St. Louis City Water and the Beer it Creates.
Where does our water come from and why is this one of the best places to brew beer?
Today St. Louis has close to 65 different independent breweries and the number keeps growing. St. Louis is known to many as somewhat of a beer mecca. A place that has been producing and celebrating this popular beverage for about 200 years and there is no slowdown in site. It is home to the largest brewery in the world, Anheuser Busch, and has a colorful history of brewery boom and bust.
Beer, like many food and beverage products, depend on good consistent water. There's a reason why Coca-Cola and Starbucks have developed water profiles for their products and why as a brewer your local water can be just as important as a specialty grain addition. This story map aims to show where St. Louis water comes from, how it goes from brown river water to clean tap water, and how seasonal variations can change drinking water quality throughout the year.
1. Where does St. Louis water come from?
Our Rivers
St. Louis city and St. Louis County make up the greater St. Louis area. It is comprised of two drinking water agencies and serves just over 1.3 million people.
Luckily St. Louis is located at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, giving the region a plentiful and reliable source of water.
Drinking Water Treatment Plants (DWTP)
There are four main DWTPs in the St. Louis area with three of the four located directly on the Missouri river (two American Water facilities and Howard Bend) while Chain of Rocks DWTP is on the Mississippi.
The water quality form the two plants differs very little due to having similar treatment processes and having nearly the same water source. For the rest of this story map the focus will be on St. Louis City and the water treatment plants operated by the City of St. Louis Water Division.
Howard Bend DWTP
Built in 1929 this plant supplements the water produced by the other St. Louis Water Division plant, Chain or Rocks. It produces on average 38 million gallons per day (MGD) amount of water each day and has a standard surface water treatment process of coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection.
Chain of Rocks DWTP
Chain or Rocks treatment plant was put into service in 1894. It currently produces the majority of water to St. Louis city (average of 73 MGD) and also follows a similar surface water treatment process to Howard Bend.
While the plant is located on the Mississippi River the water pumped through the intake is almost entirely Missouri river water because the two rivers have not mixed yet. This means the City of St. Louis only consumes treated water from the Missouri River.
The City of St. Louis
The City of St. Louis (shaded in red) produces, on average, 111 million gallons per day of drinking water alone. That may sound like a tremendous amount of water but, this only amounts to drawing off 0.2% of the Mississippi during periods of minimum flow.
St. Louis City was chosen because of the sheer number of breweries in this area. By better understanding how water quality changes throughout the year these breweries may be able to make more informed decisions about possible variations in their process and in their final products.
Distribution Reservoirs
Two distribution reservoirs act as storage for when the plants have to shut down for short periods of time as well as produce a static head to keep a consistent water pressure.
Stacy Park is an enclosed concreate reservoir that hold 10 million gallons and is located just west of the city. The second is Compton Hill Reservoir which is located on one of the highest elevations in the city and hold up to 28 million gallons of drinking water.
Another outcome of having such a large distribution area is the water age. Water from the edges of the distribution system can be up to days old. This is no problem however because the treatment process was designed to deliver safe water with this in mind.
All drinking water in St. Louis city comes from the Missouri River and a similar water treatment process is used at both DWTPs. Before covering the process, learning the basics of drinking water quality is imperative. Drinking water quality is regulated by the Safe Water Drinking Act where primary and secondary standards are defined. Primary standards are legally enforced and set to protect the general health of the population, while secondary standards are not enforceable and focus on aesthetic quality of the water (color, smell, or taste).
There are many kinds of water treatment processes based upon the source of water, the distribution size, and many other factors. Ground water tends to have less natural organic matter (NOM) but higher total dissolved solids (TDS), while surface water has more NOM and fewer TDS. The following slide show will walk through how Missouri River water is treated at the Chain of Rocks DWTP.
St. Louis water quality is dependent on our water source, the Missouri River.
Figure 1: Turbidity of the intake water at the Chain of Rocks Water Treatment Plant for 2021.
Generally speaking, the drinking water quality stays quite consistent throughout the year. Most consumers won't even notice or taste the difference, this is by design. However, things will change as the process is adjusted for different seasons and conditions throughout the year. For example, during the summer, granulated activated carbon is added before secondary sedimentation to adsorb contaminants from runoff. Also, the disinfection dose is adjusted to suit the temperature of water in the distribution system to inpede biological growth.
While we only use water from the Missouri river, the water quality of the river does change drastically between high springtime run off or low winter flows. The an important water quality parameter for source water is a measurement of turbidity or the cloudiness of the water. The cloudiness comes from suspended solids and treatment at the plant is adjusted to handle higher or lower amounts of suspended solids present in water. Figure 1 illustrates how the intake turbidity changes throughout the year. These changes to the intake water quality can impact the water delivered to your taps.
Breweries care because understanding the quality of your water is what makes a good beer exceptional!
Brewries in St. Louis
The sheer volume of breweries in St. Louis is makes water quality of interest. According to this data set (2019, Drink314.com) there are 26 breweries in the city limits of St. Louis. This means all these breweries recieve water from the same place, the Missouri River.
