Cranston’s Water Pollution Control Facility was recently cited for excellence by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

The facility was honored with the EPA’s Regional Wastewater treatment Plant Operation and Maintenance Excellence Award which was presented to Plant Superintendent Earl Salisbury during ceremony held in Boston on January 30.

According to the EPA, the award was “established to recognize and honor the employees of publicly owned wastewater treatment plants for their commitment to improving water quality with outstanding plant operations and maintenance.”

The roughly 20-acre plant located on Pettaconsett Avenue is owned by the city but has been managed by Veolia North America since the late 1990’s when the city decided to privatize the operations.

Cranston Mayor Kenneth Hopkins praised the plant for its daily excellence, and congratulated Salisbury and his staff. He also thanked the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) for playing a key role in the awards process by nominating the Cranston facility for national recognition.

For Salisbury, who has headed operations in Cranston since 2013, the award is particularly meaningful for two important reasons. First, he said, it recognizes the hard work of the plant’s 40-plus employees.  And secondly, it comes from the regulating authority that knows what it takes to keep a treatment facility running effectively and efficiently for the betterment of the environment.

“It means a lot to get this award from the regulators,” Salisbury said.  “They understand the challenges we face, and it means they see the improvements we make and the work we do every day.”

The treatment facility operates 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, he said, adding that crews are out on the job whatever the time of year or the weather.  “It doesn’t matter if it’s Christmas,” he said. “We’re here.”

The plant, which sits on the banks of the Pawtuxet River discharges more than 12 million gallons of treated effluent into the river every day.  It is one of three treatment plants (located only several miles from each other) that release treated wastewater into the river, with the other two being Warwick and West Warwick.

The word effluent may conjure images of muddy brown water, but the Cranston plant, like its neighbors, is an advanced treatment facility, and by the time effluent is released at the end of the treatment process it has been chlorinated, de-chlorinated, treated for the removal of unwanted biological nutrients such as phosphorous  – and is crystal clear.

The effluent, and other chemical processes at the plant, are carefully monitored at its laboratory where testing is ongoing to make sure the liquid discharged from the plant is compliance with all federal and state regulations.  The samples of what is leaving the plant are clear, colorless and odorless.  “It is almost potable water,” Salisbury said.

The treatment process starts out as a much murkier process as raw sewage comes into the plant and goes through various stages – including clarifiers, settling tanks and more – as good bacteria vs. bad bacteria and solids are separated from liquids.  The end result is the clear, treated effluent and biosolids which are incinerated on site.

And all the work doesn’t happen at the plant.  There are hundreds of miles of pipes that carry the sewage from 70,000-plus homes and business to the treatment facility, and there are  nearly two dozen pump stations to keep the system flowing.  Salisbury said the full operation consists of about 280 miles of pipes and 22 pump stations.

“We are very proud of our Veolia Cranston team, and of all our teams at the 50+ facilities throughout New England who make the commitment to public health and environmental stewardship day in, day out,” said Karine Rougé, CEO of Municipal Water for Veolia North America. “The communities we serve encompass a vibrant and delicate regional ecosystem.

“Our personnel are dedicated to preserving that which makes this area such an attractive place for so many people to call home,” she said, “and we're grateful to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's New England Office for recognizing their work here."