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From YouTube: Where's Brian?
Description
Brian explores the top of a Water Tower to see how the Water Treatment plants gets safe drinking water to your home.
A
On
today's
episode
of
where's
Brian
we're
headed
to
work
with
an
apartment,
that's
critical
to
your
everyday
life.
They
go
to
great
lengths
to
move
their
product
from
deep
underground
to
hundreds
of
feet
in
the
air
and
eventually
right
to
your
home.
Do
you
know
where
I
am
today,
I'm
brian
phillips?
On
most
days,
I
work
in
an
office
for
the
aim
city
manager,
since
starting
here,
I've
learned
a
lot
about
the
different
job
city.
Employees
have
many
of
them.
A
The
Ames
water
treatment
plant
provides
water
to
more
than
14,000
homes
and
businesses.
In
addition
to
supporting
the
aims
community,
it
also
provides
water
service
to
the
national
centers,
for
animal
health
and
to
the
Iowa
State
University
campus,
the
average
home
in
Ames
uses
about
a
hundred
and
60
gallons
of
water
each
day.
One
penny
will
buy
you
about
six
gallons
of
Ames
water,
which
means
an
average
family's
water
bill
is
less
than
fifty
cents
a
day.
A
B
We
are
at
the
state
and
Mortensen
water
tower.
This
is
a
relatively
new
tower.
It
was
constructed
in
2009.
I
was
involved
a
lot
in
that
construction,
so
I
know
all
about
it.
Okay-
and
this
is
what's
called
a
composite
tank,
which
means
it
has
a
concrete
cylinder
or
support
structure
and
a
metal
bowl
on
top
of
that
which
is
where
the
water
actually
is.
You
know-
and
this
is
a
little
bit
different
than
or
other
water
towers,
because
of
the
way
it's
constructed.
B
B
Tower
has
a
few
different
main
functions.
One
of
the
things
is
that
it
provides
an
emergency
supply
of
water.
Whenever
we
have
a
fire
in
town,
we
have
the
capability
to
fight
those
fires
without
having
big
reductions
in
water
pressure,
which
otherwise
would
happen.
If
we
didn't
have
these
water
towers,
the
water
plant
would
have
to
run
their
pumps
to
try
to
match
demand
instantaneously
or
suffer
wild
swings
and
pressure,
which
isn't
desirable,
also
there's
kind
of
a
misconception
that
water
towers
create
pressure
which
is
actually
partially
true.
B
B
B
C
B
State
avenue
and
Mortensen
road
we
have
what
we
call
brett
up.
North
stands
for
bloomington,
road,
elevated
tank,
okay,
and
it's
on
of
course,
bloomington
road.
That's
a
two
million
gallon
tank,
that's
our
new
or
a
large
largest
tank
and
that's
the
tower.
They
just
got
repainted
a
couple
years
ago.
Okay,.
C
B
Now
has
a
blue
pedestal
in
a
white
bowl
we
have
out
west,
we
have
what
we
call
Mac,
it's
the
it's
stands
for
mortensen
and
county
line,
road
which
again
indicates
its
its
location
and
that's
a
1
million
gallon
tank.
We
have
a
tank,
that's
actually
currently
out
of
service
on
north
dakota
avenue,
that's
a
1
million
gallon
tank
and
we
have
a
smaller
tank,
that's
dedicated
to
the
national
animal
disease
center.
B
D
C
B
Of
the
things
that
we
do
as
part
of
the
water
treatment
process
is,
we
add
chlorine
for
disinfection
purposes
and
of
course
we
monitor
it
very
closely
at
the
treatment
plan
itself,
but
we
also
monitor
the
chlorine
level
or
the
residual
as
we
call
it
out
in
the
distribution
system.
Water
tower
is
especially
this
time
of
this
time
of
year,
when
it's
been
so
hot
this
last
month
or
two
water
towers
can
stratify.
B
If
you
don't
operate
them
properly
and
over
time,
if
you
don't
move
enough
water,
so
to
speak,
it
can
stratify
in
the
warmer
air
or
the
warmer
water
stay
on
top
and
just
kind
of
go
up
and
down
like
that.
Okay.
So
what
we're
going
to
do
is
take
chlorine
samples
at
different
depths
and
to
see
if
the
chlorine
residual
I
was
relatively
consistent.
Okay,.
C
B
Tower
is
a
little
bit
different
and
this
one
has
actually
continuous
ladder
all
the
way
up
to
the
platform
which
is
right
below
the
bowl,
and
then
you
go
up
through
and
access
to
through
the
bowl.
