The City of Allentown’s Water Filtration Plant is being recognized by a national organization for consistently high drinking water quality for the sixth consecutive year.

The plant has been tapped to receive a prestigious Area-wide Optimization Program Award on August 5 at the 86th Annual Conference of Water Works Operators Association of Pennsylvania (WWOAP) in State College. AWOP is a national filter plant optimization effort among 22 states, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency, the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators and other organizations. The plant received similar honors in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

“Our water plant employees deserve a tremendous amount of credit,” said Mayor Ed Pawlowski. “They have achieved exceptionally high standards for the sixth consecutive year. That is a noteworthy achievement.”

“Only plants that have their water treatment processes 100% optimized on a 24/7 basis are chosen for this award,” said City of Allentown Water Resources Manager of Operations Bob Kerchusky. “That can only be reached through the dedication of everybody involved in the process from beginning to end. We pride ourselves on supplying very high quality water at an economical cost.” Out of the 353 total surface water plants in Pennsylvania, only 201 were eligible this year for an award. The Allentown Water Treatment Plant was one of the 22 plants selected.

Allentown’s plant is being recognized for low levels of turbidity in the mandatory and voluntary monthly data submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness of water. Higher turbidity levels may be associated with increased levels of disease-causing microorganisms, like viruses, bacteria and protozoans. 
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