LCA Wins Water Quality Award for 12th Year in a Row

Congratulations to our great Water Filtration Plant team for receiving the Area Wide Optimization Program (AWOP) Award for the twelfth year in a row! The award is presented to participants that meet the American Water Works Association Partnership program’s water quality standards, which are much more stringent than standards set in place by the state Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

“Lehigh County Authority met stricter regulations on turbidity (water cloudiness) for both the clarified water (water after the sedimentation process) as well as for the filter effluent (water that has been filtered). Lower turbidity numbers in the filter effluent means safer, cleaner drinking water,” says Water Plant Manager Timothy Carlson.

“I’m impressed with how well operations has been able to optimize the plant  … It is never an easy job running through major rain events (treatment in general is much tougher during rain events) between cleaning rapid mix screens, intake screens and generally keeping everything performing correctly through those hectic times. We also couldn’t accomplish the Partnership goals if the plant wasn’t being maintained well.”

Over the years, the LCA team has been able to identify a number of improvements to the treatment plant and process that have helped us meet the AWOP requirements — including adjusting our operating procedures, investing more work hours and purchasing and repairing equipment.

“Meeting the American Water Works Association Partnership goals is truly a joint effort between our operations and maintenance teams that could not happen without both groups doing a superb job,” Carlson says.