York Water Company wins national award for Lake Williams Dam restoration project
See the new Lake Williams Dam up close and experience a “wetting ceremony”
JT Hand, President and CEO of York Water Company, describes the 15-year process and thanks the people involved in rebuilding the Lake Williams Dam.
According to a press release, York Water Company has received a national award for the rehabilitation of Lake Williams Dam.
It was selected as the 2024 National Rehabilitation Project of the Year by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.
“York Water Company is immensely proud of the newly rehabilitated Lake Williams Dam. We knew from the beginning that the team we assembled to design and build Lake Williams Dam was award-winning, and the recognition from the Association of State Dam Officials (ASDSO) confirms this for all,” President JT Hand said in the release.
“We are honored to join an elite group of dam owners and operators who have received such a prestigious award. This award will be officially and proudly accepted in September on behalf of all York Water employees and the team members from Gannett Fleming and Kinsley Construction who were critical to the success of this project,” he said.
The award will be presented to the water utility on September 23, 2024 in Denver, Colorado, the press release said.
The award is given “to developers of unique rehabilitation concepts that advance the state of the art in dam safety and exemplify the high professional engineering standards required for dam safety,” the association’s website states.
“This project is an example of how modern engineering and proactive planning can transform 20th century infrastructure into modern models of safety, functionality and environmental sustainability,” the association said of the Lake Williams Dam.
York Water Company celebrated the completion of the project this year
The water utility celebrated the completion of the project on June 3, 2024 with a “wetting down” instead of a ceremonial opening ceremony.
Staff, officials and others poured glasses of water from York’s original 1816 water source – a spring at Penn State York – over the reconstructed dam, showing the merging of past, present and future, Hand said during the ceremony.
It took 15 years from planning to construction of the $40 million dam.
The project was dedicated to the company’s employees.
