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Three Iowa companies win regional pollution prevention award

  • 8/13/2020 3:16:00 PM
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DES MOINES—The Iowa DNR is pleased to recognize the 2020 winners of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency award, noting that three of the four companies are from Iowa and have previously worked with DNR’s Pollution Prevention program.

Yesterday, EPA announced the four winners of the Region 7 Pollution Prevention Awards, including:

  • Clow Valve in Oskaloosa
  • Iowa City Veterans Administration Health Care System
  • JBS Swift Pork in Ottumwa
  • Washington University in St. Louis

“We’d like to congratulate these companies on the significant efforts they’ve made to reduce waste, energy and water using proven pollution prevention strategies,” said Kayla Lyon, DNR director. “Making improvements in their facilities not only reduces pollution today, it contributes toward a more sustainable future.”

The Pollution Prevention Services provides environmental technical assistance to business and industry through assessments, environmental management systems assistance, workshops and webinars, a P2 Resource Library and the Pollution Prevention Intern Program.

The P2 Intern Program offers a challenging, hands-on internship to advanced engineering students, matching their skills and experience with projects submitted by top Iowa companies. At the end of the 12- or 24-week internship, students present innovative recommendations to company staff. The DNR provides training, coordination and support for the program. 

Find out more about EPA’s Region 7 winners and their award-winning projects.

The DNR is proud to share past P2 projects with these Iowa companies:

JBS Swift Pork in Ottumwa
In 2018, a DNR P2 intern conducted a water balance for the steam generation and cooling systems. Specifically, the intern designed recommendations including adoption of an air-cooled condenser to assist in the rendering operation and reduce overall water cooling demand. The intern also recommended water sub-metering and a leak detection and repair program. The 2019 P2 intern recommended projects to significantly reduce energy usage of the facility's compressor system.

Iowa City Veterans Administration Health Care System
The Iowa City VA has won sustainability awards from Practice GreenHealth and a previous P2 Award in 2018. DNR interns worked early on with the VA, and DNR is an ongoing partner.

Clow Valve Company
For more than 130 years, Clow Valve Company in Oskaloosa has manufactured iron waterworks valves and fire hydrants. The company relies on P2 and environmental sustainability and is a partner of the P2 Program. The P2 intern program assisted Clow Valve in the 2000s.

The Pollution Prevention Intern program is a partner with Iowa industry and EPA Region 7 providing environmental technical assistance to industry, institutions and government agencies. Since 2001, we have assisted Iowa companies in saving:

  • $91 million dollars,
  • 9 million kilowatt hours of electricity
  • 13.1 million therms of energy
  • 5.0 billion gallons of water
  • 248,956 tons of solid and special waste
  • 8,668 tons of hazardous waste
  • 294,021 MTCO2E *

* 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) is the equivalent of 2,205 pounds of carbon air emissions.

EPA’s Region 7 incudes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and nine tribal nations. The regional office is in Lenexa, Kan.

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