Florida Water Wastewater Treatment Plant Wins Top Honors

ORLANDO, Fla., May 17 A Florida Water Services

Corporation wastewater treatment facility in Lehigh Acres, Fla.,

just outside of Fort Myers, has won the state's top award for

operational excellence. The Earl B. Phelps Award was presented

by the Florida Water Environment Association and given to the

plant, which was the first in Florida to use a new state-of-the-

art technology called ZeeWeed.

The process filters wastewater through a membrane with pores

that are 1/100 the size of a human hair, without the use of any

chemicals.

Unlike the conventional system of pushing sewage through filters,

the ZeeWeed technology uses low vacuum. Eight-foot-high racks

containing more than 1,000 spaghetti-like membranes are dropped

into a sludge tank. The vacuum pulls wastewater through the

membranes, which remove contaminants. The water is then

reclaimed for irrigation of the Admiral Lehigh Golf Course.

The award, the most recognized award in Florida in the field

of wastewater treatment, was given to the facility and its lead

operator, Beverly Stephenson, after a record-keeping review and

an on-site inspection.

Florida Water Services (http://www.florida-water.com), a wholly

owned subsidiary of ALLETE (NYSE: ALE)(http://www.allete.com),

has more than 30 years' experience serving Florida citizens and

communities, providing the treatment and distribution of drinking

water and the treatment of wastewater. More than 500,000

Floridians in 27 Florida counties rely on Florida Water Services.

Florida Water's parent company, ALLETE Water Services, is also

the holding company for Heater Utilities, North Carolina's largest

investor-owned water and wastewater company; Georgia Water Services;

U.S. Maintenance and Management; Instrumentation Services Inc.;

and Americas' Water Services Corporation.

ALLETE is a multi-services company with corporate headquarters

in Duluth, Minn. Holdings include the second largest wholesale

automobile auction network in North America; the leading provider

of independent auto dealer inventory financing; the largest

investor-owned water utilities in Florida and North Carolina;

significant real estate holdings in Florida; and a low-cost

electric utility that serves some of the largest industrial

customers in the United States.

Source: Florida Water Service