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Utah Water Quality Alliance Celebrates Its Ten Year Anniversary

Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities Strives for Safe Drinking Water

May 4, 2004

Left Ivan Flint presents Florence Reynolds a Certification Of Appreciation for her service to the Utah Water Quality Alliance.

(Salt Lake City) – About 125 water professionals gathered today at the Salt Lake City Library auditorium to celebrate ten years of drinking water quality success. In 1994 a coalition of Wasatch Front water suppliers and the State of Utah joined together to form the Utah Water Quality Alliance (Alliance). Two years after the 1992 Milwaukee Cryptosporidium episode sickened over 100,000 people, the Alliance was formed to optimize water treatment processes to alleviate the possibility of similar water borne disease threats to Utah’s population. “Today ninety percent of the State of Utah’s population receives their drinking water supply from treatment facilities owned and operated by the participating agencies,” said Chair Eva Nieminski in her welcome comments at the opening of the celebration. She praised the dedication and effort of the Alliance members in achieving water quality improvements over the ten-year period. Nieminski is a research engineer with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Drinking Water.

The Alliance consists of Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake & Sandy, Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District, Weber Basin Water Conservancy District and the Central Utah Water Conservancy District. The Alliance members own twelve water treatment facilities. Additionally, the State Department of Environmental Quality (Division of Drinking Water) and Utah Department of Health, Division of Lab Services partnered with the water suppliers.

On February 12, 1997 the Alliance joined with over 200 water utilities serving nearly 90 million people in the United States and the EPA in the “Partnership for Safe Drinking Water.” The purpose of the Partnership is to enhance water treatment performance through a four-phase process. On August 2, 1999, the Alliance utility members received the “Director’s Award Certificate of Recognition” from the Partnership (American Water Works Association, Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, Association of State Drinking Water Administrators, United States Environmental Protection Agency, National Association of Water Companies, American Water Works Association Research Foundation) for successfully completing the first three phases of the Partnership program. Phase three is a self-assessment, which includes a performance assessment, major unit process evaluation and identification and correction of performance-limiting factors.

“Water quality standards are not only met, but exceed EPA drinking water standards,” notes Salt Lake City water quality administrator Florence Reynolds. Moreover, she said, “Trust and communications between the various entities have thrived as a result of the work within the Alliance. Each water treatment facility is critiqued, process improvements made and performance measured.” The Alliance technical pool, consisting of members from each participating organization, works as a team to fine-tune treatment processes of all the Alliance’s ten treatment facilities. The work of the Alliance is implemented by the plant operators who treat the water 24 hours a day 7 days a week. “The plant operators are to be congratulated for their outstanding dedication and performance in achieving the goals of the Alliance and the Partnership,” said Reynolds, further noting, “that the result is that public health is protected by their efforts.”