OREM, UTAH (ABC 4 UTAH) – In Utah, water is big business. Especially when it comes to processing it. For 11 straight years the Central Utah Water Conservancy District has been recognized as being one of the leading plants in its industry.
According to the Partnership for Safe Water the water processed at the CUWCD is the best in the nation.
David Pitcher the Assistant General Manager said, “This process improvement project has made it so that we can provide reliable water that could come out of the tap that most people take for granted.”
The water from Mother Earth and Old Man Winter goes through a series of processes including conventional sedimentation.
“It has been steered in multiple stages decreasing energy that would allow it to develop a particle that will settle out,” said Lead Operator Joe Huish.
“Ozone is a really effective way of getting rid of all those tastes and odors as well as some other benefits that ozone for us,” said Huish. ” For us what it does is it reacts with organics in the water. It does a lot for taste and odors for us and makes us able to make really good tasting water.”
American Water Works Association acknowledged the great tasting water by making it the best in the Intermountain Section Conference, which includes Utah and parts of Idaho.
“We have given ourselves all the tools that there are pretty much to drink the water,” said Huish.
The plant that produces the best water in the state was renamed after the man who took time to teach each one of his employees one thing Huish said, “No complacency ever is our main rule.”
Thursday, the plant was renamed the Don A. Christiansen Regional Water Treatment Plant.
Gene Shawcroft the plants general manager said, “It has received a number of awards that other plants are striving to achieve and that recognizes and symbolizes to us the effort Don made over a career, to make sure we had sufficient water, to make sure we had safe drinking water.”
Some bosses at the plant say none of this could be possible without their employees.
“We are very blessed to have workers, operators who their main objective is to provide safe reliable water that is public health,” said Pitcher.
CUWCD will head to Chicago to participate in the American Water Works Association National Conference water taste testing. The contest will be held in June of 2016.