People/Awards

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its 2016 budget (32nd consecutive year) from the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada. The district also received a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting (41st consecutive year).

The city of Cle Elum received an Outstanding Performance Award from the Washington State Department of Ecology for its Upper Kittitas County Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility.

Dr. Shyam V. Dighe, founder and president of AquaSource Technologies Corp., received the 2017 Inventor of the Year award from the Pittsburgh Intellectual Property Law Association for designing a treatment system using plasma technology to clean and commercialize water that is not fit for human consumption. The treatment system products are distilled water and salt; it is designed for the shale gas industry.

Element Six, a member of The De Beers Group of Companies, earned the Gold Prize in the environmental quality category in the Edison Awards for its Diamox wastewater treatment technology for highly contaminated industrial wastewater. Diamox is an electrochemical cell that uses synthetic industrial diamond electrodes to mineralize dissolved pollutants.

The Concord General Services Wastewater Treatment Division received the 2017 Outstanding Public Outreach Award from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. The division was recognized for facility tours, brochures, website updates, social media, news releases and participation at community events.

An upgrade to the Manchester Wastewater Treatment Facility earned a Gold Level Engineering Excellence Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of New Hampshire. The Wright-Pierce consulting firm provided design and construction phase engineering for a $22.4 million upgrade to the aeration system, increasing secondary treatment capacity by 23 percent while reducing aeration energy usage by 48 percent. The system uses ultrahigh-efficiency fine-bubble diffused aeration. Penta Corporation was general contractor.

Marshall Municipal Utilities received a Wastewater Treatment Plant of the Year award in the category of 5 mgd or less from the Missouri Water Environment Association.

Joseph Pearce was hired as the Public Works director in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

The Washington County (Virginia) Service Authority received a 2016 Excellence in Waterworks/Operations Performance Award, its seventh consecutive, after a 12-month analysis of data by the Virginia Department of Health Office of Drinking Water.

The Apache Junction Water District facility received the Small Treatment Plant of The Year award from the Arizona Water Association. Carollo Engineers and Garney Construction received the Project of the Year award.

The F.G. Doggett Water Plant and S.L. Spencer Water Plant in Mount Airy received the North Carolina Area Wide Optimization Award.

The Indian Run Water Treatment Plant operated by the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority received a Directors Award from the Partnership for Safe Water.

The city of Nanaimo, British Columbia, and Associated Engineering won an Award of Merit in the civil and municipal infrastructure category from the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies of British Columbia.

The Cave Rock Water Treatment Plant operated by Douglas County Utilities won the Best Tasting Water award for Nevada for the second time in four years from the Nevada Rural Water Association.

The city of Glendale (Arizona) received the Large Water System of the Year award from the Arizona Water Association.

The Carmichael (California) Water District in California was recognized by the Sacramento Environmental Commission for outstanding efforts to improve the environment during the American River Pipeline Project.

The San Diego County Water Authority received the Clair A. Hill Water Agency Award from the Association of California Water Agencies for its Carlsbad Desalination Project.

Bill Maxwell, a Pasco water treatment plant operator, was named Operator of the Year by the Washington Department of Health Office of Drinking Water.

The Buchart Horn York office and Columbia Water Co. received Diamond Awards for Engineering Excellence in the water resources category from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Pennsylvania for a $15.3 million water treatment plant expansion.

The Central Iron Range Sanitary Sewer District was recognized by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for outstanding operation, maintenance and management of its wastewater treatment system.

Rick Lallish, program director of the Water Pollution Control Operations Program at the Environmental Resources Training Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, received the Kenneth Meredith Award from the Illinois Water Environment Association.

Ryan Mogard, wastewater treatment plant operator for the city of Morris, received a 2016 Wastewater Treatment Facility Operator Award from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Luis Colon, a wastewater treatment plant operator, was named Employee of the Year in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

The Kenosha (Wisconsin) Water Utility received the Grand Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies for its Energy Optimized Resource Recovery Project.

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Events

Aug. 9-10 - Water Environment Association of Texas’ Biosolids and Odor and Corrosion Control Conference, Embassy Suites, San Marcos. Visit www.weat.org.

Aug. 10-12 - Water Environment Federation Intensification of Resource Recovery Forum, Manhattan College, Riverdale, New York. Visit www.wef.org.

Aug. 22-24 - Indiana Water Environment Association Annual Conference, Westin Indianapolis. Visit www.indianawea.org.

Aug. 23-24 - AWWA Effective Utility Management Seminar, California American Water, Monterey. Visit www.awwa.org.

Aug. 29-30 - AWWA Best Practice Water Audits and Loss Control Programs Seminar, Saskatoon Inn & Conference Centre, Saskatchewan. Visit www.awwa.org.

Aug. 29-31 - Kansas Water Environment Association and AWWA-Kansas Section Joint Annual Water and Wastewater Conference, Hyatt Regency, Wichita. Visit www.kswaterwastewater.com.

Aug. 29-Sept. 1 - AWWA-Chesapeake Section Tri-Association Conference, Roland E. Powell Ocean City (Maryland) Convention Center. Visit www.chesapeaketricon.org.

Aug. 30-31 - The Water Expo 2017, MACC Convention Center, Miami, Florida. Visit www.thewaterexpo.com.