This includes the world’s largest brewery Anheuser Busch and a myriad of smaller breweries such as Shclafly, Urban Chestnut, 4 Hands brewing, and many others. This map is constantly changing with new breweries are popping up every year.
Distribution
While the drinking water quality between Howard Bend and Chain of Rocks are similar. Most of the breweries including Anheuser Busch get a majority of their water from the Compton Hill Reservoir and the Chain of Rocks DWTP. Therefore, seasonal changes in the Chain of Rocks water quality best represents the water used in these world famous beers.
Interact with this map to explore the breweries in the greater St. Louis area.
A good rule of thumb is if your water tastes good then it’s good enough for brewing beer. That being said for brewers who really want to control every aspect of the brewing process the exact quality of the water needs to be taken into account. Most of the famous beer styles can actually be defined by the place and water used to brew them. Parameters such as the water’s temperature, pH, total alkalinity, and hardness have the greatest effect on how the beer is processed and how the beer ultimately tastes. Additionally, the concentration of dissolved solids can either help or ruin a beer’s flavor and aroma. Table 1 below summarizes important water quality parameters for brewing beer and how they can affect the final product.
Table 1: Important flavor and pH parameters measured in water (Palmer 2006)
Water quality does change from day to day but there are some general seasonal trends to focus on.
A great place to start to get a rough idea of the water quality in the area is by looking up the local water utility's consumer confidence report. The City of St. Louis Water Division includes all of the values needed for brewing and much more, the most recent version can be found here . These reports only publish the yearly averages, however, meaning the daily values can be ± 25% different from the annual averages. Additional, water quality can change year to year due to fluctuations in the Missouri River or modifications to the water treatment plant.
Figure 2: Daily changes in total hardness in ppm duing the month of August 2021. The monthly and yearly average is given for comparison.
For brewers who are interested in controlling their water profile the timescale of change is extremely important. The total hardness of the water or the sum of the dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water was the value that changed the most. During the summer the hardness of the finished water is much less than the yearly average reported. It also shows that water should be tested the day of brewing not just once a year or even monthly. There are many kits available to measure these parameters. Additionally, for brewers in the city limits of St. Louis can reference this document to get a general idea how these values change throughout the year (data analyzed is from 2021). Again the water from the tap will be different from the values given but the general trends do hold as long as there are not drastic changes to the water treatment process or Missouri River water.
General Guidelines for Water used for Beer Brewing
While all of this may seem like a lot it is important to know that the water in St. Louis is quite good and great beer can be brewed with it. The most notable difficulty with the water here is elevated levels of sulfate from the coagulation process as well as the higher-than-normal pH to protect from lead and iron corrosion. Many brewers in the area tend to add some amount of chloride (Cl - ) and use acidified grains to compensate. Others do nothing and still get great results!
Here are some general guidelines for brewingwater:
- Hardness is good.
- Alkalinity is bad.
- Don't use a water from a water softener!
- Drive of the chloramine residual by boiling, aeration, or some other chemical treatment.
- Principally know your water. Test it when brewing or get a detailed water quality report for your area.
Generally speaking however, the water that comes through the taps in St. Louis city is some of the best in the nation.
Comparing water quality often comes down to preference of how the water tastes making it difficult to compare apples to apples. Brewer’s do however have a way of comparing water and it is through a water profile. A water profile consists of the parameters mentioned previously and almost every beer style can be tracked back the location where it became most popular. Table 2 summarizes the water profile of famous places with the style of beer they are known for compared to the 2021 yearly average water profile in St. Louis.
Table 2: Water profiles of famous places and beer styles compared to the 2021 yearly average water profile in St. Louis. (Palmer, 2006)
This comparison shows that the water in St. Louis really falls middle of the road when compared to these famous water profiles. This suggests that the water here can be seasoned easily to match just about any water profile making it perfect for just about any style of beer. It also means that most beers can be brewed with very little or no changes to the water as these levels fall within the ranges suggested by Palmer.
So how does St. Louis water stack up to other city’s water? Do we really have the best water in the nation? Well, it would be close to impossible to answer this question objectively, but one thing is for certain; St. Louis has an abundant source of water. Not only is the water abundant but St. Louis has been treating this water like how it is treated now for over 100 years. When the Chain of Rocks finished building the sand filtration building in 1915 it was labeled the nation’s first and largest modern water purification plant ( Griswold , 2021). It may be a stretch to suggest the legacy of beer brewing in St. Louis was birthed because of its innovative approach to water quality, but it is definitely a factor in why beer brewing is still flourishing in St. Louis today.
It may be a stretch to suggest the legacy of beer brewing in St. Louis was birthed because of its innovative approach to water quality, but it is definitely a factor in why beer brewing is still flourishing in St. Louis today.
This story was written, edited, and produced by Thomas Price. Thomas Price is a master’s student in the Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering (EECE) department at the McKelvey School of Engineering in Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) The inspiration for the story stems from a Zymurgy course offered each spring. Thomas Price is originally from Golden, Colorado and has an undergraduate degree in Chemistry and minors in history and visual studies from The College of Idaho. In 2019 he came to WUSTL to get a major in chemical engineering and will be graduating in 2022 with is master’s degree. If you have any questions or comments please email tdprice@wustl.edu.
