Accolades

We take a great deal of pride in what we do every day. Our teams of experts are dedicated to providing high-quality service to our customers each and every day. Over the past few years, we’ve had the privilege to be acknowledged by customers and industry experts on a variety of topics, including water quality, research and environmental stewardship. 

We proudly uphold the highest standards in everything we do. Below are a few examples of recent accolades. Please visit your state site by choosing from your drop down menu above for information on award-winning programs in your area.

Water Quality
In the past several years, all over the country, we’ve received more than 150 awards for superior water quality from state regulators, industry organizations, individual communities, and government and environmental agencies. Visit our section on Ensuring Water Quality for more information on how we maintain the highest possible standards.

• 65 of our facilities have received the Partnership for Safe Water's "Director" award and 57 have maintained it for more than five years.
• Champaign County, Illinois' water has twice been voted “Best Tasting” in the U.S.

Research and Testing
We are known for our award-winning commitment to creativity and innovation through scientific research and for our nationally-recognized lab, which is routinely used in the development of Federal regulations. Visit our section on Laboratory Testing for more information.

• Because of the expertise of our scientists and our cutting edge technology, we are considered a pioneer in the field of research and testing.
• Since 1993, American Water’s research team has won over a dozen awards for our research, received nearly $34 million in research grants, and been awarded three patents for its Cryptosporidium research alone. We are a leader in monitoring and controlling this dangerous organism.
• As the Belleville Lab enters its third decade, it is nationally and internationally recognized as one of the best and most comprehensive labs in the world.

Environmental Stewardship
The special projects we have developed have brought us awards and accolades but more importantly, they show our commitment to the environment and this precious resource we protect. We routinely work with our communities to identify important local projects to support. Visit our section on Environmental Stewardship to learn more.

• In Pennsylvania, we’ve been honored with the Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence for our residuals programs. One in particular adds dried and pressed water treatment residual material to soil. The residual material enhances the soil for gardening, landscaping projects, and for the redevelopment of sites in need of environmental cleanup.
• Missouri American Water's St. Joseph operation received the Pollution Prevention Environmental Excellence Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency Region VII for the company's Environmental Management System. The award recognizes programs that reduce waste at the source and conserve natural resources.
• Indiana American Water's Indiana Partnership for Turtle Creek won the national U.S. Department of Agriculture's Excellence in Conservation Award from the agency's Natural Resources Conservation Service. Indiana American Water is a member of this watershed protection partnership.
• American Water's wastewater contract operation in Clarksville, Indiana, has been recognized seven times by the Indiana Water Environment Association (IWEA) Laboratory Excellence Awards and nine times by the IWEA Safety Awards.
• New Jersey American Water's 72-inch Eastern Reinforcement Transmission Main Project received an Honor Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of New Jersey.
• Illinois American Water's Interurban district received the Environmental Excellence Award from the St. Clair County for its "Clean Hands-Healthy Bodies" school hand-washing program sponsored in collaboration with the St. Clair County Health Department.
• West Virginia American Water's Huntington water treatment plant received an award from the Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors and the Centers for Disease Control for providing 50 years of community water fluoridation.
• Missouri American Water's Brunswick Operation won the Missouri Rural Water Association's Source Water Protection Award for their wellhead protection program.
• West Virginia American Water's Weston Treatment plant tied with two other conventional treatment plants in West Virginia (out of 125 facilities) for first place for the achievement of most optimized water treatment under the Area-Wide Optimization Program (AWOP) for 2007.
• Several Kentucky American Water employees participated in Reforest the Bluegrass and Arbor Day in April. Overall, 700 volunteers planted 7,000 tree seedlings near Jacobson Reservoir, a water source for Kentucky American Water.
• Missouri American Water conducted a prescribed burn on the native prairie site at the St. Louis County Central Plant to stimulate the native forbs and grasses at the site.
• Pennsylvania American Water's Tom Trok continues to work on the native plant garden and wildflower plots at the Pittsburgh - Hays Mine plant.
• May, 2008 - Missouri American Water rehabilitated a Bald Eagle and released it back to the wild at the St. Louis County Central Plant near a previously installed nesting platform.
• Iowa American Water's Sioux City staff sponsored and participated in the first Missouri River Roundup which involved working with community participants to clean up the Missouri River by removing debris and trash.
• Missouri American Water's St. Louis County South Plant used a no-till seed drill to seed a one-acre area with prairie grasses and forbs. The area was formerly covered with turf grass.
• Missouri American Water awarded an environmental grant in the amount of $8,500 to Trailnet for the Confluence Corridor Habitat Restoration project to train AmeriCorps Trail Rangers, Stream Team members, and over 200 community volunteers on conducting habitat restoration and maintenance activities in the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Confluence area.
• Ohio American Water awarded an environmental grant in the amount of $6,100 to Sandusky Watershed to set up pharmaceutical collection disposal sites.
• Nine American Water surface water treatment plants were recognized at the AWWA Annual Conference for maintaining the Phase III Directors Award for five years and three others for maintaining the award for 10 years.
• Indiana American Water – Richmond received the AWWA Exemplary Source Water Protection Award for Large Systems at the AWWA Annual Conference.
• Indiana American Water awarded environmental grants to Environ White River Clean-Up ($6,500 to provide supplies and permanent signage for river clean up) and Kosciusko Water Awareness ($3,000 to work with local high school students to develop awareness of the water resources in the county and assess water quality).
• The NJDEP awarded New Jersey American Water's Raritan Basin System a new State Environmental Stewardship Award for demonstrating environmental stewardship beyond the regulatory requirements such as implementing an Environmental Policy as a primary management objective, maintaining an Environmental Management System to ensure compliance, participation in the EPA Partnership for Safe Water, enhancing wildlife habitat at the site by installing blue bird nesting boxes, bat roosting boxes, osprey platforms and the creation and maintenance of “no mow” zones. 
• A number of Pennsylvania American Water systems are participating in the Source Water Protection Technical Assistance Program being administered by the PADEP which allows water suppliers to use contracted help (free of charge) to initiate the creation of source water protection programs.

