The Old Town Water District was honored last week, receiving the inaugural Ronald R. Boivin Memorial Award for Outstanding Water Operations during the Maine Rural Water Association’s 37th Annual Technical Conference and Tradeshow at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

For years the MRWA has had an award for Outstanding Water Operations for larger water systems, but this year decided to redefine the meaning and importance of this award. In announcing the award the MRWA said “the qualifying public water supplier for this new award must have a strong commitment to quality service, integrity and a willingness to help their neighbor. They must be a leader, and be proactive, dedicated, tenacious and dependable. They must support and promote the professional development of their employees. This public water supplier must give 100 percent…24 hours a day, seven days a week.

At the award presentation the MRWA noted that the Old Town Water District back to the 1800s and was originally formed by the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad. It currently serves 3,000 customers through approximately 44 miles of system piping, with fire protection provided by 386 hydrants. The district maintains three water storage tanks with a total capacity of 2.5 million gallons and has two interconnections with a neighboring system and uses a unidirectional hydrant flushing program for its distribution system.

Improvements made to the Old Town Water District system since 2010 include the installation of two new wells, the replacement of over 27,000 feet of distribution system piping, new standby power generators, upgrades to the SCADA technology, and the conversion of the water treatment filter media to green sand plus technology. The District is currently exercising its emergency response plans with a neighboring public water supplier, and local, county and state‐level emergency response partners. Today the Water District provides an average of 650,000 gallons per day to its customers with peak summertime usage averaging 800,000 gallons.

“Congratulations to Superintendent Steve Lane, his trustees and the entire staff at the Old Town Water District for being the 2017 – and the first ‐ recipient of the Ronald R. Boivin Memorial Award for Outstanding Water Operations,” wrote the MRWA.