ASHLAND Ashland’s Water Treatment Plant swept away a top state honor this week.
The plant was awarded the title of Kentucky’s Water Plant of the Year by the Kentucky Water and Wastewater Operators Association at an event in Owensboro.
Bill Stambaugh, water superintendent for the City of Ashland, said they knew the plant was in the running because KWWOA representatives inspected the plant recently; the top four plants are inspected before the winner is decided.
Stambaugh said the plant was nominated anonymously and several points were considered in naming a winner.
“Water quality is a huge one, and they also look for making sure we don’t have violations for previous 12 months,” Stambaugh said. “They want to see how you’re utilizing your facility to the best of your ability with treatment and staff.”
Mark Hall, Director of Utilities for the City of Ashland, said the organization also looks for any innovative measures in plant operation.
One of those points: The Ashland plant signed onto the Area Wide Optimization Program (AWOP), which means the plant is committed to meeting standards that are well above regular operational guidelines. That means AWOP plants are much more strict.
Another advancement: total organic carbon, which watertechnologies.com calls “an important water quality parameter for drinking water plants due to its link to disinfection byproducts (DBPs).”
“It fine-tunes the water even more, which most plants aren’t doing,” Stambaugh said.
For the good of the industry, as well as Ashland’s water supply, the plant participates in an internship program, working with Kentucky Community and Technical College System, Marshall University and Ohio University to offer students some insight into water treatment and giving them a leg up on getting a job.
“We just hired our third intern from KCTCS,” Hall said, giving students a chance to get an inside look might open career doors for them, plus the program is unusual and likely had an influence on Ashland’s plant winning the award.
City officials say they’re proud of the achievement.
“I’m immensely proud,” City Manager Mike Graese said.
Ashland City Commissioner Josh Blanton congratulated the plant and those associated with it for winning the award.
“Six years ago, our citizens had become accustomed to seeing notices of water violations. Very proud to say that this team decided that was unacceptable and went from violations and fines to being named the best water plant in state of Kentucky,” Blanton said.
Hall said the city deserves credit, too.
“Elected officials and the city manager and those who prepare the budget have given us the funds to see that this happened,” he said.
Last year, Ashland won second place and first for the eastern region. This is the first time Stambaugh is aware that an eastern Kentucky plant has won, he said.
“We’re extremely excited that eastern Kentucky finally was overall winner and, obviously, we’re excited, too,” Stambaugh said. “It’s not just a big deal for us, but more on a regional basis. Our region goes from the Tennessee border, so there’s a lot of counties in it and it’s a tremendous honor to represent them.”
He also praised others who work at the plant.
“We want people to have confidence in their water,” he said. “They take pride in their jobs and it’s usually not recognized. ... It takes everybody working together that’s shown in these awards and I’m really proud of them.”
