The awards recognise outstanding water treatment plant performance in the poultry industry. Winners will be announced at the Environmental Management Seminar on 9 to 10 March in Nashville, Tennessee.

"Poultry companies are committed to environmental stewardship and do a great job in their water treatment operations," said Steve Willardsen, Cargill Value Added Meats, Wichita, Kansas, and chairman of US Poultry & Egg Association. "They reclaim most of the water used to process poultry, and return it to the environment in excellent condition. We are pleased to sponsor this annual competition to spotlight poultry operations and their environmental management programs that protect our natural resources."

There are two categories for the award: one for full treatment facilities – those that fully reclaim their wastewater prior to discharge into receiving water or final land application system, and one for pre-treatment facilities – those that discharge pre-treated effluent to publicly-owned full treatment facilities. Any USPoultry member company is eligible to submit one nominee in each category. Facilities that have previously won the award may not be re-nominated for five years. The deadline for submitting applications is 31 December 2010.

An evaluation committee will review the applications and select two semi-finalist facilities in each category. The committee will then visit the semi-finalist facilities to select the award recipients. The committee includes university personnel, industry engineers and managers, and state regulatory officials.

Award recipients will receive a trophy, be profiled on the USPoultry web site, and receive assistance from the Association in publicising the award on a local, regional and national level.

The winners of the 2010 Clean Water Awards were American Proteins (Hanceville, Alabama)for full treatment; and Wayne Farms (Decatur, Alabama) for pre-treatment. Perdue Farms (Perry, Georgia) received honourable mention in the full treatment category. The Tyson Foods Fresh Retail Division (Wilkesboro, North Carolina), received honourable mention for pre-treatment.

For the application form, click here.

For more information on the Clean Water Award, contact Paul Bredwell; vice president environmental programs, US Poultry & Egg Association, 1530 Cooledge Road, Tucker, GA 30084-7303; (770) 493-9401; Fax: (770) 493-9257 or E-mail [email protected].