The City of Ocean Springs Water System has received a perfect rating from the Mississippi Department of Health. The city received a perfect score in each category with the system attaining an overall capacity rating of 5.0/5.0.

"Our system is one of the only systems in the state to receive this rating and the only one on the coast to receive it for seven consecutive years," said Andre' Kaufman, Director of Public Works for the City of Ocean Springs. Mr. Kaufman is a long time public servant of our city, as he was an Alderman from 1977 to 1981 and in 1985 to 1989. He was named Director of Public Works in May of 1998.

Mr. Kaufman oversees the entire Department, which is divided up into six sub departments which include, Water, Sewer, Streets, Drainage, Maintenance,and Mechanics. The department maintains all of the cities lights, streets, Hwy 90 flags, signs, piers, boat ramps, water towers, wells, sewer pump stations, as well as the maintence of all city building to include the City Sewage System, trash, landscaping, event set up and event break down, storm water runoff, median work, and holiday decorations.

The public works department oversees the operation and management of Ocean Springs sewage system. Ocean Springs is the only city on the Gulf Coast that does not dump its treated sewage into waterways. Our sewage is transported to the Mississippi Gulf Coast Regional Waste Water Authority treatment facility, which is located seven miles north of the city.

Mr. Kaufman is also responsible for the Operation of a fleet of vehicles to include two curbside trash trucks, six backhoes, twenty six pickup trucks, six dump trucks, five bobcats on trailers, five bush hogs tractors, and two sewage cleaning trucks.

The department has 44 employees who service 8000 water and sewer customers and take care of the 177 miles of streets in our City. Some department personnel must be available 24 hours a day to deal with unexpected problems.

"It is a tribute to the dedicated employees of Public Works and the Water Billing Department at City Hall. I take great pride in the dedicated men and women who provide this quality of water, and the service we provide to our citizens."

The Technical Capacity Assessment is based on several technical reviews including water treatment process functioning, acceptable ranges of pH, iron, and free chlorine, and tracking of water loss. The assessment is also responsible for the acceptable water loss records available for review by the regional engineer. The city received all possible points in this category.

The Managerial Capacity Assessment contains several review categories including a review of the long range water system The City of Ocean Springs Water System has received a perfect rating from the Mississippi Department of Health. The city received a perfect score in each category with the system attaining an overall capacity rating of 5.0/5.0.

"Our system is one of the only systems in the state to receive this rating and the only one on the coast to receive it for seven consecutive years," said Andre' Kaufman, Director of Public Works for the City of Ocean Springs. Mr. Kaufman is a long time public servant of our city, as he was an Alderman from 1977 to 1981 and in 1985 to 1989. He was named Director of Public Works in May of 1998.

Mr. Kaufman oversees the entire Department, which is divided up into six sub departments which include, Water, Sewer, Streets, Drainage, Maintenance,and Mechanics. The department maintains all of the cities lights, streets, Hwy 90 flags, signs, piers, boat ramps, water towers, wells, sewer pump stations, as well as the maintence of all city building to include the City Sewage System, trash, landscaping, event set up and event break down, storm water runoff, median work, and holiday decorations.

The public works department oversees the operation and management of Ocean Springs sewage system. Ocean Springs is the only city on the Gulf Coast that does not dump its treated sewage into waterways. Our sewage is transported to the Mississippi Gulf Coast Regional Waste Water Authority treatment facility, which is located seven miles north of the city.

Mr. Kaufman is also responsible for the Operation of a fleet of vehicles to include two curbside trash trucks, six backhoes, twenty six pickup trucks, six dump trucks, five bobcats on trailers, five bush hogs tractors, and two sewage cleaning trucks.

The department has 44 employees who service 8000 water and sewer customers and take care of the 177 miles of streets in our City. Some department personnel must be available 24 hours a day to deal with unexpected problems.

"It is a tribute to the dedicated employees of Public Works and the Water Billing Department at City Hall. I take great pride in the dedicated men and women who provide this quality of water, and the service we provide to our citizens."

The Technical Capacity Assessment is based on several technical reviews including water treatment process functioning, acceptable ranges of pH, iron, and free chlorine, and tracking of water loss. The assessment is also responsible for the acceptable water loss records available for review by the regional engineer. The city received all possible points in this category.

The Managerial Capacity Assessment contains several review categories including a review of the long range water system

can help prevent such events in the water supply.

Contaminants can enter water supplies either as a

result of human and animal activities, or because they

occur naturally in the environment. Threats to the

drinking water may exist here or many miles away

Some examples of human activities that can pose a threat to water are: bacteria and nitrates

human and animal wastes, heavy metals from mining and construc-

tion, fertilizers and pesticides, industrial

products and wastes found at local factories, gas stations, dry cleaners, leak-

ing underground storage tanks, landfills, and

waste dumps, household wastes such as cleaning

solvents, used motor oil, paint, paint thinner,

lead and copper, household plumbing materi-

als, water treatment chemicals from waste water

treatment plants.

Our drinking water comes from

ground water. The water that systems pump and

treat from sources open to the atmosphere, such

as rivers, lakes, and reservoirs are known as surface

water. Water pumped from wells drilled into under-

ground aquifers, and geologic formations containing

water, is called groundwater. The quantity of water

produced by a well depends on the nature of the rock,

sand, or soil in the aquifer from which the water is

drawn. Drinking water wells may be shallow (50 feet

or less) or deep (more than 1,000 feet). More water

systems have ground water than surface water as a

source (approx. 147,000 v. 14,500), but more people

drink from a surface water system (195 million v.

101,400). Large-scale water supply systems tend to

rely on surface water resources, while smaller water

systems tend to use ground water.

Water utilities treat nearly 34 billion gallons of water

every day. The amount and type of treatment applied

varies with the source and quality of the water.

Generally, surface water systems require more treat-

ment than ground water systems because they are

directly exposed to the atmosphere and runoff from

rain and melting snow.

Water suppliers use a variety of treatment processes

to remove contaminants from drinking water. These

individual processes can be arranged in a “treatment

train” (a series of processes applied in a sequence).

The most commonly used processes include coagu-

lation (flocculation and sedimentation), filtration,

and disinfection. Some water systems also use ion

exchange and adsorption.

After the water is treated, it now has to travel to your home faucet.

An underground network of pipes typically delivers

drinking water to the homes and businesses served by

the water system.

Water utilities select the

treatment combination most appropriate to treat the

contaminants found in the source water of the system.



It is a sad fact that here in the U.S.

we take our water supplies for granted, as it is

limited. Only one percent of all the world’s water

is safe for drinking. Nearly 97 percent of the

world’s water is salty or otherwise undrinkable, and

the other two percent is locked away in ice caps

and glaciers. There is no “new” water: whether our

source water is a stream, river, lake, spring, or well,

Humans are using the same water the dinosaurs used mil-

lions of years ago.

Americans use much more water each day than anyone in both developed and undeveloped countries.

For example, the average European uses 53 gallons while

the average American uses about 90 gallons of water

each day and each American household

uses approximately 107,000 gallons of water each

year. For the most part, we use water treated to meet

drinking water standards to flush toilets, water lawns,

and wash dishes, clothes, and cars. In fact, 50-70

percent of home water is used for watering lawns

and gardens. Nearly 14 percent of the water a typi-

cal homeowner pays for is never even used—it leaks

down the drain.

We must commend our Public Works Department for keeping a close eye on our water that we depend on each day. Without water, there isn’t life. So raise your glass of aqua to Andre Kaufman and his staff over at Public Works, so much goes into ensuring a safe water supply, and we shouldn’t take it for granted.