nha conferred two awards in the category of Recreational, Environmental, and Historical Enhancement:
• Chelan County Public Utility District #1 won for the design and implementation of the Chelan River Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Project in Washington. In relicensing the Lake Chelan hydro project, Chelan had the opportunity to add and improve fish habitat. Working with many stakeholders, Chelan restored year-round flow in the Chelan River of 80 cubic feet per second, while also adding about four acres of spawning habitat for salmon and steelhead in the lower reach and tailrace.
• New York Power Authority won for a Common Tern Habitat Improvement Project at its Niagara power project in New York State. Because the endangered common tern has very few suitable habitats for nesting, NYPA created two state-of-the-art gravel nesting beds that offer 3400ft2 of improved habitat. Installed in the spring of 2009, the project has already achieved impressive results, supporting 550 new nests and more than 1,000 fledgling chicks in the first season alone.
nha also conferred one award in the Operational Excellence category:
• American Municipal Power won for Safety Excellence at its Belleville hydroelectric plant/OMEGA JV5 in Belleville, West Virginia. Thanks to the program, AMP has completed more than 150,000 person-hours without a lost-time injury or reported incident over the last 10 years. This safety record is especially notable as the employees created their safety program from scratch and no employees had previous hydro experience. As AMP expands its hydro assets, they have plans to implement their safety program in other facilities.
nha‘s selection panel, which includes representatives from across the industry and media interests, determined the OSAW Award winners based on their project or program’s initial challenge, innovation, collaboration with stakeholders, and results. The panel judges every project by its own merits.
“The OSAW awards recognize the industry’s most innovative approaches to fulfilling its obligations as stewards of our rivers and natural resources,” said NHA Executive Director Linda Church Ciocci. “NHA recognized this year’s winners for creating innovative solutions to significant challenges and tested approaches that will raise the entire industry’s performance, as well as fulfilling their legal and regulatory commitments.”
nha presented the awards at its annual conference in Washington, D.C. For more details on the 2010 OSAW winners, see www.outstandingwaters.org.