A new water treatment plant will use technology out of your local tanning salon to make it cleaner and taste even better.

We use over 100 million gallons every day in Seattle and surrounding communities.

Three-quarters of Seattle's water comes from Lake Youngs near Renton.

Wednesday, Seattle Public Utilities broke ground for a new cutting edge treatment plant.

"We have staked out a degree of treatment that is going to far surpass what the existing regulations require," said Bob James, State Department of Health.

The $70 million plant will use traditional methods to disinfect your water, and, to make what you drink even cleaner, use ultraviolet bulbs to kill more bacteria.

"It's very strong. In many ways it's like a very high intensity tanning bed at the tanning salon many, many times that," said Scott Trusler, the Design Manager for the project.

Water inside pipes will rush by the giant bulbs.

While everyone appreciates cleaner water, it's not something everyone notices, but planners of this project say one thing you will notice is the taste.

The water will taste better because fewer chemicals will be needed to disinfect it.

Also, with the new plant, old-fashioned hand-testing of water samples will also disappear, with computers will taking over the job.

"Everything will be on a computer screen from now on, they will just look up a scroll though the things they want to see," said Lynn Kirby of the Seattle Public Utilities.

The plant is scheduled to go on-line in about 2 years, guaranteeing the water we take for granted now, will be even safer and taste even better for generations to come.