Engineering company CH2M has been named the winner of the 2015 Stockholm Industry Water Award, for developing and advancing methods to turn wastewater back into clean water while increasing public acceptance ofrecycled water.
CH2M was awarded for inventing, implementing and refining methods for cleaning used water back to drinking water quality, as well as building public understanding and acceptance.
The first notable success in wastewater recycling came in the 1960s, when CH2M pioneered the third, advanced stage of effluent treatment by successfully removing excess phosphorous, nitrogen and trace metals, restoring the used water of the South Tahoe Public Utility to “pristine purity”.
Through a series of improvements, tests and large-scale implementation, the technology of treating used water back to drinking water quality was further refined to increase reliability, efficiency, and sustainability.
In the 1970s, CH2M designed the world’s first surface water indirect potable reuse plant, improving the water quality for more than one million people in northern Virginia.
CH2M continued to evolve water reuse practices and in the early 2000s worked with Singapore’s national water agency, to not only prove the safety of potable reuse, but to win public acceptance with the country’s NEWater project. By combining technology including membranes and ultraviolet treatment, together with public education tools, unprecedented public acceptance of water reuse was achieved.
The Awards Committee stated: “Through rigorous testing and analysis of both technical processes and societal perceptions, CH2M has created the opportunity to close the urban water loop.”
Torgny Holmgren, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Industry (SIWI) said: “Our planet does not hold any enormous, unknown sources of fresh water. We have to live with what we have. With growing populations and more unreliable precipitation patterns, it is essential to increase our reuse of water in the future. CH2M has understood this. In working for public acceptance of drinking treated wastewater, they have taken a step beyond engineering, and shown impressive commitment to wise water management.”
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