Treatment Program

The partnership's mission is to improve the quality of drinking water delivered to customers of public water supplies by optimizing system operations.

The treatment program is a self-evaluation program designed to assist in the optimization of treatment plant performance. The program uses the "Self-Assessment Guide for Surface Water Treatment Plant Optimization" as the basis for the self-assessment (Phase III) portion of the program. Partnership members receive technical materials and software to implement and monitor water quality improvements.

Participating in the partnership program consistently results in a near-term impact in the quality of water produced by utilities. Partnership utilities report more than 50 percent performance improvement without major capital expenditures. The partnership provides all of the tools your utility needs to improve water quality and benchmark your facility's results against the program's national database.

The program consists of four (4) phases:

Phase I is completing the membership application (PDF)

Phase II is data collection and reporting. Baseline turbidity results (raw and finished) are submitted (computer files using partnership supplied software) for one year of plant performance within 180 days of signing the application in Phase I Baseline Reporting Requirements. Annual data reporting of plant raw and finished water is required every year for all plants regardless of the phase that has been achieved. Annual Reporting Requirements (PDF).

Phase III is a comprehensive self-assessment evaluation following the "Self-Assessment Guide for Surface Water Treatment Plant Optimization". A completion report is submitted and reviewed by a team of utility peers. Satisfactory reports result in the plant receiving the Directors Award from the partnership. A Phase III Checklist (PDF) and Self-Assessment Template (PDF) developed by PA DEP provides guidance to assist plants with the completion of the Phase III report.

The Phase IV Presidents & Excellence Awards recognize treatment plants that have achieved the highest levels of optimization and individual filter turbidity performance. A treatment plant must be a Phase III Director's award plant in good standing to apply for Phase IV awards. Phase IV completion reports are reviewed against stringent quality requirements by a team of water industry experts. Phase IV award recipients represent some of the most optimized treatment plants in North America and produce extremely high quality drinking water. All utilities should register before beginning Phase IV. Utilities that are considering pursuing Phase IV Presidents & Excellence Awards must understand that they will be assessed against very stringent performance goals. Presidents Award Guidelines (PDF),

Filter trends are required to be submitted as part of both the Phase III (turbidity graphs) and Phase IV (turbidity profiles) report (See Phase III and Phase IV Presidents & Excellence Award Guidelines). Each plant will have to tailor filter trends to the specific data and design of their process.