Your Drinking (Tap) Water
Every time you turn on a faucet in your home or business in St. Lucie West, you are using water that has traveled through a carefully managed treatment, storage, and distribution system.
The St. Lucie West Services District provides drinking water to homes, businesses, and public facilities throughout our service area. From its source deep underground to its final delivery at your property, your water is treated, tested, monitored, and managed to provide safe, reliable, and high-quality drinking water every day.
Where Does Your Water Come From?
The District’s drinking water begins as groundwater from the Floridan Aquifer, a large underground water source located hundreds of feet beneath the surface.
Groundwater is withdrawn through a series of deep wells and transported to the District’s Water Treatment Plant. Because groundwater naturally contains dissolved minerals, salts, and other substances, it goes through an advanced treatment process before being delivered to our customers.
How Your Water Is Treated
The SLWSD operates a Reverse Osmosis (RO) Water Treatment Plant that uses advanced treatment technology to transform raw groundwater into high-quality drinking water.
But reverse osmosis is only one part of the process. Your water moves through several carefully controlled treatment stages before it is stored and delivered to the community.
Your Water Journey: From the Aquifer to Your Faucet
The entire process works together as one system:
Floridan Aquifer → Deep Wells → Reverse Osmosis → Secondary Treatment and Disinfection → Water Quality Monitoring → Storage → Distribution → Your Faucet
Step 1 - Source
Groundwater is pumped from deep wells in the Floridan Aquifer, one of Florida’s most productive groundwater sources, and transported to the Water Treatment Plant for treatment.
Step 2 - Reverse Osmosis (RO) Treatment
At the Water Treatment Plant, the raw groundwater undergoes reverse osmosis treatment. High pressure is used to move water through specialized membranes that remove dissolved solids, minerals, salts, and other impurities, producing high quality water.
Step 3 - Secondary Treatment
Following reverse osmosis, a portion of the RO-treated water passes through a calcite system to restore minerals and help stabilize the water. The water is then pH balanced and disinfected to meet Florida Department of Environmental Protection requirements and improve the quality and taste of the finished drinking water.
Step 4 - Water Quality Monitoring
Water quality is monitored throughout the treatment process. Our automated systems continuously monitor and adjust treatment levels, flow rates, and water quality conditions in real time.
Routine laboratory sampling and testing provide an additional layer of quality control and help ensure the water meets or exceeds applicable state and federal drinking water standards.
Step 5 - Storage
Once treatment is complete, finished drinking water is stored in the District’s water storage tanks. These tanks help maintain an adequate supply of treated water and allow the system to respond to changes in community demand throughout the day.
Step 6 - Distribution
From storage, drinking water is moved through the system using high service pumps and delivered to homes, businesses, and public facilities through the District’s network of underground water mains and distribution infrastructure.
How We Monitor Water Quality
Protecting drinking water quality requires continuous attention. The SLWSD monitors the treatment process and routinely collects and tests water samples in accordance with applicable state and federal requirements.
Testing provides important information about the water produced at the treatment plant and delivered through the distribution system. It also helps District operators identify changing conditions and make necessary treatment adjustments.
Your Annual Water Quality Report
Each year, the SLWSD publishes a Water Quality Report, also known as a Consumer Confidence Report. The report provides customers with detailed information about their drinking water, including its source, testing results, detected substances, applicable drinking water standards, and other important water quality information.
The report is available by mail, through our Water Quality Reports webpage, and through our email notification system
Committed to Quality and to You
Providing safe and reliable drinking water requires skilled employees, advanced technology, careful planning, and continuous maintenance.
- Around the Clock Operations: Certified operators and maintenance crews work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to help ensure reliable service.
- Prepared for Severe Weather: The District prepares for and continues essential operations during severe weather events, including hurricanes and tropical storms.
- High Water Quality Standards: We meet or exceed applicable state and federal drinking water standards.
- Advanced Technology: Modern treatment technology, automated monitoring, laboratory testing, and proactive maintenance help us provide safe, reliable, and great tasting drinking water.
- Serving Our Community: Reliable drinking water supports public health and safety, local businesses, everyday life, and the long term needs of our community, today and for future generations.
From the Floridan Aquifer to your faucet, the SLWSD is committed to providing safe, reliable, and high-quality drinking water to the community we serve.
Tour the SLWSD Water Treatment Plant
Interested in seeing the water treatment process firsthand? Take a tour of the SLWSD Water Treatment Plant and learn more about each step of your water’s journey. Fill out and submit a Tour Request Form to get started. A minimum of five people is required per tour.