Industry Awards
American Water is proud to be a leader in the water services industry. Our technical expertise and leading edge laboratories, our commitment to investing in our infrastructure, and our proactive protection of the environment ensures that we are doing everything we can to be the best at what we do. Below are a few examples of recent Industry awards. Visit our section on Industry Leadership for more information.

• American Water Canada, the non-regulated products and services division of American Water in Canada, received the 2008 Management Innovation Award from the American Public Works Association (APWA). This award recognizes an individual, team or organization for the development and implementation of a creative idea, device, process or system that enhances the goals of public works in serving the public and protecting the environment. American Water Canada, the contracted operating authority, and the Elgin Area and Lake Huron Water Systems were jointly honored for the unique implementation of a Drinking Water Quality Management Standard (DWQMS).

• American Water President and CEO Don Correll and one of the company's successful public private partnerships, the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant, were named a "2008 Trendsetters" by Hanley Wood's Public Works Magazine. The list appeared in the magazine's November issue. The magazine designates trendsetters as "the top 50 people, places and events that have had the greatest impact on the nation's infrastructure over the past year." The list includes those who have defined policy, brought their community or an issue into spotlight, or set the standard within the public works industry. Trendsetters could be a single person or an entire organization, nominated by their peers, or selected by the editors of Public Works.

