Marines


News
Base Logo
Official U.S. Marine Corps Website
Crossroads of the Marine Corps

Quantico Water Treatment Plant receives water excellence award

8 Jun 2017 | Jerermy Beale/Staff Writer Marine Corps Base Quantico

This year marked the ninth consecutive year the Quantico Marine Corps Base Mainside Water Treatment Plant received the Bronze Water Treatment Plant Performance Award for Excellence in Granular Media Filtration.

The award was given to MCBQ-WTP by the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Health Office of Drinking Water for outstanding water works last year. The award, presented May 9, recognizes exceptional quality in the plant’s drinking water, which is supplied to all of mainside and The Town of Quantico, supporting approximately 14,000 people.

“We commend the personnel on the time and effort they continue to invest in going beyond minimum requirements in providing drinking water,” DoH Deputy Field Director Jeremy Hull said. “[And] we look forward to the continued excellent operation of the Mainside Water Treatment Plant.”

According to Quantico Plant Supervisor Danny Gilley, an award such as this is a continued testament to all the hard work that those who work at the plant continue to do in creating a clean source of drinking water and it is ultimately a shared success.

The facility has a workforce of 12 employees, consisting of technical operators and assistants who work around the clock to keep the plant running and ensure the water quality is superior.

Quantico Mainside Water Treatment Plant submits a monthly report to the Virginia Department of Health. The report is a measure of nephelometric turbidity—in plain English that means the number of particles in the water. By Federal Environmental Protection Agency regulations, water treatment plants must have a constant clarity of 0.3 nephelometric turbidity units or fewer, which is a measure of the water’s cloudiness. Quantico’s levels are consistently below that, making the water aboard base one of the highest in quality in Virginia.

While most of a water treatment process is chemical, Gilley says their water quality is closely linked to the removal of suspended and dissolved material.

“We attribute our water quality mostly to our particle removal [methods], which make the chlorination more effective in eliminating harmful things like bacteria that can live in particles [that are invisible to the naked eye],” Gilley said.

While this near decade-long accomplishment of winning awards for water quality shows the efficiency of the facility, MCBQ-WTP believes the most important accomplishment is the ability to provide safe water for all consumers aboard base.


Marine Corps Base Quantico