W’burg Water Department wins state award for water quality

The Williamsburg Water Department was one of the 42 water Districts recognized by Governor Matt Bevin for complying with the goals of Kentucky’s Area-Wide Optimization Program (AWOP).

AWOP helps ensure that water districts comply with the highest standards of water distribution possible.

“The program emphasizes the optimization of  turbidity removal through the drinking water treatment process. Turbidity, or cloudiness, is a measurement of particles in water including soil, algae, bacteria, viruses and other substances,” according to a press release from the Commonwealth of Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet. “AWOP  also focuses on improving the operation of existing facilities rather than implementing costly capital improvements.”

“Together, these 42 drinking water treatment plants serve more than 1.1 million Kentuckians,” said Joe Uliasz, supervisor of the Division of Water’s Drinking Water Compliance and Technical Assistance Section. “These drinking water treatment plant operators deserve our recognition and appreciation for their daily efforts to exceed the requirements of the SafeDrinking Water Act.”

13 AWOP drinking water systems in Kentucky were awarded a gold seal on their certificates for achieving the AWOP goals 100 percent of the time in 2017. A few of these include, Barbourville Water and Electric and Laurel County Water District No. 2.