Encina Wastewater Authority Honored At California Water Environment Association - San Diego Section - Annual Awards Ceremony

Annual Awards Ceremony Honors Employee Excellence, Plant Safety and Plant Innovation and Management

At the January meeting of the California Water Environment Association’s (CWEA) San Diego Section, the Encina Wastewater Authority (EWA) was honored with several awards for employee achievement, safety and facility operations. “We work diligently to continuously develop a culture of excellence and innovation in our work protecting the Pacific Ocean. The EWA Board of Directors is extremely proud of our professional staff and the organization’s accomplishments in 2013,” said Jim Poltl, Chair of the EWA Board of Directors.

In order to contextualize and enhance their work, EWA recently adopted a new product and service branding strategy that reflects their emerging resource recovery ethos. These brands cover the organic nitrogen fertilizer, renewable energy, and clean water products as well as the employee knowledge that bring these products to market.

Employee Awards
EWA employees won 5 of the 8 awards presented by the San Diego Section of the CWEA this year. Individual honorees include Supervisor of the Year Joe Sally, Operator of the Year Michael Norcutt, Laboratory Person of the Year Rachel Morgan, Pretreatment Program Person of the Year Celeste Biles and Electrical Instrumentation Person of the Year Scott Hayhurst. These individuals were nominated by their supervisors and earned recognition for their tireless commitment to protecting the Pacific Ocean, producing renewable resources, practicing fiscal responsibility in providing critical public health services.

Plant Safety
EWA has complex infrastructure that enables the agency to clean and repurpose sewage into a vibrant, healthy and potent fertilizer known as PureGreen; to recapture methane gas and turn it into electrical energy known as PureEnergy; and to filter, purify and reuse water from the sewage lines into PureWater for irrigation and equipment operations. In this interconnected mix of pipelines and heavy duty motors, generators, and pumps EWA was recognized for making safety the organization’s top priority through the implementation of a self-directed work team and other best practices that achieved 0 recordable safety incidents in the last 6 months of 2013.

Large Plant Of The Year
EWA has been recognized for its success in long term planning, product marketing, implementation of cutting edge employee programming, and the deployment of cost effective energy saving technologies that move EWA toward its goal of energy independence. The Large Plant of the Year award recognizes the success of EWA’s PureGreen and PureEnergy products that help meet these goals.

About Encina Wastewater Authority
Founded in 1961, the Encina Wastewater Authority is an environmental leader in the wastewater treatment industry. EWA offers 4 products and services designed to provide sustainable and fiscally responsible wastewater services to the communities it serves while maximizing the use of alternative and renewable resources.