LCA Honored With Multiple Water Treatment Awards

We’re thrilled to announce that LCA and our employees have been recognized with multiple water treatment awards this month.

On Friday, Nov. 20, the Eastern Pennsylvania Water Pollution Control Operators Association presented three awards during its virtual, annual meeting:

Plant Operation and Maintenance Excellence Award – Greater than 2 MGD*: This award recognizes our wastewater treatment plant team (top photo) for their outstanding performance in operations and maintenance.
(*million gallons per day)

LCA's laboratory staff members won a boratory Performance Excellence Award

Laboratory Performance Excellence Award: This award honors our wastewater treatment plant laboratory team for their fantastic work.

LCA operates the Allentown Wastewater Treatment Plant Laboratory, which is the “central hub” of the regional system that provides wastewater collection services to 14 Lehigh County municipalities. The Kline’s Island Wastewater Treatment Plant treats 32 million gallons of wastewater daily.

The lab staff performs testing for the Allentown Wastewater Treatment Plant 365 days a year, along with monthly testing for five smaller facilities owned by LCA.

At left, the laboratory team poses with their award: (from left) Rich Jones, Renee Vogel, Gretchen Schleppy, Melissa McKinney, Kristen Pondish and Samantha Baker.

Dan Treat Memorial Award: Wastewater Treatment Plant Manager Gary Saunders Jr., at right, is being recognized for excellence in the management of wastewater treatment facilities. 

The Bolenius-Weist Clean Streams Award: Former LCA Wastewater Services Manager Robert Kerchusky, at left, who retired earlier in 2020 after 41 years of service, was recognized for his outstanding service to the development of operations excellence through individual contact and dedication to the water pollution control field.

 And finally, the Allentown Water Treatment Plant has been selected, along with 30 other drinking water treatment plants nationwide, to once again receive the prestigious Area Wide Optimization Program (AWOP) Award

The award is presented to participants that meet the American Water Works Association’s Partnership for Safe 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.

It’s a national program coordinated among numerous states, the EPA, the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA), and numerous water treatment plants. LCA has won the award for the thirteen consecutive years that AWOP has been recognizing outstanding efforts to optimize filter plant turbidity performance.

“We are honored to receive recognition of the work LCA and its employees do daily to deliver high-quality, safe, reliable, and affordable water and wastewater services to our community,” said LCA Chief Executive Officer Liesel Gross. “We are especially proud of the commitment and dedication of our employees, essential workers, during a year that has brought new challenges, along with many new opportunities. Keep up the great work, team!”