The Berea College Forest's watersheds supply the public water for the city and College. There are four reservoirs, a water treatment plant, and two water towers through which around 1 billion gallons of water flow each year. The four reservoirs are Owsley Fork Reservoir, Cowbell Reservoir, Kale Lake, and B-Lake.
Berea is unique and fortunate in that not many places in the United States can you find privately owned watersheds used for public water. This means that the water can be more carefully managed for things like purity.
Another unique aspect about this water system is that it is untouched water. Bereans are first time users of this water, since it comes from the reservoirs that get refilled by rain instead of from the Kentucky River, which many cities take from and put their used water back into.