So
it's
quite
a
climb.
It's
about
150
feet
to
the
top.
Okay,
of
course,
climbing
tower
so
don't
do
it
very
often,
but
safety
is
paramount.
B
B
A
C
B
B
A
week
ago,
we
put
in
some
temperature
probes
that
are
actually
measuring
the
water
temperature
at
the
different
elevations
because
remember,
I
said
warm
water
can
stratify
the
tank
yeah
and
we're
just
going
to
make
sure
that's
not
happening
to
see
if
it's
relatively
uniform,
ok
and
the
other
thing
we're
going
to
do
is
take
chlorine
samples
and
again
I
mentioned
the
chlorine
residual.
We
test
those
at
different
depths
again,
just
to
make
sure
it's
uniform
and
so
enough
mixing
is
happening
to
make
sure
the
water
quality
is
what
we
needed
to
be
ok.
B
B
B
B
There,
no,
this
is,
in
fact,
we've
never
done
it
on
this
tower.
We've
done
this
with
our
bloomington
road
tank,
but
never
this
power.
Yet
this
is
kind
of
a
specialty
test
yeah.
These
are
what's
called
data
logging
probes,
so
they
actually
continuously
monitor
the
temperature
real
time
and
we
download
the
information
onto
a
computer.
Well,.
B
A
B
B
B
Show
you
how
this
little
thing
works
here.
This
looks
pretty
yeah.
It
is
kind
of
interesting
what
we
do
is
there
are
markers
on
this
rope
which
tell
us
the
episodes
of
markers
every
10
feet
so
we'll
know
exactly
how
deep
we
drop
this
thing.
Okay-
and
let
me
attach
this
little
cable
to
here-
we
do
that
on
both
sides,
then
we'll
lower
down
in
the
water
I'm
going
to
have
you
drop
this
cup
or
thing,
and
it
falls
down
on
this
and
allows
this
to
snap
shut
and
it
takes.
B
B
C
B
B
B
Just
touched
the
top
of
the
water
okay,
so
here's
the
20-foot
mark.
So
that's
roughly
a
foot
so
we'll
go
ahead
and
drop
it
a
couple
feet
down
into
the
water
and
then
take
her
first
sample.
Okay
and
I'll.
Let
you
have
the
honors
of
dropping
the
copper
thing
I'll
go
ahead
and
hold
the
rope
okay
and
when
you
drop
it
it's
going
to
hit
the
surface.
You'll
hear
that
and
then
you're
going
to
hear
such
that
one
actually
opens
up
and
takes
that
sample.
Okay,.
B
B
A
B
B
B
Like
this,
this
is
20
feet.
Well,
like
I
said
for
this
particular
tank.
We've
actually
never
done
this
type
of
sampling.
Now
we
take
regular
distribution
system
samples.
One
of
the
locations
is
here,
but
we
just
take
it
down
at
the
bottom
of
the
tank
as
far
as
a
profile
sampling
like
this
we've
never
done
here.
We
have
done
it.
B
D
A
B
The
bezel
simply
from
structural
purposes,
to
get
the
water
up
in
the
bowl.
You
know
we
call
them
water
towers.
Actually,
more
accurate
description
will
be
elevated
tanks.
Some
people
do
calm,
elevated
tanks,
because
that's
what
it
truly
is:
a
40-foot
high
bowl
of
water,
elevated
on
top
of
that
pedestal.
So
you
know
a
lot
of
people
do
think.
The
entire
calm
down
is
full
of
water
and
our
water
towers.
That
is
not
the
case.
B
We
drop
something
in
the
tank
if
I
wouldn't
get
it
for
a
few
years.
Okay,
we
do
actually
get
in
these
tanks
periodically
to
do
maintenance
and
inspection.
This
tank
was
constructing
2009,
so
we
did
a
two
year
inspection
just
last
year
about
this
time
we
went
in
well,
we
drained
the
tank,
went
in
the
bowl
inside
the
bowl
and
made
sure
the
paint
job
was
still
what
it
needed
to
be.
B
There
was
some
touch-ups
that
needed
to
take
place,
so
we
did
that
and
just
structurally
make
sure
everything
is
what
it's
supposed
to
be
and
they
put
together
a
report
in
the
document
it
and
then
too.
Well,
we
do
in
my
three
towers
one
a
year
so,
okay,
another
couple
years
to
three
years.
