Press Release                                      November 19, 2003

NRWA Nominated for Hilton Humanitarian Award 

Duncan, Oklahoma - National Rural Water Association has been nominated for the 2004 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize. 

The annual one million dollar (U.S.) Hilton Humanitarian Prize was established by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to honor a charitable or non-governmental organization that has made extraordinary contributions.  At $1 million, it is the world’s largest humanitarian award. 

This esteemed nomination qualifies NRWA along with other international nominees for the chance to be designated as the 2004 Hilton Humanitarian Organization. 

“We are surprised and excited at being nominated for this prestigious award,” stated Robert Johnson, the Chief Executive Officer for the NRWA.  “It is a tribute to the leadership and efforts the field staff perform around this country and internationally.” 

One of the foundation’s priority areas is: the creation and maintenance of clean water supplies in the developing world.  

NRWA’s focus in the United States and its support of the International Rural Water Association also concentrates on providing clean, safe and affordable water. 

Nominated for its unique work in rural water, NRWA works with it’s 48 state rural water associations to provide a variety of services including: technical assistance and training, security development, and income-generation programs, just to mention a few. 

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. 

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