MPCA recognizes wastewater operators for excellence

Staff at New Prague’s Wastewater Treatment Plant were among 288 Minnesota wastewater treatment facilities to be recently recognized by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for maintaining a perfect record of permit compliance during 2015.

MPCA Assistant Commissioner Rebecca Flood had high praise for the award recipients. "Wastewater operators are at the front lines of keeping our water clean. We ask a lot of them, and time and again, they’ve met our expectations. These men and women do good work, and it shows."

Operators at New Prague’s Wastewater Treatment Plant include Joe Wagner, Scott Warner, Doug Larson and John Granlund.

To be eligible for this recognition, facilities were required to submit all monitoring reports to the MPCA correctly and on time, demonstrate consistent compliance through monitoring or surveys and employ staff certified by the MPCA in wastewater operations.

The awards were presented at the 79th annual Wastewater Operations Conference in Brooklyn Park. The annual conference brings together wastewater operators from Minnesota for training and professional education. In Minnesota, there are about 1,500 municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities. Community, institution or treatment plant size was not a factor in awarding the certificates. The mission of the MPCA is to protect and improve the environment and enhance human health.