Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Barta Receives 2023 CSWEA Operations Award

General Manager Amy Underwood, who is the current President of the Central States Water Environment Association (CSWEA), presented Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Barta with the 2023 CSWEA Operations Award during the July 18 Board of Trustees meeting.

The Operations Award is given in recognition of outstanding wastewater treatment plant operation and demonstration of professionalism. CSWEA gives out this award annually to one recipient in each member state (Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin).

Jeff Barta started at the Downers Grove Sanitary District (DGSD) in 1984 and has been Maintenance Supervisor since 1998. Jeff supervisors eight employees and is responsible for maintenance of the DGSD wastewater treatment center (WWTC) and operations and maintenance of nine lift stations. Under Jeff’s guidance, the DGSD Maintenance Department performs high quality work very cost effectively, which translates to low rates and fees for DGSD customers. Under Jeff’s tenure, DGSD implemented an asset management program/software to do maintenance scheduling/planning, fixed asset accounting, condition assessment, budgeting, and record service history. This program has been critical for DGSD to proactively keep up with the needs of our aging infrastructure. Also under Jeff’s tenure, permanent backup generators were installed at all lift stations to ensure they were always operational, preventing potential backups. Over the past decade, DGSD made a commitment for its WWTC to become a net zero energy facility. Jeff was instrumental in making this commitment a reality by ensuring that maintenance staff were trained to work on the DGSD combined heat and power (CHP) engines, resulting in cost savings in maintenance labor and in reduced downtime of the CHPs (i.e., maximizing energy production).

The District congratulates Jeff on this well-deserved recognition.