a science story.

So I always tell people when you visit the museum at the tower, you will never look at a glass of water the same again.

You're going to know the story.

But the other thing you get to see when you visit the Waterworks Museum is a giant steam engine.

So we have one of only five Allis-Chalmers steam engines left in the United States.

It no longer is operational, but believe it or not, Louisville Water made a movie about itself in 1938 where you see the steam engine operating.

>> Wow.

>> It's pretty cool.

>> Yeah.

And you mentioned to some of the data centers that are popping up and the energy needed for that, as well as the the battery.

Plant in Hardin County.

How does Louisville Water play into those?

>> So economic development is something that we are very engaged in right now.

And I think this is a little unique on the water side.

Oftentimes power jobs will leave that lead that conversation.

But water needs a seat at the table when we're talking about jobs, because there's infrastructure needs.

There are supply issues, there's quality needs.

And so what we have done at Louisville Water is strategically align ourselves with not only the local and state entities that are working on economic development, but the communities around us that purchase water from us.

So when a call comes in about a data center, about a food manufacturer, about a bourbon distillery, we want a seat at the table so that we can ensure that there's adequate infrastructure, that we take care of the needs of the community, and that we're making sure that we plan for the long run.

So, for example, when we put a pipe in the ground, we assume that it's going to be there at least a hundred years.

And so thinking about how a community will grow not only from people, but business, helps us determine what size pipe do we need?

Do we need extra energy.

And so those are important conversations that have to happen early before you make a decision.

>> And that's part of the expansion to Hardin County.

>> That is yeah.

So we.

>> Were already working with Hardin County on a number of ways.

But when the battery plant came to be, they realized that they needed additional supply of water.

So we have been installing infrastructure along Interstate 65 to get there.

But at the same time, there was also an expansion of bourbon in Nelson County.

So we said, okay, let's all collaborate.

And so now we're putting in additional infrastructure into Nelson County to support the bourbon sector as well.

So that's a perfect example of the collaboration and the conversations that when they happen at the right time, the water needs, there are going to be secured for the next 50 to 75 years.

>> Yeah.

What do you think other communities can learn from Louisville Water and how how you all have evolved over the years?

>> I think the most important lesson that people could look at us is to be visible.

And and that's more than just coming from your faucet.

In 1860, we were marketing a product that nobody used, and our founders thought these beautiful facilities would get people to buy the water.

Today, we are adamant that you will hear from us, whether it's in your neighborhood, through your bill at a program.

Just us talking today.

I want water utilities to think of themselves differently.

You are an anchor in this community.

The community doesn't work if we don't work.

And I think we've probably in our sector not done ourselves a service by being silent.

We've let other people come in and fill the void and tell our story.

And here in Louisville, that just won't happen.

>> You can watch and share this episode anytime.

It's online at Ket.org Louisville and check out our social media.

You can hear more about the bourbon connection to Louisville Water and some of the more interesting jobs there, including water taster that's on Instagram at KET.

Lou, thanks for spending a little time getting to know Louisville.

I hope we'll see you here next time.

Until then, make it a great week.