Water Treatment Plants receive EPA Partnership Recognition for Safe Water

Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities’ City Creek, Parley’s and Big Cottonwood Water Treatment Plants receive recognition for their commitment to superior water quality by maintaining the Partnership for Safe Water Directors Award for five consecutive years.

August 29, 2005

Linda Moss, Water Treatment Process Control Analyst

At the recent American Water Works Association Conference held in San Francisco, California, Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities’ (“SLCDPU”) three water treatment plants were among 37 water treatment plants in the United States to receive the EPA Partnership for Safe Water (“Partnership”) Directors Award for five consecutive years of compliance with program requirements. This accomplishment was made possible by the commitment of the management, technical and operator staff of the three treatment facilities.

The Partnership was formed in 1995 through an alliance of EPA and six national water organizations after the 1993 Milwaukee Cryptosporidium waterborne disease outbreak that caused sickness in 400,000 people with 100 deaths.  The outbreak occured despite the fact that Milwaukee’s water treatment plants were meeting EPA drinking water regulations at the time of the outbreak. This led water professionals to conclude that measures were needed to optimize treatment processes to protect the public from future microbial outbreaks.

The primary purpose of the Partnership is to provide drinking water quality that is far better than required by federal standards by optimizing water treatment processes. Since the Partnership was initiated, national data show that treatment process optimization has definitely improved plant performance.  In its January 2004 annual report, Partnership reported that when Phase III award-winning plants compared “baseline” data with the most recent data (6/03 – 6/04), the average plant performance had improved more than 50% following Partnership self-assessment.

The Partnership program consists of four phases.  Phase I is an agreement on the part of the utility to complete the program through Phase III.  Phase II involves the collection, review and analysis of treatment plant historical data to establish a baseline performance level.  Phase III requires significant effort, but the potential benefits are great. In Phase III, utilities analyze every aspect of treatment plant operations using a structured, scientific approach provided in the Partnership guidance manual.  This evaluation identifies areas that limit treatment plant performance, and a site specific plan is developed to correct those areas and improve water quality.  Annual reports must be submitted to the Partnership organization to maintain Phase III status.  Phase III Directors Awards are given annually to those treatment plants maintaining or improving water quality performance.  Phase IV has even more stringent water quality requirements, and those who achieve them are recognized with the “Excellence in Water Treatment Award.”

  Optiminization of treatment processes ensure high quality drinking water supply. SLCDPU treatment plants have consistently met its goal of producing water that that does not exceed average turbidity values of 0.1 NTUs.
SLCDPU’s three surface water treatment plants, City Creek Water Treatment Plant, Parley’s Water Treatment Plant and Big Cottonwood Water Treatment Plant, all joined the Partnership program in late 1996 and achieved Phase III status in 1998. As of February 2005, there were 232 utilities with 408 treatment plants participating in the Partnership program. SLCDPU’s treatment plants are among 37 of those plants that have received Five-Year Directors Awards.  This accomplishment represents a serious commitment and constant vigilance on the part of the operators and managers of these treatment plants. 

Treatment plant personnel are presently organizing data to prepare submittals for Phase IV Partnership recognition.  The goal is to have this completed by June 2006.  There are only two plants in the United States who have achieved Phase IV status.  One of those plants is the Central Utah Water Conservancy District Utah Valley Treatment Plant in Orem, Utah.   

One example of SLCDPU’s commitment to exceeding federal drinking water standards is its self-imposed limit on turbidity values in the finished water. Turbidity is a quantification of the amount of suspended particulate matter in water and is measured in Nephelometric Turbidity Units or NTUs.  The current maximum contaminant level for drinking water turbidity under EPA regulations is 0.3 NTU.  SLCDPU has set the limit at 0.1 NTU.  Since 1996, the annual average finished or “to the consumer” water turbidity has been < 0.05 NTU at all three treatments plants. There have been no turbidity levels > 0.1 NTU in the last four years, and none of these treatment plants have ever violated an EPA maximum contaminant level. 

SLCDPU has also been active in the Utah Water Quality Alliance (“UWQA”) since its inception in 1994.  UWQA is a coalition of the Utah State Division of Drinking Water, the Utah State Health Department Laboratory and the five large drinking water utilities along the Wasatch Front.  Utility members include Salt Lake City Public Utilities, Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake City and Sandy, Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District, Central Utah Water Conservancy District, and Weber Basin Water Conservancy District. Its purpose is similar to the Partnership for Safe Water in that it promotes optimization programs for surface water treatment plants within the state of Utah. SLCDPU joined the Partnership program under the auspices of UWQA along with the other large utilities in the state. 

SLCDPU is a proactive organization dedicated to protecting the health of its consumers.  Every effort is made to stay “out in front” of regulatory requirements. Participation in the Partnership has been an effective tool for providing the highest possible water quality at the tap for the consumers in SLCDPU’s service area.

The following individuals on the drinking water staff have made the Partnership program a success in providing superior drinking water quality:

Management and Technical Staff:

            Florence Reynolds – Water Quality Administrator

            Ken Hibbert – Water Treatment Plant Manager

            Les Anderson – Assistant Water Treatment Plant Manager

            Abraham Karbakhsh – Electronics

            Linda Moss – Process Control

City Creek Operators:     Big Cottonwood Operators:     Parley’s Operators:

         Scott Adamson                  Craig Bohn                            Brad Argentos

         Bryon Bodell                       Hank Brown                         Chris Barber

         Dan Clark                            Spence Durrant                    Mike Bertelsen

          Mike Clement                      Mike Gill                              Craig Dodge

          Richard Flores                     Andrew Killpack                  Mitch Ellis

          John Haslam                        Ed Powell                             Jon Eyre

          Jim Samul                            Russ Ranck                          Steve Millard

         Robert Sundara                   Chad Stratton                       Mike Miller

                                                     Greg Van Wagenen              An Phan

                                                                                                 Dennis Potts

Related Link: http://www.slcclassic.com/utilities/NewsEvents/news2001/news06112001.htm

http://www.slcclassic.com/utilities/NewsEvents/news1999/news080299.htm