The Long Beach Water Department (LBWD) announced Monday that the retail water supply agency is one of the first utilities to receive the prestigious Presidents Award for Distribution System Operation from the Partnership for Safe Water.
The Partnership is a drinking water optimization program sponsored by the American Water Works Association, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other water organizations to recognize water suppliers that continuously go above and beyond regulatory requirements to provide high-quality drinking water through treatment plant and distribution system optimization.
The LBWD has been participating in the Partnership’s distribution system optimization program since 2010 and is also a subscriber of the treatment plant optimization program, according to the announcement.
The Long Beach Water Department received the Directors Award for the Distribution System Optimization Program in 2013.
“Reaching Presidents Award status is a very significant achievement in our ongoing work to optimize the distribution system,” said Tai Tseng, Director of Operations of the LBWD, in an earlier statement.
Tseng said the LBWD’s goal is to always improve the quality of water for their customers.
“The Presidents Award is an important milestone as we seek to continuously improve distribution system performance and operations,” he said.
“The Partnership’s Presidents Award recognizes utilities that meet the program’s highly stringent goals for water quality,” said Harry Saltzgaver, president of the Board of Water Commissioners, in a press statement released Monday. “We understand that LBWD is one of the first utilities in California to achieve this prestigious level of performance.”
According to the release, the Partnership for Safe Water is a self-assessment program for water treatment plant and distribution system optimization. Partnership utility subscribers participate in a rigorous self-assessment and peer review process, developed by industry experts, and achieve recognition for their commitment to the delivery of safe water for their community.
More than 250 utility subscribers, collectively serving more than 100 million people, commit to the Partnership’s goals of providing safe, high-quality drinking water by achieving operational excellence in water treatment or distribution.