The City of Palm Coast is being awarded the Plant Excellence Award by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in recognition of the Utility Division's outstanding water treatment plant operation, maintenance and compliance.

The award will be presented at the Florida Rural Water Association's "Focus on Change" seminar in Lake City.

The award is based such factors as staff training and certification, safety, emergency preparedness, outstanding plant appearance, record keeping, conservation and customer relations.

"This honor is indicative of the extreme professionalism and dedication consistently displayed by the entire water operations staff, as well as the entire City Public Works/Utility Division," said James Hogan, Water Operations Manager for the City of Palm Coast. "Our employees take great pride in providing quality water and wastewater service to our community, and I am extremely proud to work with such a great group of dedicated individuals."

The City of Palm Coast takes great pride in its excellent water treatment. The City's water comes from the confined surficial aquifer and the deeper Floridan Aquifer. This fresh groundwater is treated for optimum drinking and household use. Water is treated at the City's three facilities - a conventional lime-softening plant and two nano-filtration (or low-pressure, reverse osmosis) plants - and combine to provide consistent, high-quality water city-wide. In addition to removing contaminants, the City softens the water to make it easier on skin and hair and to decrease the amount of soap needed for washing.

A new Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) plant is under construction now at Water Plant 2 on Citation Boulevard and will open later this year. The ZLD plant will treat and recover up to 1.2 million gallons of water per day - reclaiming a resource that previously was wasted and also better protects the environment.

For more information, please contact James Hogan at 386-986-2374.