Suffolk’s G. Robert House Jr. Water Treatment Facility was recently recognized by the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Drinking Water with the 2017 Bronze Award for “Excellence in Granular Media Filtration.”

The award was presented in Roanoke on April 11 and is given to facilities that produce drinking water three times cleaner than required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Suffolk’s water treatment facility met the stringent criteria set forth in the Virginia Optimization Program goals. Granular filters are used to filter impurities from drinking water. Each one of these online filters exceeded the standard during each month throughout the calendar year 2017.

The G. Robert House Jr. Water Treatment Facility has demonstrated excellence in its day-to-day operations, according to a press release. This award is a result of the commitment and dedication of the treatment plant’s 27-member team, which includes 10 Class 1 operators, one Class 3 operator, five chemists, eight maintenance technicians, two distribution operators and the plant manager.

The water treatment team performs a multitude of hourly sampling checks and runs more than 200 daily water quality control tests. Their efforts result in the treatment and distribution of high quality drinking water for the citizens of Suffolk.