This
one
will
be
done
also
again.
Okay,
so.
B
Are
we
going
to
be
doing
with
those
we're
going
to
be
taking
these
samples
into
our
laboratory
or
water
play
laboratory
and
one
of
our
operators?
Mike
buns,
is
going
to
help
us
out.
Do
the
chlorine
analysis
with
a
smaller
spectrophotometer?
Ok,
so
it
does.
It
doesn't
take
very
long,
but
we'll
give
some
more
explanations.
Warming
effect
back
in
the
lab.
A
E
A
E
E
C
E
A
E
Going
to
measure
the
color
intensity,
the
more
color,
the
more
chlorine
you
have
all
right,
yeah
have
you
been
to
the
swimming
pool
where
they
got
that
little
color
wheel.
The
lifeguard
is
always
checking
the
chlorine
residual
you're
kind
of
doing
the
same
thing,
but
this
is
like
a
three-thousand-dollar
color
wheel.
Those
guys
use
all
right.
It's
really
sensitive.
Also.
We
need
some
safety
glasses.
Okay,.
A
A
E
Me
through
it,
okay
got
a
grad
cylinder
here,
25
mils.
Now,
when
you
fill
it
with
your
sample
and
di
water,
you
have
a
meniscus
okay,
it's
kind
of
a
concave,
a
little
bubble,
little
bubble
there
and
you
want
to
line
it
up
at
the
bottom
of
that
all
right
pour
it
into
your
beaker
and
you
got
a
50-50
sample
going
on.
Oh
so
have
at
it.
There's
your
water,
here's,
your
beaker
or
your
grad
saunder.
So.
E
E
E
C
E
E
D
E
E
E
E
C
E
C
E
E
Next
part,
we
got
set
up
our
spectrophotometer,
okay,
all
right
and
you
hit
your
first
button
there
and
then
it'll
pull
us
into
and
we're
going
lab
tap
hit
enter
right
there,
you
got
it
now.
What
we're
going
to
do
is
take
our
sample
for
instances
our
sample
here
we're
going
to
pour
it
into
our
poor
through
okay.
A
E
E
Water,
it
shouldn't
be
any
chlorine
in
D
and
ionized
water.
Okay,
now
you
can
see
with
zero
milligrams
per
liter.
Okay,
so
we're
good.
Now
we
got
a
timer
thing
here.
Once
we
get
the
first
one
going
we're
going
to
hit
that
timer.
Okay
now
each
one
of
these
is
from
Hawk
its
total
dpd
test.
It's
a
powder
pillow!
You
shake
it
on
down
and
cut
it
off.
That's
one
pillow
for
every
25
mils.
So
we
need
two
for
each
one.
A
E
A
E
E
E
Ordinary
make
this
up
to
their
correct.
Only
about
10
mils
is
actually
being
used
in
the
cylinder
itself
as
that
flows
on
through
it
flushes
it
out
about
three
or
four
times
until
you
get
an
actual
color.
You
can
see
the
different
redness
that
we
have
going
here.
So
we
do
have
chlorine,
which
is
great
how
much
that's
what
the
machine
does
for
is
it
tells
us?
Okay,
since
it's
done
flowing
hit,
you
read
sound.
We
read
button
okay,.
C
A
E
E
E
Go
out
twice
a
week
again,
this
is
a
process
lab
now
on
the
north
side
of
the
building.
We
have
a
regulatory
lab
and
they're
a
little
more
sophisticated,
a
little
more
detailed
as
far
as
what
kind
of
numbers
they
generate.
They
want
quality
numbers
in
a
process
lab.
We
want
to
know
what
the
numbers
are
today,
where
you
can't
run
tests
tomorrow
to
see
what
we're
doing
today.
So
we
have
to
run
them
today,
right
now,
so
I
know
where
to
adjust
my
chemical
feed.
E
E
E
E
E
C
E
You'll
see
the
temperatures
higher
up
here
as
the
temperature
of
the
water,
I
think,
is
we
had
a
14.5
degrees
centigrade
and
up
here
you
might
be
around
room
temperature
75
to
100
degrees
centigrade.
Okay,
so
once
you
pull
those
probes
on
out
should
put
it
in
a
spreadsheet
and
shall
create
a
chart
and
we'll
look
at
it
and
we'll
save
that
as
a
bass
line,
a
baseline
or
a
comparison
to
previous
data.
Okay,
it's
good
to
know
data-driven
decisions
so.