Jasey Michelle's 365/366 Photo a Day Blog

The Des Moines Water Works operates two water treatment plants in Central Iowa: One on Fleur Drive and a second at Maffitt Reservoir, southwest of the metro area. The Fleur plant treats water pumped from one of three sources: Raccoon River, Des Moines River and Infiltration Gallery - ground water collected through a series of pipes below ground next to the Raccoon River. The water is obtained through radial collector wells located horizontally in the coarse sand and gravel formation beneath the river. The shallow groundwater receives natural filtration prior to entry into the wells. The groundwater is pumped to the treatment plant via a series of pipes and pumps that interconnect all five of the wells and the horizontally drilled well.

DMWW's chemists and microbiologist test the untreated water daily to determine the best source water. They also test the treated water every day to ensure it is healthy and safe. The tests include bacterial analysis, softening levels and testing for other contaminants.

There are more than 1000 miles of underground water mains and pipe distributing the water to homes in Des Moines and surrounding communities. A peak pumpage record was set on Monday, June 19, 2006, when DMWW pumped 91.72 million gallons in a single day!