Jake Gentile, operations superintendent for the Butler Water Treatment Plant along Route 38 in Summit Township, shows Chuck, Kelie and Sydni Rodgers of Butler Township the inside of one of the large filter structures during a tour of the Pennsylvania American Water facility on Saturday.

SUMMIT TWP — Pennsylvania American Water on Saturday opened the gate to its Route 38 facility for public tours.

Melissa Walters, external affairs specialist for the company, said the tours showing the water collection and distribution process at the Butler Water Treatment Plant were previously restricted to students.

“We thought why not expand it to anyone who is interested,” Walters said.

The beginning of the tour illustrates the difference in how water was distributed with different pipe sections.

The original 2-inch mains were bored out logs from hemlock or elm trees. To handle increased pressure, the switch to ductile iron pipe, which has an 8-inch capacity, was made.

Jake Gentile, operations superintendent of the facility, explained the process.

Water is pulled from the reservoirs. The filtration process removes unwanted materials before sending it to the clear well under the lab. The water is then distributed to the system.

Customer Gary Rauschenberger of Center Township said he was glad he took the tour.

“I wanted to see where my water is coming from,” he said.

Rauschenberger's group visited the facility's water quality lab, control room and filtration building.

“Now, I have a better understanding of it,” he said.

Gentile said that was the goal of the open house.

“We like people to know how it's done,” he said.

By 10:30 a.m., more than two dozen people toured the facility.

The facility services 18,000 people in Butler, Connoquenessing, East Butler and Saxonburg as well as portions of Butler, Center, Connoquenessing, Forward, Franklin, Oakland, Penn and Summit townships.

Around 1,200 customers were added in 2009 when the company bought the Saxonburg Area Authority's water system for $6 million.

The SAA still provides sewage service.

The company's Butler system dates back to 1915, when it was part of the American Water Works & Electric Company.During the past five years, Pennsylvania American Water spent roughly $40 million to replace undersized and outdated mains.The company recently finished a roughly $18 million project to enhance the reliability of the Lake Oneida and Thorn Run dams.The Butler district uses water mainly from Thorn Run and Connoquenessing Creek.Pennsylvania American Water, a subsidiary, of American Water, services roughly 2.3 million people.

Sydni Rodgers, front, measures the turbidity, or cloudiness, of treated water with guidance from Mary Roland, water quality supervisor at the Butler Water Treatment Plant.