MIDDLETOWN, DE, Mar. 1, 2011 -- When the town of Middletown sought a low-cost method to increase its wastewater treatment plant capacity last year, it turned to Artesian Resources, which engineered an innovative water recycling solution and then brought together state and local officials in a unique partnership to support the plan. Today, the resulting water reclamation project is not only saving Middletown taxpayers' money, it's saving Delaware millions of gallons of water daily.
Artesian Resources' ability to create the water recycling partnership has been hailed by the Water Resources Association (WRA) of the Delaware River Basin, which has named Artesian Resources the winner of it 2011 Government Award.
WRA President Robert F. Molzahn called the partnership between Artesian, the town of Middletown, Governor Jack Markell's office, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the Delaware Department of Agriculture, the Delaware Farm Bureau, the University of Delaware and two area farmers "an excellent example of how government organizations can work in concert with private companies and individuals to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome."
Artesian Resources helped create the partnership to enable the area farmers to irrigate their fields with reclaimed water from Middletown instead of using pumped ground water. The effort is saving up to 3 million gallons of water daily.
"The partnership was the result of the commitment of each organization to preserving our invaluable water resources," said Artesian President and CEO Dian C. Taylor. "That mutual goal made our work together a logical, sensible and very productive collaboration. We're all honored by this recognition and opportunity to promote more government and business partnerships like this, but more important we are very pleased to say that our partnership has already saved more than 76 million gallons of water. That's the true measure of our partnership's success."
The award will be presented to representatives of the partnership at the WRA's 29th Annual Recognition Dinner on Wednesday, April 20, 2011.
About Artesian Resources
Artesian Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTNA) operates as the holding company of eight wholly-owned subsidiaries offering water, wastewater and engineering services on the Delmarva Peninsula. Artesian Water Company, the principal subsidiary, is the oldest and largest investor-owned public water utility on the Delmarva Peninsula and has been providing water service since 1905. Artesian Water distributes and sells water to residential, commercial, industrial, governmental, municipal and utility customers. Other subsidiaries include Artesian Water Maryland Inc., Artesian Water Pennsylvania Inc., Artesian Wastewater Management Inc., Artesian Wastewater Maryland Inc., Artesian Utility Development Inc., Artesian Consulting Engineers Inc. and Artesian Development Company.
###
