New Bedford receives an environmental award.

The New England Regional Office of the Environmental Protection Agency announced that The New Bedford Industrial Pretreatment Program was selected for a 2016 Regional Industrial Pretreatment Program Excellence Award.

The EPA said that under the leadership of Industrial Pretreatment Program Engineer Wayne Perry, the program's work had been exceptional in inspecting, permitting and sampling of industrial users that discharge industrial waste into the City’s collection system.

Perry's efforts to regulate the numerous amount of dentists that discharge dental amalgam waste into the City’s sewer system was cited as a primary reason for the award nomination.

The EPA says the Regional Industrial Pretreatment Program Excellence Award was established to "recognize and honor employees of publicly owned wastewater treatment plants for their commitment to improving water quality through outstanding oversight of industrial users discharging to the municipal sewer system."

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