FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                             Contact: Elee Erice (406) 247-7607
May 3, 1999                                                   Jeff Lucero (202) 208-6267

                    BUREAU OF RECLAMATION'S FRAZER WATER TREATMENT PROJECT 
                        GETS PUBLIC SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARD

     (Billings, MT)---As part of Public Service Recognition Week celebrations taking place across the
country May 3-9, a Breakfast of Champions on Capitol Hill today will honor the U.S. Department of the
Interior's Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) Frazer Water Treatment project with a 1999 Public Service
Excellence Award.  The award, which pays tribute each year to excellence in federal, state and local
government, is sponsored by the Public Employees Roundtable and co-sponsored by the International
City/County Management Association, National Governors' Association, National League of Cities, U.S.
Conference of Mayors, National Association of Counties, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and
Federal Executive Boards.  The Frazer project, managed by the Montana Area Office of Reclamation's Great
Plains Region, was selected to receive special recognition in the federal category.        

     "The Frazer project was a team effort that significantly improved the quality of life for residents in the
small community of Frazer, MT," said Eluid Martinez, Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation.  "Through
interagency cooperation, ingenuity and excellent management, a state-of-the-art water treatment system was
developed at a minimum cost to taxpayers."    

     In 1997 employees of  Reclamation's Montana Area Office and Great Plains Regional Office in Billings,
MT, Reclamation Service Center in Denver, CO, the Indian Health Service (IHS)  and the Fort Peck Tribes
worked together to establish an interim treatment system to reduce iron and manganese concentrations from the
Frazer groundwater supply.  Reclamation supplied the treatment equipment, IHS constructed the building to
house the equipment and ins
tall plumbing and electrical controls, and the Fort Peck Tribes provided the labor
and operated and maintained the treatment plant.  Even the Department of Navy became involved indirectly
when Reclamation, in its search for low cost technology, was able to acquire two surplus unused Erdalator  
units (at a cost of $1) from the Navy Battalion Construction Center in Gulfport, Mississippi.  The 1969 vintage
Erdalator   units were intended for use in Vietnam, but were never shipped overseas.  The units were new in
their crates. Reclamation acquired the surplus treatment units and provided the funding to have them shipped
from the Naval Federal Storage Center to Denver, CO, and finally to Frazer, MT.  Total cost for the water
treatment system, including transportation, was approximately $65,000.  If a system had been designed and
constructed using standard procedures, the cost would have been closer to 10 times that amount. 

     The Frazer water supply system now serves 130 homes, one high school and eight businesses in the
tribal community of Frazer.  The population of Frazer is about 450 persons. The  current water treatment system
allows the Frazer community to have high quality potable water. Previously, residents had to haul their drinking
water as their elders had done, an unpleasant hardship.

     The positive response from the Frazer community provides convincing evidence that the project was a
success, and that it is an excellent example of  "how government works well.