There's a lot more to public water than turning on the faucet.

Depending on where you live, the water that comes out of your sink or shower had to travel miles to get there.

In the areas covered by Sewickley Water Authority -- Sewickley, Osborne, Haysville and Sewickley Heights -- there are about 40 miles of pipe for water.

Some of the water comes from under the Ohio River, although it's not water from the river, rather it's from the ground beneath the river, said Ray Wolfgang, superintendent of Sewickley Water Authority.

The tank, buried 35 feet underneath the river, has been serving residents since 1873, when the authority began supplying its customers. Originally, all of Sewickley's water passed through a 16-inch iron pipe, which comes into the station about 70 feet below the ground floor.

"It's still used for about 15 percent of Sewickley's water," Wolfgang said.

The rest of the water comes from pumps on the authority's property in Osborne. In total, Sewickley Water Authority takes in about 300 million gallons each year.

Every drop of water goes through the treatment station and gets filtered to soften it and to take out impurities.

Floride is added to the water, pH levels are adjusted and it's chlorinated, which disinfects the water and makes it suitable for drinking.

From there, the water is held in tanks inside the station or pumped at more than 1,500 gallons per minute to the outer edges of the borough.

Just off Waterworks Road on land jointly owned by the authority and the borough, two new reservoirs hold a total of three million gallons of water.

For residents of Sewickley, Osborne and Haysville, this is the last stop on the water tour.

For Sewickley Heights residents, the water is pushed up a new 12-inch pipe at anywhere from 120 to 600 gallons per minute, depending on how many people are using water at a given time.

The cost of laying the new pipe was about $1 million per mile, Wolfgang said.

Visit the Sewickley Water Authority's Web site from its link on www.sewickleyborough.com.