Neal Spivey should have been my high school chemistry teacher.

If he had, I might not have gotten all those "C's."

Spivey is the county director of water production. He simplifies scientific stuff to the point that a child could understand, that I could grasp. Maybe that's because thousands of kids visit the Shoal Creek Filter Plant in Buford. The Badie Tour paid a visit Wednesday.

Drinking water has been in the news of late. An Associated Press investigation, published in newspapers nationwide on March 11, found that an array of pharmaceuticals have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans. Some findings included traces of medicine taken for heart problems and cholesterol.

Naturally, alarms went off. The thought that a glass of H2O might contain drug traces is unsettling, no matter how tiny the concentration or minute the possibility of adverse health effects.

But how real is that possibility to the local water supply?

"Gwinnett's water is completely safe," Spivey told me. "We use a very different disinfectant process than most metro Atlanta counties."

That would be the ozone disinfectant system. It removes disease-carrying bacteria, contaminants and viruses. It oxidizes iron and other elements. It zaps nasty tastes, colors and odor.

"Ozone is stronger than chlorine, seven times more reactive, and as it turns out, it deals with a wide variety of things," Spivey told me. "It's effective at oxidizing pesticides and other contaminants."

In December, the county authorized the University of North Carolina to conduct tests for pharmaceuticals and personal care products at three locations: Our water source (Lake Lanier), drinking water and treated wastewater at the F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center in Buford.

Initially, investigators tested for 19 different classes of pharmaceuticals; 17 showed up in the wastewater the first time. But as the water flowed through the treatment process, Spivey said fewer compounds hung around. Only two were found in the final batch of treated water. The lake water contained traces of caffeine; no contaminants showed up in the drinking water.

"I was rather pleased with the results, given all those locations," Spivey said. "We think the [ongoing] study will answer what we are discharging in our wastewater and secondly, whether our water treatments can remove all contaminants. We think the answer is 'yes.' "

Before I left Shoal Creek, Spivey gave me a step-by-step explanation of the purification process, from the intake of water from Lake Lanier to the final product that eventually flows through a network of 3,300 miles of pipe.

He made it sound easy, unlike my experience in basic high school chemistry.

> Rick Badie's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.