EAGLEVILLE PA — Major improvements intended to increase safety and save Montgomery County taxpayers nearly $2.5 million in operating costs have begun at the county Correctional Facility in Eagleville PA, 15 miles southeast of Sanatoga, county Communications Director John Corcoran announced Thursday (March 3, 2011).
The county Correctional Facility
The county entered into a 10-year performance contract with Honeywell Corp. that guarantees savings through reduced water and energy consumption at the 600-bed correctional facility. It is paying for the $2.4 million upgrade from an federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant.
As part of the project, Honeywell will install a new water management system that integrates core building technologies and give staff a comprehensive, graphical view of the system, increasing efficiencies and water savings.
Correctional officers will be able to monitor and turn off water flow to an individual cell before entering it, minimizing potential safety risks and reducing prisoners’ ability to discard contraband, said correctional facility Warden Julio Algarin. It will also prevent prisoners from flushing toilets continuously, a practice inmates have historically engaged in out of boredom, he said.
Honeywell will also install high-efficiency water fixtures across the facility, including new faucets and aerators in administrative areas, and toilets in prisoner cells. Additionally, the company will upgrade controls in the kitchen to optimize vent hood operation and lower electricity use.
The improvements are expected to decrease annual water use by 20 million gallons, nearly 30 percent of the facility’s consumption and enough water to fill more than 110 Olympic-size swimming pools. Having to produce less hot water will also require 41,000 fewer therms of natural gas per year.
Its kitchen and other air-handling control upgrades will save an estimated 170,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity and 11,500 therms of natural gas annually.
Honeywell expects to complete the upgrades later this year. The company and correctional facility are also planning additional upgrades and improvements, which are expected to start by year’s end.
Photo from Montgomery County PA
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