An Innovation to Protect Children’s Health

As one of the nation’s top drinking water utilities, Louisville Water Company’s leading priority is protecting public health by providing safe, high-quality drinking water. Now, Louisville Water has invented a product that protects water quality as it travels through aging plumbing in older buildings. The product, Pure Spout® is designed for a drinking water fountain and can reduce levels of lead that could enter the water through lead pipes and plumbing. Lead is not present in the drinking water when leaving the treatment plants; the risk of lead to enter the water comes as it moves through older pipes and plumbing fixtures in buildings. While efforts are ongoing across the United States to replace lead pipes, Pure Spout can reduce the risk with immediate remediation right at the drinking water fountain. Pure Spout is available through Blue Focus, LLC and the filtration system has already received national design recognition.

“Improving public health is at our core,” said Spencer Bruce, Louisville Water President and CEO. “Louisville Water pioneered modern-day water filtration and advancing the science of water is what we do every day. When looking at the risks of aging plumbing in buildings, especially schools, that impact water quality, we set off to create a solution to protect children, one of the most vulnerable populations to the risk of lead.”

“Every child deserves high-quality drinking water,” said Mark Campbell, Pure Spout Co-developer and water quality scientist. “Pure Spout’s filtration system offers schools a quick, low-cost and long-lasting solution that simply replaces the standard spout on drinking fountains. It offers an effective and easy-to-use mechanism to protect children.”

Pure Spout is sold and distributed through Blue Focus, LLC. The invention reflects the next step in Louisville Water’s unique and extensive history of innovation, dating back to the 1800s. From conducting landmark experiments in 1896 that set the foundation for modern-day water treatment, to having water that was deemed “so pure” by the U.S. government in 1917 that Camp Zachary Taylor was set up in Louisville to keep soldiers healthy before deployment, to being the first and only water utility to trademark tap water (Louisville Pure Tap®), to winning national tastes tests by the American Water Works Association, and to now having two of the top 19 water treatment plants in North America, Louisville Water pushes the boundaries of innovation to achieve progress.

“Pure Spout is another milestone in Louisville Water’s commitment to public health,” said Bruce. “I’m proud of the innovation to help ensure high-quality drinking water not just here in Louisville, but across the nation as Pure Spout expands its reach as the go-to remediation solution.”