BY MARA STINE
The Gresham Outlook, Aug 21, 2009
 
For the fifth year running, the city of Gresham and its partner, Veolia Water, has been honored for “clean water excellence.”

In July, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies presented the city with the association’s Platinum Award recognizing perfect compliance with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. The permit is issued by the Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency for the city’s wastewater treatment center to operate, said Paul Eckley, Gresham’s wastewater services division manager.

The awards presented over the last four years were considered Gold Awards, but the honor goes platinum at the five-year mark.

“I think it’s a great pat on the back for everybody involved with the wastewater system here in the city of Gresham,” Eckley said of the award. “It’s an excellent achievement to do that.”

Gresham’s wastewater facility has a cogeneration power system that produces half the facility’s daily power usage, saving about $18,000 a month.

The system works by generating electricity on site using methane gas produced during the wastewater treatment, thereby reducing demand from the local power grid. This has saved Gresham $625,000 since the system began.

Gresham has contracted with Veolia Water to operate the city’s 20-million-gallon-a-day wastewater treatment center since 2005.