CARY/APEX WATER TREATMENT FACILITY ONE OF THE BEST IN THE NATION

Plant One of 148 in US, 3 in NC To Receive Five-Year Directors Award

CARY, NC– The Cary/Apex Water Treatment Facility, the water treatment facility co-owned by the Towns of Cary and Apex, NC and managed and operated by the Town of Cary, has received a national award of excellence for maintaining the Directors Award of recognition from the Partnership for Safe Water; the facility has maintained the Directors Award for five years, an honor achieved by only 148 water utilities across the country and three in North Carolina.  The Directors Award is presented to water systems who have completed a successful review in the Partnership’s Self-Assessment and Peer Review phase, a phase in which utilities examine the capabilities of their treatment plant operation and administration and then create a plan for implementing improvements.  The Fayetteville Public Works Commission and Orange Water and Sewer Authority have also earned the Directors Award .

Developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other water organizations striving to provide optimum quality drinking water, the Partnership currently includes more than 200 water utilities, collectively serving more than 85 million people.  This represents 60 percent of the U.S. population served by surface water systems.  The Cary/Apex Water Treatment Facility’s ongoing participation in the program includes a rigorous review of treatment practices developed by national experts, and also includes a four-step, self-assessment and peer-review process.     

“Maintaining Directors Award status for five years demonstrates our commitment to ensuring safe, high quality drinking water for our customers,” said Kelvin Creech, Manager of the Cary/Apex Water Treatment Facility.  “We are extremely proud to receive this national recognition for our efforts.”

Jointly owned by the Towns of Cary and Apex and managed by the Town of Cary , the Cary/Apex plant is capable of producing up to 40 million gallons of drinking water per day to Cary , Apex, Morrisville, Raleigh-Durham International Airport , and the Wake County portion of Research Triangle Park .  Each year, the plant pumps an annual average of 16.5 million gallons per day. Built in 1993, the plant draws its raw water from B. Everett Jordan Lake.  Currently, there are 23 people employed at the plant.

The Partnership is sponsored by the American Water Works Association, Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, Association of State Drinking Water Administrators, United States Environmental Protection Agency, National Association of Water Companies, and the Water Research Foundation (formerly the American Water Works Association Research Foundation).

For more on the Cary/Apex Water Treatment Facility, visit the Town of Cary ’s Web site at www.townofcary.org.

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