Tap the Rochester Water

By Peter Ye YIliang and Dara Heydarpour

Photos by Peter Ye Yiliang

It has been over a year since the toxic chemical train derailment incident in the city of East Palestine. Local environmental protection agency is still working on cleaning the dioxin compounds that have been polluting the watershed of East Palestine.

Rochester has a complex cargo train system running through downtown Rochester, and getting to know the local watershed and water quality within the Genesee River watershed area would be very important to the people of Rochester.

Water is essential to people’s daily lives, drinking, cooking, showering, and other daily activities. Water quality is determined by the amount of impurity within the water or lack thereof. For example, suppose there is too much calcium carbonate in their water. In that case, the water will taste like limestone, and the boiler will have a certain amount of sediment on the walls of the container, even after showing your hair would tie up due to the high calcium carbonate content.

Unfortunately, the City of Rochester has a very high “Water Hardness” level, which contains 17 grains of hardness per gallon. Although no proven harmful health effects associated with those minerals, they will still affect people’s quality of life. For example, too much calcium carbonate in the water often causes hair to frizz up after a shower.

Anna Guiles, an undergraduate student from RIT had to switch her shower head to a filtered one so her hair would not frizz up after her shower.

Anna Guiles playing with a dog on the campus of RIT, Rochester, NY. Feb 15, 2024

“It is very inconvenient that my hair would clump up after I shower, so I bought the shower head with a filter. I have long hair, and it takes some time to care for my hair after each shower. The shower head filter saves me quite a bit of time in the morning before I leave the apartment.” Anna explains, “if I don’t put a filtered shower head up there, the hard water will make my hair fall off even more.”

Unfortunately, Anna is moving to a new place to live for the next fall semester, so she will have to go through the same process again this coming semester after she returns. “I’ll need to reinstall the shower head after I move into my new apartment and these showerheads don't last forever, I’ll have to replace it after the filter is completely used,” said Anna.

The Genesee River runs from Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario, and passes through

Rochester, NY, along the way. Historically, The river has been a victim of industrial waste dumping, but major steps have recently been taken to ensure the water meets or exceeds state and federal standards. East Palestine serves as a reminder of the vulnerabilities in the regional water system. The city of Rochester’s complex train system poses similar concerns to the incident in East Palestine. These similarities draw concern about the safety of the watershed, and the steps being taken to maintain it.

Rochester has invested in state-of-the-art water treatment facilities to combat these

challenges. The water treatment plant is one of the most important facilities in a modern city, untreated water goes through 5 major steps, including coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection. The process begins by testing the water at the source point. The city conducts over 1,500 physical, chemical, and microbiological tests at various locations throughout the watershed each month. The next step is to filtrate and disinfect the water, using techniques such as coagulation, sedimentation, and ultraviolet light treatment to remove pathogens and contaminants. Coagulation refers to the process of chemically treating water to remove solids suspended in the water. Sedimentation refers to the process of removing solids that float and settle in the water.

Public engagement and education is another aspect the City of Rochester Bureau of Water has emphasized in recent years. Education about the importance of water quality is critical to maintaining the watershed to highlight the potentially devastating effects of not practicing water conservation. The education program teaches individuals in the community what actions they can take to protect the watershed.

Rochester faces several challenges in the future when it comes to maintaining their water quality. Issues such as global warming, aging infrastructure, and the harsh Rochester climate pose risks to the supply and quality of the watershed.

Andrew Sinn, a resident who has lived in Rochester for 29 years, explained that he doesn't like the taste of the tap water. He has had the habit of stacking bottled water in his car since his college years.

“I’m fond of the taste of the tap water in Rochester, I either use the water filter at home or just buy and drink bottled water.” Says Andrew. “But if I don’t have access to filtered water, I would drink out of the tap water, Rochester hasn't had a really big problem with the water over the years.”

Although Rochester has really “Hard Water”, and may cause some inconvenience to the people who use it. The City of Rochester has state-of-the-art water treatment facilities, which make sure the water is clean and safe.