Dugosh spearheads United Water’s international award

Contributed

In an effort led by Bandera resident Roy Dugosh, the United Water team, which operates the BexarMet Water Treatment Plant, has won an international award for innovation. Dugosh serves as an operations and maintenance technician for United Water.

His team invented a device that significantly reduces repair time on critical components of the water treatment plant. United Water’s parent company, Suez Environnement, selected the San Antonio team’s project from a field of worldwide entries in the water industry.

“I’d like to congratulate the San Antonio team for their initiative and their constant quest to improve their facility and service to their client,” said Bertrand Camus, CEO of United Water. “They exemplify the spirit of innovation that helps provide the San Antonio area with a safe and reliable supply of drinking water.”

The BexarMet plant, one of the most modern facilities of its kind in the world, uses ultrafiltration to purify drinking water.

The treatment process utilizes about 5.2 million fibers, each of which is 10 thousand times smaller than a human hair, to filter out contaminants. The result is crystal clear water for 120,000 residents of the San Antonio area. The plant delivers about 3.56 billion gallons of water per year from the Medina River to Bexar County residents

According to Dugosh, ultrafiltration fibers are critical to maintaining water quality, so broken fibers must be repaired quickly. The United Water team researched, tested and designed a device using United States FDA-approved dental picks to seal broken fibers.

This shortens the repair time from days to minutes. The device also helps ensure water quality, increases production time for the treatment facility and provides cost savings for the client.
Because Suez Environnement is a global company, the San Antonio team’s ingenuity will be shared to help other water providers improve service to their customers.