Pennsylvania American Water has received nine national awards –
including one for its Kane water treatment plant – for maintaining
the Partnership for Safe Waters Directors Award requirements for
five consecutive years.

PAW was presented with the Five-Year Directors Award at the
American Water Works Association’s annual conference and exposition
on June 12 in San Antonio, Texas. Recognition ceremonies at local
plants receiving the award are slated before the end of the
year.

A brief ceremony is planned for 11 a. m. Thursday at the Kane
plant when personnel of that water treatment plant will receive a
national award recognizing plant operations and superior water
quality. According to the company, local and elected officials are
scheduled to attend. Citations from the State House and Senate are
to be presented. Larry Persing, field representative for State Sen.
Joe Scarnati, R-Brockway, will present the state senate’s
congratulatory citation to the company.

The Kane plant serves 2,200 residential, commercial and
industrial customers in Kane and Wetmore Township, according to Tim
Mague, supervisor of operations.

“Pennsylvania American, the parent company, has owned the system
since the 1930s.”

The Partnership for Safe Water is a national volunteer
initiative developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
the American Water Works Association and other organizations
representing their suppliers.

The Directors Award is presented to water systems that have
successfully completed a rigorous review in the Partnership’s Self
Assessment and Peer Review phase. During this phase, participating
utilities identify areas of possible improvement in plant design,
operation and management and then create a plan for implementing
these improvements.

To receive the five-year award, utilities must carry out these
improvements and deliver water that not only meets drinking water
standards, but surpasses what is required by regulation, for five
consecutive years.

The Partnership currently includes more than 200 water
utilities, collective serving more than 85 million people
nationwide. To date, 33 water treatment plants received the
five-year award in Pennsylvania, 28 of which, or 82 percent, are
PAW facilities. All 35 of PAW’s water treatment facilities are
enrolled and in various phases of the Partnership program.

“Maintaining Directors Award status for five years demonstrates
Pennsylvania American Water’s ongoing commitment to optimizing
treatment processes and providing high-quality water to customers,”
said Dan Warnock, PAW’s president. “Our employees, working as a
team over the years, have achieved this high mark of distinction.
They are the driving force behind our success, and I am thrilled
that they have achieved this national recognition. It is
well-deserved.”

“During my time as an operator at the Kane plant, I have seen us
maintain higher standards than other providers and even surpass
most Department of Environmental Protection standards,” said Don
Holt, plant operator. “It makes sense then that we would excel as
participants in the Partnership for Safe Water.

“I take my job of providing clean, safe water for the Kane
community very seriously. And since I have a rather large family in
town, I feel a personal responsibility to provide them and all Kane
residents, of course, with the best water possible.

“Measurable goals, such as those outlined in the Partnership,
help us stay ahead of problems and work as a team on which our
community can count.”

Speaking of the five-year Directors Award, Mague said, “This is
a voluntary program, and a lot of work on the part of the company
and our local operators has resulted in going over and above the
strict state and federal standards on the quality of water leaving
our plant on its way to the customers.”