Magna Water Company receives EPA award for water treatment improvements

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today presented a Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) award to the Magna Water Company in Utah for a project to design and build a treatment plant that will enhance water safety for its customers.

The Magna Water Company has naturally-occurring arsenic levels above the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), as well as perchlorate in the ground water. While there is no MCL for perchlorate yet, Magna wanted to reduce the level of this contaminant in its drinking water.

Electrodialysis reversal was identified as a cost-effective method for removing both arsenic and perchlorate. A fixed-bed bioreactor also destroys perchlorate below detectable levels. The Utah Department of Environmental Quality provided a $6 million DWSRF loan at a low interest rate to Magna for the project. Magna combined this loan with $12 million in grants to design and build a treatment plant using these technologies.

“The Magna Water Company has successfully designed a project that provides a solution to a complex problem involving different health-based drinking water issues,“ said EPA Region 8 Administrator Robert E. Roberts. “This EPA award recognizes exceptional creativity in projects that promote sustainability and protect public health.”

The Safe Drinking Water Act, as amended in 1996, established the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program to make funds available to drinking water systems to finance infrastructure improvements. The program also emphasizes providing funds to small and disadvantaged communities and to programs that encourage pollution prevention as a tool for ensuring safe drinking water.