Press Release                                        October 28, 2003

National Rural Water Association
2915 S. 13^th Street
Duncan, OK 73533
580-252-0629   FAX 580-255-4476
Contact:  Kris R. Cash, nrwakc@nrwa.org
 

Maine Rural Water Association Receives Quality On Tap Leadership in Public Relations Award

Officials at the National Rural Water Association are pleased to announce that Maine Rural Water Association received the Quality On Tap Leadership in Public Relations Award that was presented at the NRWA Annual Leadership and Technology Exhibit Center Forum held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, October 19-22.

The Quality on Tap! Public Relations Program is designed to assist small utilities in telling their story about the clean, safe, dependable quality water they produce.  This award is presented to the State Association that is the leader in providing their membership with necessary QOT tools and sets the example for good public relations.

Maine Rural Water Association is a private, non-profit organization with a very simple goal:  Helping rural water and wastewater systems provide safe drinking water and protect the environment at an affordable cost to users.  The association is run by and for rural systems.  Incorporated in 1979, MRWA offers training classes for system personnel and trustees on federal and state rules, operation and maintenance, and finance.  Additionally, the association also provides in-field technical support to assist systems with leak detection, process control, compliance, source water protection, budgeting and collections.

Maine Rural Water Association was selected as this year’s winner from 48 other state associations.

The NRWA Awards in Excellence program was established to recognize the outstanding efforts of the Member State Affiliates, their staff, and special members of the rural water industry. 

The National Rural Water Association is a non-profit federation of State Rural Water Associations.  Its mission: to provide state associations with support services to meet the needs of their membership.

Historically, NRWA’s state associations have trained over 100,000 water and wastewater system personnel a year for two decades and provided over 70,000 on-site technical assistance visits a year. Local communities have adopted over 7,000 ground water protection plans. Additionally, an NRWA goal is to have all community water supplies complete vulnerability assessments and emergency response plans.

Photo:  Steve Levy, Executive Director