STREAM Awards Honor Metro Atlanta Communities and Utilities for Excellence in Water Resource Management

(ATLANTA – December 13, 2021) The Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District (Metro Water District) has awarded a STREAM Award to five metro Atlanta water utilities. This Award for Programs and Projects of Excellence is given to utilities that demonstrate exceptional leadership and innovative water resource management.

These awards honor projects completed by the Metro Water District’s local member governments, utilities, and authorities that are: sustainable, thoughtful, regional, engaging, applicable, and measured (STREAM). Each year’s award focuses on a different planning area. This year celebrates the best in water resource management practices.

The 2021 Stream Award recipients are:

  • City of Atlanta, 2021 STREAM Award for Excellence in Water Supply

The City of Atlanta was honored with a STREAM Award for Excellence in Water Supply for the city’s Bellwood Quarry and Tunnel Project, which transformed Atlanta’s Bellwood Quarry into a 2.4-billion-gallon capacity reservoir. The reservoir, at the City’s new Westside Park, safeguards against drought by increasing the city’s emergency water supply to 30 days and ensuring that residents and businesses have access to clean, safe drinking water for the next 100 years.

  • DeKalb County, 2021 STREAM Award for Excellence in Education

DeKalb County was honored with a STREAM Award for Excellence in Education for the City’s “No FOG, No Clog” program. Since the program began in 2018, sewer spills in the county caused by clogs from fats, oils, and grease (FOG) have declined significantly, and nearly 20,000 residents have been educated about the importance of scraping these items into the trash, rather than the sink.

  • City of Gainesville, 2021 STREAM Award for Excellence in Watershed

The City of Gainesville was honored with a STREAM Award for Excellence in Watershed. The city’s multiphase, multiyear watershed restoration projects will manage and treat 3 million gallons of stormwater runoff annually, restore 1,900 feet of headwater stream to reduce sediment in Lake Lanier by almost 9 thousand tons per year, and encourage economic vitality in the downtown Gainesville area.

  • Henry County Water Authority, 2021 Honorable Mention for Excellence in Education

Henry County was awarded an honorable mention for the county’s “Rain to Drain” teacher workshops. Since 2017, this program has educated nearly 70 teachers about the many STEM subjects that can be incorporated into the classroom through lessons covering the water treatment process.  

  • City of Roswell, 2021 Honorable Mention for Excellence in Education

The City of Roswell was awarded an honorable mention for its “Rule #1 is Pick Up #2” pet waste campaign. This campaign educates residents about the importance of picking up pet waste and throwing it in the trash.

“Our 2021 STREAM Award recipients are shining examples of the innovative work taking place across our region,” said Metro Water District Chairman Glenn Page. “They have embraced innovation, communication, and collaboration to make significant advancements that improve the quality of life in metro Atlanta.”

The 2021 STREAM Awards mark just one success celebrated by the Metro Water District in 2021, as it celebrates 20 years of metro Atlanta communities working together to address our region’s water challenges. Since 2000, metro Atlanta’s per capita water use has declined by more than 30%.

About the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District (Metro Water District)

The Metro Water District is dedicated to developing comprehensive regional and watershed-specific water resources plans to be implemented by local governments in the 15-county metro Atlanta region, which includes Bartow, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Paulding, and Rockdale counties. These plans conserve public water supplies, protect water quality and recreational values of the waters, and minimize potential adverse impacts of development on waters in and downstream of the region. Learn more at www.northgeorgiawater.org.

 

#  #  #