Nominate Your Water Systems for the AWWA Exemplary Source Water Protection Award by January 15th

November 30, 2017 Deirdre White

weber basin

Nominations for the 2017 AWWA Exemplary Source Water Protection Award are due on January 15, 2018. Please consider nominating your water systems for this award, where winners will be announced at the 2018 AWWA Annual Conference & Exposition. This award recognizes up to three water systems every year for their outstanding source water protection programs, with consideration for their size and resources. This year’s two award winners were the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District in Utah and the City of Bremerton Public Works & Utility in Washington.

The AWWA Source Water Protection Committee that administers the award program is again this year strongly encouraging nomination submissions for the smallest water systems serving populations of 10,000 or fewer, using either ground water or surface water supply sources. Because many of these systems may not have the gumption, resources, or ability to complete the application process themselves, the Committee is hopeful that state drinking water programs, AWWA Sections, and State Rural Water Associations will be willing to help.

While the nominations are not due until January 15, 2018, it is helpful to get an early start on the application process. Nominations are judged on how well a water system meets the six components of AWWA’s (G300) Source Water Protection Standard: 1) program vision; 2) source water characterization; 3) source water protection goals; 4) development of an Action Plan; 5) implementation of the Action Plan; and 6) periodic evaluation and revision of the entire program. In addition to how well a source water protection program satisfies each of the six program components for the AWWA Standard, nominees will also be evaluated on the following three criteria:

Effectiveness of the program,
Innovative approaches, and
Difficulties overcome.

For more information about the award, including previous award recipients, eligibility and submission criteria, and the entry form, go to: www.awwa.org/eswpa.