A computerized system built to help monitor operations and maintenance at a waste-water treatment plant helped net the Unity Township Municipal Authority a regional award from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The award, given annually to one facility in each of the agency's 11 regions nationwide, puts the township authority and its Pleasant Unity plant in an elite class, said Donald J. Welsh, regional administrator for the EPA Mid-Atlantic region.
"Many significant improvements in our nation's water quality can be attributed to better waste-water treatment," Welsh said in a news release. "This award recognizes the outstanding job that people at the Unity Township Municipal Authority are doing to help protect the environment."
Award recipients are selected for their performance in complying with waste-water discharge permits, maintenance management, laboratory practices, personnel training and public awareness.
The Unity authority received the award Wednesday in the small-advanced category, which includes facilities that treat less than 1 million gallons of sewage per day, Welsh said.
"The plant provides service to a relatively small population in a rather large service area," said EPA spokesman Eric Carlson.
To do that, Carlson said, the facility employees work with computers to help oversee a portion of the authority's nine pump stations and 140 miles of sewer line throughout the township.
"For the size of the (Pleasant Unity) facility, we were considered unique because all operation and maintenance are computerized," said plant manager Mike Henry.
The EPA will consider the Unity authority and other awardees for the agency's national award to be presented next fall, Henry said.
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