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Drinking Water Awards
- Professional Operator Excellence Award
- Partnership for Certified Operator Recognition Program
- Source Water Protection Award
Mid-Atlantic Professional Operator Excellence Award
Promotes professionalism of the operator, acknowledges and encourages leadership and innovation of operators in the protection of drinking water.
Award Years
Congratulations to Ms. Leslie Gryder of the City of Lynchburg Water Filtration Plant in Lynchburg, Virginia. The ceremony was hosted in the state of Virginia where EPA presented the award.
Ms. Leslie Gryder, award recipient for the Large System Category |
|
 Mr. Mark Beall from Virginia - award recipient for the Small System category; certified operator of the Woodberry Forest School Water Treatment Plant. Through Mr. Beall's leadership and direction, the plant maintained perfect compliance for 8 years. He is recognized for water conservation approaches that have conserved valuable drinking water resources. His proactive measures in plant operations and maintenance have produced well trained and knowledgeable staff, excellent record keeping and have enhanced the plant's emergency preparedness capability. |
Mr. Michael Griffith from Maryland - award recipient for the Large System category; certified operator of the City of Frostburg Water Treatment Plant. Through Mr. Griffith's leadership and direction, the plant maintained perfect compliance for 12 years. In addition, his innovative approach to energy conservation and plant operation has reduced operational costs. |
Photos from the award ceremony in Virginia (2 pp, 536K, About PDF) |
What is the award program?
This is an individual regional award given to certified operator(s) who exemplify exceptional work practices on the job and in their community. Contributions advance the health and safeness of potable water for customers. The first of its kind in Region 3, this award is presented annually by the Office of Drinking Water and Source Water Protection in recognition of outstanding performance and practices by certified operators in Region 3.
The Program is designed to:
- highlight public water systems,
- recognize outstanding performance by public water system plant operators,
- increase public awareness of the important role the certified operator profession plays in protecting the public health and,
- encourage public support for maintaining high quality operators at public water systems.
Who can receive an award?
The award is open to certified operators of small water systems (serving less than 3,300) and large water systems (serving more than 3,300) within Region 3 (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia).
Who selects the person(s) receiving the award?
An EPA panel comprised of the Drinking Water Program will evaluate and rank the nominations. Compliance validation is also conducted by EPA. Selection of winning candidate(s) is made by the EPA Operator Certification Program Awards Coordinator.
Criteria for meriting and receiving an award include:
- Rule compliance – work being done in preparation for new rule implementation (i.e., ST2/LT2, GWR); work reflects consistent compliance of regulatory requirements at the public water system;
- Innovative approaches to cost reduction (e.g., asset management; water conservation (e.g., energy & efficiency); environmental management systems and optimizing treatment plant performance);
- Community outreach – e.g., public tours of water plant, visit schools, utilizing media to spread message about healthy, safe, potable water;
- Educational efforts – internal training of standard operating procedures;
- Peer recognition – speaks to the integrity, ethical and technical level of the nominee (e.g., previous awards received);
- Other special efforts or significant achievements.
*Special consideration for meeting these criteria will be given to small system operators only.
Nominations:The applicable state drinking water primacy agency serves as the Nominating Official (N.O.). The N.O. may choose to have professional drinking water organizations conduct their nominating exercise. The duty of the N.O. is to solicit nominations and verify the information provided on the nomination form. The N.O. must screen each nomination package for completeness and is requested to submit one nomination for each of the two award categories.
Each nomination should be accompanied by a complete nomination form, including requested attachments, prepared by the N.O. Additional information provided to support answers to questions should be concise and relevant. The state drinking water primacy agency must perform a compliance validation on the information provided prior to transmittal to EPA.
States are encouraged to widely publicize the awards program and to request nominations from the drinking water industry in each award category. Nominees must be submitted to EPA by the state drinking water primacy agency no later than March 15th of each year.
If you know of a certified operator who has demonstrated excellence in the criteria listed above for this award, you can nominate them for the next award to your state contact. Please complete the nomination form (Word, 1 pg, 28K) and submit it to your state contact.
