The State College Borough Water Authority (SCBWA) was presented with the 2016 Area Wide Optimization Award (AWOP) at the Water Works Operators Association of Pennsylvania conference held August 7 & 8, 2017 in State College. This is the 10th consecutive year SCBWA has received the award. AWOP is a national filter plant optimization effort among multiple states, the US EPA, the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators and participating water systems.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has presented the award annually for the last 10 years. Currently there are 346 surface water treatment plants in Pennsylvania, 188 of them participated in the AWOP in 2016 by submitting their turbidity data. There were 149 of the 188 treatment plants that met the optimization goal of less than or equal to a 0.1 NTU (turbidity units) in 95% of their daily maximum values. The 149 plants were also reviewed for regulatory compliance history and stringent filter performance evaluation findings. This year 21 of the 149 plants qualified for this prestigious AWOP award. The SCBWA has been honored by earning this award every year for the past 10 years. SCBWA would like to congratulate their water treatment plant operators and thank them for their hard work and dedication to providing clean safe drinking water to the residents of the Centre Region.