Out of a field of more than 300 water and wastewater projects, six have been awarded Operational Excellence (OpEx) Awards by Veolia Water North America, a provider of water and wastewater partnership services to municipal and industrial customers.
Each year, Veolia Water North America’s OpEx awards recognize municipal and industrial Veolia Water facilities that demonstrate overall excellence in key areas including employee safety, environmental compliance, operations, human resources, community involvement and client relations.
“The teams at these projects exemplify a commitment to excellence, the environment and their client communities by the way they manage the day-to-day operations and provide services to our clients and client communities,” said Laurent Auguste, president and CEO, Veolia Water Americas.
Now in place for the past 10 years, the OpEx Awards program emphasizes environmental compliance and employee and public safety--approximately 40% of the grading scale is based on safety and compliance. Three municipal and three industrial projects were selected. The 2009 OpEx selection committee was comprised of company leaders and project managers from previous year’s winners.
The municipal winners are:
• Vancouver Water Reclamation Facilities, Wash.: With a perfect safety and environmental compliance record, a more than 30-year partnership with the city and low employee turnover, the Veolia Water-managed Vancouver facilities won the OpEx Award for the Large Project or System category;
• Woonsocket Wastewater Treatment Plant, Woonsocket, R.I.: With a strong safety training program and environmental compliance, this wastewater facility exemplified the standard of excellence in the Medium Project or System category; and
• Cle Elum Wastewater Treatment Facility, Cle Elum, Wash.: This facility remained 100% in environmental and safety compliance, despite a challenging year in which a significant snowstorm blasted 6.5 ft of snow into the area, followed by severe rainstorms and flash flooding. It was chosen the winner of the Small Project or System category.
The industrial winners are:
• Citgo Lake Charles Refinery, Lake Charles, La.: Veolia Water employees operating an oil and solids recovery process at a large industrial facility won their first national Large Project OpEx Award, in part for having one of the top safety records in Veolia Water’s industrial sector;
• 3M Tonawanda, Tonawanda, N.Y.: Veolia Water operates the Central Utilities Complex at this 3M facility in Tonawanda, as well as industrial wastewater neutralization, which discharges to the municipal treatment plant. In addition to winning the national Medium Project National OpEx Award, the project received the 3M Platinum Energy Award in 2009, the highest level achievable in the 3M organization; and
• Dyneon By-Product Recovery Facility, Decatur, Ala.: With full environmental compliance in 2009, this facility has operated for 10 years without any lost-time accidents. This facility won the national Small Project OpEx Award.
Source: Veolia Water North America