• The 2008 Excellence in Public-Private Partnership Award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors was awarded to American Water. This award honors the outstanding achievements made possible through the combined effort of cities and the members of the Mayors Business Council. American Water and the city of Buffalo were honored for the positive results of a public-private partnership and significant improvements to the city's water system.. This award honors the outstanding achievements made possible through the combined effort of cities and the members of the Mayors Business Council. American Water and the city of Buffalo were honored for the positive results of a public-private partnership and significant improvements to the city's water system.
• American Water's senior vice president and chief financial officer, Ellen Wolf, was recognized by South Jersey Magazine as one of South Jersey's "Super Women" for 2008. This feature, published in the magazine's November issue, recognized and highlighted some of South Jersey's brightest, most inspirational and accomplished area women. Wolf was acknowledged in the business category with four other exceptional South Jersey women.
• Lendel G. Jones, director of government affairs for American Water, received a 2008 Alice Paul Equality Award. The Alice Paul Institute, based in Mt. Laurel, N.J., established the awards to honor individuals who have demonstrated a strong and long-standing commitment to advancing women's equality in New Jersey and the Delaware Valley through advocacy, litigation, business leadership, education, scholarship or artistic expression.
• American Water Canada, the non-regulated products and services division of American Water in Canada, received the Management Innovation Award from the Ontario Public Works Association (OPWA) in 2007 and 2008. This award recognizes an individual, team or organization for the development, management and implementation of a creative idea, device, process, or system that enhances the goal of public works in serving the public and protecting the environment. American Water Canada, the contracted operating authority, and the Elgin Area and Lake Huron Water Systems were honored for the unique implementation of a Drinking Water Quality Management Standard (DWQMS).
• The 2007 Betty Ann Simon Memorial Award was presented to American Water for our H2O Help to Others program. The Betty Ann Simon Award was established in 2002, in memory of one of Dollar Energy Fund's founders, to honor leaders who have made significant contributions to the low-income community. 
• American Water's Lake Pleasant Treatment Plant won the 2007 Design Build Institute of America - NY Tri-State Region Water & Wastewater Award for the water and wastewater category. Each year DBIA honors design-build projects that demonstrate successful application of design-build principles. In addition to being completed on-time and on-budget, award winning projects all have exhibited collaboration in the early stages of the project and the acceptance of single-entity risk. 
• The team of American Water, Cognyst Consulting LLC and Advantica, Ltd., in 2007, was awarded a grant to research Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) for use in the water industry. Funding for the project, titled "Automated Meter Reading - Best Practices for Selection, Acquisition and Implementation," will be provided by the Awwa Research Foundation (AwwaRF) and the UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR). Total project budget, including contributions from participating utilities and the AMR industry, is more than $900,000. The project enables utilities to understand the many aspects of advanced meter reading systems, as well as provide a means of assessment for meter and associated data collection methods in relation to a utility's needs. In addition to providing overall project management, American Water added its experience in AMR and innovative technologies that utilize AMR to that of recognized leaders in the industry.

American Water's Customer Communications Awards 
American Water works hard to create, communicate, deliver and exchange offerings that have value and educate customers, partners, government officials and society at large.

Therefore, we are delighted when our work, commitment and vision are recognized in professional communications awards.

2008 MarCom Awards
MarCom Awards is an international competition for marketing and communication professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of marketing and communication programs and print, visual and audio materials. Entries come from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, design shops, production companies and freelancers.

Of the more than 5,000 entries worldwide, American Water won 37 MarCom Awards - 11 platinum, 14 gold and 12 honorable mentions.

The following American Water communication's received the highest honor - The "Platinum Award" 

The following American Water communication's received the "Gold Award" 

The following American Water communication's received an "Honorable Mention"

2008 Communicator Awards
The Communicator Awards is a national awards show honoring excellence in communications. The annual show honors the best in advertising, corporate communications and public relations as well as interactive and video. There were more than 8,000 entries this year.

The following American Water communication's received the highest honor - The "Award of Excellence" 

• American Water's 25th Anniversary Brochure 

2008 American Graphic Design Awards
The American Graphic Design Awards is a competition open to advertising agencies, graphic design firms, corporations, institutions, publishers, and more. It honors outstanding work of all kinds and across all media: print and collateral, advertising and sales promotion, corporate identity and logos, internet and interactive design, package and point of sale materials, and motion graphics.

For the 2008 competition, more than 10,000 entries were received. Of these, a highly selective 15 percent are recognized with a certificate of excellence.

The following American Water communication's pieces were named winners:

• American Water's Corporate Brochure Design
• American Water's State Brochure Design
  • Arizona American Water
  • California American Water
  • Hawaii American Water
  • Illinois American Water
  • Indiana American Water
  • Iowa American Water
  • Kentucky American Water
  • Maryland American Water
  • Michigan American Water
  • Missouri American Water
  • New Jersey American Water
  • New Mexico American Water
  • Long Island American Water
  • Ohio American Water
  • Pennsylvania American Water
  • Tennessee American Water
  • Texas American Water
  • Virginia American Water
  • West Virginia American Water
• American Water's Box Pocket Folder Design
• American Water's Flat Pocket Folder Design

2008 San Diego Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) annual Edward L. Bernays Mark of Excellence Awards
The PRSA's annual Edward L. Bernays Mark of Excellence Awards recognizes the industry’s finest public relations campaigns, tactics and professionals, in categories including media relations, community relations, crisis communications and special events.

American Water received awards for the following:

• California American Water team won the Public Relations Society of America San Diego chapter Silver Award of Excellence in the campaign category for the Monterey "Spring into Action" conservation campaign. 
• The single piece "Spring into Action" conservation wheel mailer won the Bronze Award of Excellence.