Earth’s water today is the same water that was on the Earth billions of years ago. Water cycles naturally through the environment from the ground to the atmosphere and is continually reused. The natural water cycle from the ground to the atmosphere is called the hydrological cycle. Water on the Earth’s surface moves to the atmosphere through two paths; evaporation and transpiration. Water evaporates from bodies of water and land surfaces through heat energy and is transpired from living cells, such as plants. Water vapor enters the atmosphere and is circulated until is precipitated back to the Earth as rain or snow. Once water hits the surface of the Earth it will either run off into streams, lakes, or oceans or infiltrate the soil. Some infiltrated water becomes soil moisture that will be absorbed by plants or evaporated back into the environment. What water is not evaporated moves through the soil to become ground water at the water table. The water table volume varies in response to environmental conditions such as climate, annual precipitation, irrigation, and drainage into outlets such as springs. (3)
The Regional Water Authority provides New Haven and its surrounding area’s drinking water. The Regional Water Authority is a non-profit organization serving approximately 400,000 consumers in the New Haven area. Two boards govern the Regional Water Authority; the Representative Policy Board composed of community representatives, and an Authority that serves as the board of directors. The Regional Water Authority provides approximately 55 million gallons of water a day and during peak demand as much as 90 million gallons of water is delivered. Nine active reservoirs that can hold up to 19 billion gallons of water and five well fields provide the water for the Regional Water Authority. Water is distributed through a 1,600-mile long network of pipes, pumping stations, and storage tanks. Water to New Haven comes from Lake Gaillard located in North Branford. Reservoir water such as that from Lake Gaillard is filtered at Regional Water Authority plants and is disinfected with chlorine, phosphate, and fluoride. (4)
Water in reservoirs comes from precipitation and watershed/drainage basins. A watershed is the land over which water drains over land or underground into a stream, river, lake, estuary, or ocean. Watersheds are defined by the geology of the highest elevation in the area. Size of watersheds varies from acres to millions of acres. Divisions of watersheds are based on where water runoff moves in opposite directions towards adjacent watersheds. In other words a highpoint or ridge where water moves down the highpoint in opposite directions. Water is vulnerable as it moves through the water system as water picks up contaminates as it moved through the watershed into a reservoir. (5) Farming, recreation, mining, construction, and forestry can affect the quality of water in your watershed. Many paved surfaces within a watershed cause storm water runoff, sedimentation, erosion, flooding, and bacterial contamination. Maintaining a healthy watershed is important because our watershed provides water for drinking, irrigation, recreation, and industry. (6) New Haven is in two major watershed areas, the Quinnipiac River watershed and the Long Island Sound watershed. The Quinnipiac watershed has 591,000 people and covers over 14 cities and towns. It supports native brook trout and many recreation areas. The Quinnipiac River drains into the third largest port in Connecticut and has one of the most productive seed oystering areas in the United States and its 834-acre tidal marsh is a wildlife refuge. (7) Long Island Sound is an estuary with two connections to the sea, the Race to the east and the East River to the west and has several freshwater rivers feeding into it as far away as Canada. Long Island Sound provides an important habitat for plant and animal life as well as providing $5.5 billion to the region from recreation and commercial boating, sport fishing, swimming, and sight seeing. Over eight million people live in the Long Island watershed and the increased development has presented many threats to the water quality in Long Island Sound. (8)
Once water is taken from the reservoir (in this case Lake Gaillard) water is sent to a treatment plant were undesirable odors and tastes are removed by aeration and filtration. When water is taken into a treatment plant dirt and other suspended particles are removed from the water. Clear water is then sent for disinfection, the Regional Water Authority adds chlorine to disinfect the water. Fluoride is added for dental health as well as phosphate to prevent corrosion of the pipes. Water then moves through filters made of layers of sand, gravel, and charcoal that help to remove small particles. Water is then piped to a household for consumption. (9/10)
