Relief Operator Roger Miller accepts the Best Operated Plant Award from Gary Bailey, past president of the AWPCA.
ATHENS-High scores in safety, preventive maintenance and operation procedures have garnered a three-peat for the Athens Utilities Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Relief Operator Roger Miller recently accepted the Best Operated Plant Award from the Alabama Water and Pollution Control Association. Athens won for the third year in the category for mechanical plant operating at 5.1 to 10 million gallons per day.
“We are extremely pleased that the Athens Wastewater Treatment Plant won the Best Operated Plant Award for the third year in a row,” said Water Services Manager Frank Eskridge. “This award reflects the excellent work that our Wastewater Treatment Plant operators do every day to protect the environment on behalf of the customers of Athens Utilities.”
Plant Superintendent Virgil White said the Alabama Department of Environmental Management does treatment plant inspections on a yearly basis to ensure proper operational, laboratory, safety 
and preventive maintenance procedures are in place. The Alabama Water and Pollution Control Association members conduct inspections as well and look at the same things ADEM personnel will inspect. Each member assigns a point grade for individual items at the facility.
“There are typically three association members per facility, and they don’t inspect facilities in the category in which their home facility competes,” 
White said. “This allows our members to see how others do things and share ideas and experiences in order to make our profession better as a whole.”
The treatment plant was built in the 1950s to handle seven million gallons a day. It has undergone two major renovations to upgrade to 9 million gallons a day. It has evolved from a trickling filter plant only to having trickling filters and digesters, activated sludge, final clarification and UV disinfection.
The Athens Wastewater Treatment Plant was featured in the October 2015 edition of the Treatment Plant Operator publication, which highlighted the plant’s two awards, energy efficiency measures and landscaping focus.
