The Enquirer/Kareem Elgazzar At this point, unless you live under a rock, you’ve seen pictures of the swollen, chocolate milk-colored Ohio River.
"What people sometimes don’t understand is just how blessed we are in terms of natural water resources," said Mike Ekberg, manager for water resource monitoring and analysis at the Miami Conservancy District.
Our water situation is a positive one, actually, because of natural and man-made water systems in Southwest Ohio.
We have the Ohio River, which provides 88 percent of Cincinnati’s drinking water and much of the water for Northern Kentucky and other communities along the river.
The aquifer is the source of clean water for 2.7 million people in communities including Fairfield, Hamilton, Middletown, Dayton, Springfield and Oxford.
"As one of my old colleagues would say, ‘It’s a gift from the glacier,’ " said Nash, who oversees an aquifer monitoring station in Hamilton County.
At Greater Cincinnati Water Works, most of the water comes from the Ohio River.
Water Works tests the water 600 times per day to make sure of the quality.
Seven of those wells are closed because of the flooding, said Jeff Swertfeger, water quality and treatment superintendent for Greater Cincinnati Water Works.
Officials remind owners of private wells to make sure they are operating properly, that "water from the well is coming from the aquifer, through screens, not coming from above," said Ekberg.