JOIN USA global service and engineering company based in Colorado (United States) has been named the winner of the 2015 Stockholm Industry Water Award for developing and advancing methods to clean water and increasing public acceptance of recycled water. CH2M has invented, implemented and refined methods for cleaning used water back to drinking water quality.
But since this water is only valuable if people actually use it, the firm has put significant and successful effort into building public understanding and acceptance. The company pioneered the application of social science research to better understand the underlying reasons for why people reject the notion of reuse and what might be done to change that mindset.
This research, combined with demonstrations, has dispelled myths around use of treated wastewater and paved the way for a surge in interest and acceptance of potable reuse.
The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), founded in 1991, organises the annual World Water Week and hosts the Stockholm Industry Water Award and two other prizes – the Stockholm Water Prize and the Junior Stockholm Water Prize.
Founded in 1946, CH2M designed in the 1970s the world’s first surface water potable reuse plant, improving the water quality for more than one million people in northern Virginia in the United States – raising the bar for cost-effective wastewater treatment. The company’s work is now concentrated in the water, transportation, energy, environment and industrial markets.