CLEVELAND – The entry submission process is now open for the annual Sherwin-Williams Impact Award, which recognizes excellence on North American water and wastewater projects. Each year, Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings honors application contractors, specifiers and owners for their outstanding work that impacts the industry every day.

Eligible projects for the Sherwin-Williams Impact Award include any new, restored, and/or rehabilitated water-related structure that was completed using coating and lining materials from Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2017. Projects may cover any aspect of the water and wastewater market, including water treatment, water storage, water transmission, sewer collection and wastewater treatment, not just highly visible structures.

“Each year, the Sherwin-Williams Impact Award honors project teams for their efforts to deliver long-term asset protection for the wide array of systems and structures that make up North America’s water and wastewater infrastructure,” said Kevin Morris, Water & Wastewater Market Director, Sherwin-Williams Protective and Marine Coatings. “No obstacle is too great for these teams to overcome to enhance public safety, protect assets and extend infrastructure life using high-performance protective coatings. We look forward to learning what challenges applicants faced and how they addressed them to deliver project excellence and positively impact the local community.”

Applications for the award will be accepted June 1 through July 31, 2018, via the Sherwin-Williams Waterblog.

An independent panel of water industry experts will review all entries to determine the winners, including an overall winner, a runner-up and an honorable mention. The judges’ work encompasses corrosion and materials engineering, consulting, specification, testing, and inspection services.

Award entries will be rated on the difficulty of the submitted project, challenges overcome by the participants, solutions provided to the owner, how satisfied the parties were of the outcome, and the overall uniqueness of the project.

The winning project for the 2017 Sherwin-Williams Impact Award was Carolina Management Team’s (CMT) rehabilitation of the chlorine contact chamber at the St. Pauls, North Carolina, wastewater treatment plant – a $46,000-project donated by CMT to the town at no cost. In addition, two water tank restoration projects earned runner-up distinctions, including the project team of UCL Inc. and Dixon Engineering Inc., which recoated a multi-leg elevated water tower for the City of Findlay, Ohio, and the project team of HCI Industrial & Marine Coatings Inc. and Gray & Osborne Inc. for restoring a 4.5-million-gallon potable/fire water storage tank for the Mukilteo Water and Wastewater District in Mukilteo, Washington. Finally, CMT also earned honorable mention status for its restoration of the filter pipe gallery at the Kerr Lake Regional Water Treatment Plant in Henderson, North Carolina.

The 2018 Sherwin-Williams Impact Award will be presented at the Water Environment Federation’s Annual WEFTEC Conference and Exhibition, which takes place Oct. 1-3, 2018, in New Orleans.

For more information or to submit your project, visit http://sherwinblogs.com/impact-award. Required submission information includes: project name and location; owner, specifier, coating inspector and contractor names; coating system(s) applied; date of project completion; the story/scope of the project; and a signed project release form.