White Tank Wins 3 Valley Forward Awards

White Tank Branch Library & Nature Center was accorded three awards, including a highly-prized Crescordia, at the recent Valley Forward 31st Annual Environmental Excellence Awards Program.

The Crescordia was given to White Tank for Environmental Technologies in the public sector.  It was one of 19 first-place awards presented during the event.

“We are proud and honored to have received this most prestigious award from Valley Forward,” said District 4 Supervisor Max Wilson of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.  “White Tanks is truly a remarkable family-friendly facility that clearly exemplifies the concept of green technology,” he said.

White Tank is a 29,000 square-foot dual-use facility in the West Valley that houses a library and a nature center surrounded by the Sonoran Desert.  The library is just one of four in the country and the only library in Arizona to be designated as a LEED Platinum facility.

Care was taken to design and construct a building rife with environmental assets including energy efficient lighting and cooling, water conservation, native plant landscaping, solar-generated electricity, net-zero pollution, purchased renewable energy credits, and where appropriate, re-used and recycled building materials.

“The effort to create this state-of-the-art energy efficient building challenged us to think creatively, required us to collaborate with our builder and architect, encouraged cooperation between the Library District and Maricopa County Parks and Recreation, and focused our attention on many minute, seemingly obscure details while envisioning the big picture.  We are ecstatic to have worked with Mortenson Construction and DWL Architects + Planners, Inc. on this project,” said Cindy Kolaczynski, newly-appointed director of the Maricopa County Library District.

“It’s great to be recognized by Valley Forward for designing a space with sustainability in mind.  More importantly,” Kolaczynski continued, “this building confirms for our customers that we are serious about doing our part to help the environment.”

White Tank also earned two awards of merit from Valley Forward.   The awards were for Environmental Education/Communication and Site Development and Landscape.

Valley Forward Excellence Awards are considered Arizona’s quintessential benchmark for promoting livable communities, conserving natural resources and sustaining the state’s unique desert environment for future generations.

For more information about the White Tank Library & Nature Center, visit www.mcldaz.org and www.maricopa.gov/parks.  White Tank is located at 20304 W. White Tank Mountain Rd., Waddell, AZ 85355 and is the gateway to the largest regional park in Maricopa County.

Maricopa County
Green Government
501 N. 44th Street , Suite 100
Phoenix, AZ  85008
Ph 602-506-3301
www.maricopa.gov (opens in new window)