City receives national award for safe drinking water practices

The American Water Works Association (AWWA) recently announced that the City of Bellingham Department of Public Works received a national award – the Partnership for Safe Water Directors Award - for ongoing commitment to providing residents and businesses in Bellingham and Whatcom County with excellent drinking water.

Bellingham's water treatment plant has maintained this award for ten years, an honor achieved by only sixteen water utilities across the country.

"Maintaining Directors Award status for ten years demonstrates our philosophy of constant vigilance to improve water quality," said Ted Carlson, Public Works Director. " We are thrilled to receive national recognition for this ongoing commitment."

The award recognizes water systems that have completed a successful review in the Partnership’s Self-Assessment and Peer Review phase, in which utilities examine the capabilities of their treatment plant operation and administration and then create a plan for implementing improvements.

Guided by this rigorous program, treatment plant personnel have been working to identify ways to improve the quality of Bellingham’s drinking water. Many changes have resulted, from things as minor as cleaning out the pipes that carry the backwash water to the wastewater treatment plant, to replacing the controllers that ensure the water flows more evenly through the filters.

More significant improvements include:

A streaming current meter that measures the electrical charge in the water. This allows staff to fine-tune the chemical-feed system.
Particle-count sensors that look at the size of the particles in the water that pose a potential risk to the public, then backwashing (cleaning) the filters based on particle counts.
A flash mixer that does a better job of mixing the coagulant chemicals with the water. This improves filter efficiency, as well as saving money on the chemicals needed for the job.
A new coagulant that improves the removal of organic material from the water. This helps reduce disinfection by-products in the distribution system.
New baffles in the clearwell that improve how the chlorine mixes with the water, helping to keep the chlorine levels more consistent.

"This program provides a systematic approach for looking at all the treatment components we use and evaluating their efficiency,” said Chief Operator Bill Evans. “We were often surprised at what we found and always excited about the opportunity to make small changes to the process that would really improve the water quality going to our customers."

The City of Bellingham Department of Public Works was presented with the Ten-Year Directors Award at the American Water Works Association’s Annual Conference & Exposition in San Diego, California. The city’s ongoing participation in the program includes a rigorous review of treatment practices developed by national experts, and a four-step self-assessment and peer-review process. To maintain Director Award status, each year the city must submit annual water quality data and a report of the improvements and activities that took place at the plant over the year. A presentation by staff to the Bellingham City Council is scheduled for later this summer.

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Posted: Jul 1, 2009