BOSTON – Seven wastewater treatment facilities, including two in Rhode Island, have been honored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s New England office for their exemplary performance in 2007.

The South Kingstown Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, led by Bernard Bishop, superintendent, and the Warren Wastewater Treatment Plant, led by David Komiega, plant manager, both were honored with the EPA’s Regional Operations & Maintenance Excellence Award in a Jan. 30 ceremony at the annual New England Water Environment Association Conference in Boston.

“What is critical to the success we've experienced here at the Warren facility is a community that is willing to invest each year, providing the operator the resources necessary in protecting the receiving streams, which are vulnerable to poor plant performance,” Komiega said in a statement today.

“We are extremely pleased to be the 2007 recipient of the Regional EPA Operations and Maintenance Excellence Award,” said Stephen Alfred, South Kingstown’s town manager and public safety director. “The town staff shares a mutual respect for the environment and works tirelessly to ensure that the natural surroundings – that, in so many ways, define our community – are pristine and will remain that way for future generations.”

The R.I. Department of Environmental Management was “instrumental in nominating” both local facilities, the agency said. They are now eligible for consideration for the National Operations and Maintenance Excellence Award.

The awards honor the employees of publicly owned wastewater treatment plants for their commitment to improving water quality with outstanding plant operations and maintenance and on-going operator training. “More often than not and particularly with the smaller facilities, conscientious operators and staff continue to perform exceptionally with limited resources,” the EPA said.

“The professionals operating these wastewater treatment plants – as well as the municipalities and the state environmental agencies that support them – are key to keeping our environment healthy,” Robert W. Varney, the EPA’s New England regional administrator, said in a statement today. “I am proud to give them the credit they deserve.”

Additional information about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its water-quality protection programs is available at www.epa.gov.