Cranberry Wins $50,000 Grand Prize in Waste Water Technology Competition

The Brush Creek waste water plant in Cranberry Township is the winner of $50,000 worth of equipment from Hach in the company’s second annual "See the BIG Picture" contest. 

The waste water treatment plant was named the Municipal Grand Prize winner at an industry conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Hach Company is a Colorado-based manufacturer of analytic instruments and reagents used in wastewater treatment plants.

The Brush Creek plant, which serves as well as portions of Marshall and New Sewickley townships, will receive a variety of Hach equipment for lab verification, portable spot checking, and real-time online instrumentation.

According to plant operators, the package will be ideal for “monitoring ammonia and phosphorus levels throughout the treatment process…allowing for better process control decisions and to generate data that would be useful in designing for the next plant expansion, which is expected to include a total nitrogen limit, ” a statement from the township said. 

The contest, which began April 19, offered one municipal and one industrial wastewater treatment plant the chance to receive the equipment by creating a video or PowerPoint explaining how new equipment could improve their treatment process.

Entries were judged on creativity, expected results from the products requested, expected impact of the award and the extent of need.

Cranberry's winning entry was titled “Hach to the Future." The video submission used a movie-themed story line where the Brush Creek plant was projected forward and back in time as its staff professionals – playing themselves – struggled to deal with forces that menaced its operation, the township said. 

Hach Company said the contest was designed to help municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants understand the benefits of increasing nutrient monitoring to optimize their nitrogen and phosphorus removal.