Sacramento Water Treatment Update Meant To Meet Growing Region's Demands

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Sacramento residents have spent millions of dollars to improve the city's nearly century-old water delivery system.

Sacramento's water treatment plant is a maze of pipes, pools and pump stations, converting gross contaminated water from the Sacramento River to clean water for almost a half-million people in Sacramento.

The plant originally opened when Calvin Coolidge was president.

"Would you drive a 1924 car to work everyday, or do want to drive the 2016," said plant spokesman David Phillips.

The old system will soon be decommissioned and replaced by a multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art water treatment plant that's already built. City leaders approved it in 2012 and it was paid for by previous water rate increases.

The fast construction was meant to meet a growing population the old treatment plant won't be able to handle.

"Reliability is huge," said Bill Busath with the department of utilities. "We need to deliver water consistently to the citizens of Sacramento."

The plant must help push usable water through more than 3,300 miles of pipes.