Drinking Water Primacy Agency Contacts for Operator Certification Program
DelawareEdward Hallock (Edward.Hallock@state.de.us)
Program Administrator,
Office of Drinking Water
Delaware Department of Health and Social Services
43 S. Dupont Highway
Dover, DE 19901
302-741-8590
Washington Aqueduct Division
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
5900 MacArthur Boulevard, NW
Washington, DC 20016-2514
Lloyd Stowe (lloyd.d.stowe@wad01.usace.army.mil)
Chief,
Plant Operations Branch
202-764-2702
Tom Jacobus (thomas.p.jacobus@wad01.usace.army.mil)
General Manager
202-764-0031
Nancy Reilman (nreilman@mde.state.md.us)
Division Chief,
MDE-SDWA Implementation
Montgomery Park Business Center
1800 Washington Boulevard
Baltimore, MD 21230
410-537-3710
Phil Consonery (pconsonery@pa.gov)
Program Manager, Training, Technical and Financial Services
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
P.O. Box 8467
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8467
717-772-2184
Mark Anderson (MarkC.Anderson@vdh.virginia.gov)
Training & ERG Coordinator
Virginia Department of Health
Madison Building
109 Governor Street, Room 632
Richmond, VA 23219
804-864-7514
West Virginia Department of Health
and Human Resources
Capitol and Washington Streets
1 Davis Square, Suite 200
Charleston, WV 25301-1798
Bill Toomey (William.J.Toomey@wv.gov)
Manager,
Source Water Assessment Program/Training Certification Section
304-356-4289
Dawn Newell (Dawn.A.Newell@wv.gov)
Assistant Manager, Training & Certification Section
304-356-4337
EPA Mid-Atlantic Operator Certification Program Awards Contact
Wanda F. Johnson (johnson.wandaf@epa.gov)
U.S. EPA, Region 3
1650 Arch Street (3WP21)
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215-814-3249
Fax: 215-814-2318
Mid-Atlantic Partnership for Certified Operator Recognition Program
The Partnership is a voluntary cooperative effort between the US Environmental Protection Agency and the mid-Atlantic states to highlight certified operators of public water systems and the important role this profession plays in protecting the public health. We congratulate the following certified operators who were nominated for the 2011 award.
Louis A. Levesque
Washington Aqueduct
Washington, D.C.
David A. Smigal
Whitmer Public Water System
Randolph County, West Virginia
Michael I. Barkley
City of Elkins
Elkins, West Virginia
Mid-Atlantic Source Water Protection Award
Protection of the sources of our drinking water protects public health and our environment. The purpose of the mid-Atlantic EPA's Source Water Protection Award is to encourage and recognize leadership, innovation and dedication to source water protection.
What is the awards program?
It is up to each public water supply (PWS) or community to use the Wellhead Protection and Source Water Assessment Program information to protect their sources of drinking water through a source water protection program. A protection program might use nonregulatory tools such as land acquisition, best management practices, educational outreach, and water quality and quantity monitoring as well as regulatory tools including zoning ordinances, subdivision rules, or health regulations.
Who can receive an award?
The award is open to individuals, water suppliers, municipalities, civic groups and public and private organizations in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia who are working to protect drinking water sources for public drinking water systems.
How often are the awards given?
Awards will be given annually. However, once you have received an award, you cannot qualify for another award for three more years.
Who selects the person(s) receiving the award?
The panel that reviews the nominees includes regional EPA and state source water protection staff, and other professionals in the field.
Criteria for meriting and receiving an awards include:
- exceptional leadership
- innovative approach
- developing source water protection strategies
- ability to overcome obstacles
- coordinating mechanisms
- public outreach
- educational efforts
- recognition that is past due
- significant achievements, and
- other special and effective efforts
Nominations:
If you know of someone or a group who has demonstrated the criteria, you can nominate them for the next award through your state contact. Please include a description of the recipient, and how they are demonstrating leadership in promoting source water protection.
Source Water Assessment Program Contacts
- Delaware
- District of Columbia - none
- Maryland
- Pennsylvania
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- US EPA
John Barndt (jbarndt@dnrec.state.de.us)
Water Supply Section
DE Department of Natural Resources &
Environmental Control
89 Kings Highway
Dover, DE 19901
302-739-4793
Fax: 302-739-2296
John Grace (jgrace@mde.state.md.us)
Water Supply Program
MD Department of the Environment
Water Management Administration
2500 Broening Highway
Baltimore, MD 21224
410-631-3714
Fax: 410- 631-3157
Joseph Lee (joslee@state.pa.us)
Division of Watershed Support
PA Department of Environmental Protection
Bureau of Watershed Management
400 Market Street, 10th Floor
P.O. Box 8555
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8555
717-787-5259
Fax: 717-787-9549
Barry E. Matthews (barry.matthews@vdh.virginia.gov)
Prince George's Department of Health
James Madison Building
Office of Drinking Water, Room 621
Construction Assistance, Planning and Policy
109 Governor Street
Richmond, VA 23219
804-864-7515
Fax: 804-864-7520
William Toomey (wtoomey@wvdhhr.org)
Environmental Engineering Division
West Virginia Department of Health Human Resources
815 Quarrier Street
Charlestown, WV 25301
304-558-0324
Fax: 304-558-0691
EPA Mid-Atlantic Source Water Protection Contacts
1650 Arch Street (3WP22)
Philadelphia, PA 19103-2029
Fax: 215-814-2318
Charles Kanetsky (kanetsky.charles@epa.gov)
215-814-2735
Andrea Bennett (bennett.andrea@epa.gov)
215-814-5736
