FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): Fort Wayne celebrates a very important award concerning the city's water.

Mayor Tom Henry, City Council, City Utilities and many other organizations unveiled a new ultraviolet disinfection system at the Three Rivers Water Filtration Plant.

The 22 million dollar project will be used to treat the 11 billion gallons of drinking water the plant produces each year. Mayor Henry expressed his satisfaction with the project saying he was pleased it created jobs for more than 20 local companies.

<span style=”background-color: white; color: black;”>“This new UV system is an investment in the future.  It adds an additional layer of disinfection and will give us flexibility to meet further regulations that may come along,” said Mayor Tom Henry. “I’m particularly pleased that we were able to hire more than 20 local engineering, construction and supply companies to construct and install this $22 million investment.”

It was also announced that the project won an award for efforts to construct the UV upgrades.  The award was presented at the recent conference of the Water Environment Foundation and was given by the magazine Water and Waste Digest.