For the 8th year in a row, our Water Treatment Plant has received the prestigious North Carolina Area Wide Optimization Award. Of the 157 water treatment plants in the state, the NC Division of Water Resources has included Greenville Utilities among the 72 honored for surpassing federal and state drinking water standards in 2022. The award is a state effort to enhance the performance of existing surface water treatment facilities.   

In 1998, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed new regulations to reduce the risk of biological contamination. The EPA then partnered with states to form the Area Wide Optimization Program (AWOP). This program introduced more stringent water quality goals and helps water systems meet those goals. North Carolina has participated in AWOP since 2000 and is one of 29 states involved in the program.   

AWOP Award Background and Challenges   
The focus of the AWOP award is turbidity removal, a key test of drinking water quality. Turbidity is a measure of cloudiness of water caused by individual particles that can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for harmful microbial growth. Eliminating particles lessens the amount of chemicals needed to process water, which reduces byproducts in the water. While all drinking water systems must meet strict state and federal drinking water standards, these systems met performance goals that are significantly more stringent.   

Achieving AWOP turbidity goals is challenging for water treatment plants in the eastern part of the state due to the high number of particles typically found in the source waters in the east. Consequently, most winning plants are from the western parts of the state. With 28 counties making up the coastal plain area, GUC was one of only 11 water systems in this area to be recognized. 

“I’m ecstatic that WTP staff has been able to meet AWOP water quality goals for eight consecutive years, even during a major expansion project, which is even more impressive,” said WTP Facility Manager Julius Patrick. “Meeting AWOP goals is a joint effort between operations, maintenance, and lab staff that couldn’t happen without everyone doing an outstanding job every day.”  

Congratulations to our Water Treatment Plant staff for working hard to obtain this award!