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John Hollenhorst Reporting They're putting something new in the drinking water for Sandy and Salt Lake City; it's ozone. If you breathe it, it's unhealthy. But officials say it not only makes water healthier; it tastes better.
The Metropolitan Water District wholesales water to Sandy and Salt Lake City. They're currently spending a quarter-billion dollars to upgrade facilities. A six million dollar piece of that is a system that injects ozone into the water.
Scott Forsling, Engineering Manager: "The ozone itself is a very powerful disinfectant and oxidizer."
The procedure starts with truckloads of liquid oxygen. It's so cold, the outsides of the pipes suck moisture out of the air and plaster it on as a coating of frost, ice, or snow. As the liquid oxygen flows through the pipes, it's still 297 degrees below zero. As it goes into the evaporators, it expands 800 times in volume.
Scott Forsling: "The liquid boils, turns into gaseous oxygen."
A strong electrical field zaps the oxygen gas, converting 12 percent of it into ozone, just before it's injected into the water supply. The main purpose is to combat a taste problem that hits whenever there's an algae bloom in Deer Creek Reservoir.
Mike Wilson, General Manager: "It is something that customers readily notice is the change in the taste of the water. And ozone has been proven very effective in taking care of those taste and odor issues."
This plant provides a third of Salt Lake's drinking water, half of Sandy's. The ozonated water gets diluted the further it goes from the plant.
Mike Wilson: "Some of our employees that work here live close by and they have anecdotally told us they have noticed a taste difference. Or better said, the lack of taste"
If you're bothered by the taste of chlorine, this may not help you with that. They still add chlorine later to make sure the water stays clean. But they say it has a fresher taste than it used to.
