Welcome to the Georgia AWWA Website!

Eric Osborne

The American Water Works Association is an international, nonprofit, scientific, and educational society dedicated to providing total water solutions assuring effective water management. Founded in 1881, the Association is the largest organization of water supply professionals in the world.

Our membership includes over 4,300 utilities that supply roughly 80 percent of the nation’s drinking water and treat almost half of the nation’s wastewater. Our 51,000 total members represent the full spectrum of the water community: public water and wastewater systems, environmental advocates, scientists, academicians, and others genuinely interested in water, our most important resource.

AWWA also takes great pride in helping establish three preeminent organizations dedicated to safe water, the Water Research Foundation in 1966, Water For People in 1991, and Water Equation in 2015. AWWA unites the diverse water community to advance public health, safety, the economy, the water workforce, and the environment.     (continued below)

Check Out These Upcoming Items

Scholarship Applications

The GAWWA Is Now Accepting Scholarship Applications.

Learn More

Georgia Lead Concerns Report

Utility Communication Strategies for Responding to Lead Concerns.

Read Report

Georgia Small Systems Training

Georgia AWWA sponsors training seminars throughout GA.

Check Calendar

(cont. above)    During The Georgia Section of AWWA (GAWWA) is the local branch of the national organization. It is where GAWWA members go when they need national standards, national representation in Washington, DC, and a national network of peers to join and share ideas. We consist of an executive committee with ten serving members. We have 16 committees that serve the members of GAWWA. The local section links the GA Section members and the national AWWA resources. GAWWA recently completed our annual conference in Savannah, GA, where our members received training, networking opportunities, and recognition from peers through our annual awards. During our Annual Business Meeting, we recognized the following award winners: William J. Greene Jr. – Rita Neely, George Warren Fuller – Linda McGregor, Kenneth J. Miller – Brandon Crook, Operator’s Meritorious Service Award – Michael Melton, Silver Water Drop inductees – (Joseph Kelly, Richard T. Parker, James Laplander, Gary Barnes, Denise R. Funk, Debra Beasley, John R. Fleck, James D. York, Kelly Comstock, Dwayne Fowler, Jennifer Scott, James Sidney Forsyth, Steven R. Davis) AWWA Life Members – (Donald L. North, William R. Toole, Mark G. Healey, Mark L. Inglett, Pamela S. Burnett). Hat’s off to all the award winners and service members! Our 2023-2024 Executive committee and Committee chairs are listed below. You can contact any of us through our website, gawwa.org, or National AWWA at awwa.org.

2023-2024 Executive Committee
Chair-Eric Osborne, Vice Chair-Chris Boyd, Senior-Trustee-Paula Days, Junior-Trustee-Mike Melton, Secretary-Treasurer-Connie Nelms, Asst. Secretary-Treasurer-Amber Whisner, Past Chair-Cornell Sims, Director-Steve Simpson, Director-Elect-Keisha Thorpe, GAWP President Elect-Dan Carter, No Water No Beer-Kelly Comstock, Director-at-Large-Vacant

2023-2024 Leadership Committees
Awards-Mike Melton, Communications-Jason Burton, Distribution-Chair-Angelique Young, Diversity Chair-Erica Roberts, Fuller-Kelly Comstock, GAWARN-Sandy Smith, Membership-Celine Benoit, Model Water Tower Chair-Lindsey Sanders, Water Plant of the Year Chair-Mike Melton, Water Treatment Chair-Benjamin Moss, Water Treatment Co-Chair-Brian Moore, Water Loss Control Chair-Jennifer Arp, Philanthropic-Paula Days, Scholarship-Todd Holderfield, Water For People-Andrew Collins, Veterans Workforce Initiative-Vacant

As an example of committee achievements Celine Benoit, Chair of membership, was involved in several projects to increase and maintain our section membership.

  • In February, Celine attended the AWWA Membership Summit in Denver. During this time, she had the opportunity to engage and network with other Membership chairs from across the country. The summit gave her many new ideas and approaches for our section membership.
  • Using tools from the Membership Summit, Celine revitalized GAWWA’s Welcome Letter to make it more aesthetically pleasing and beneficial to our members.
  • Celine strategized with Cornell on how to engage our utility members to maximize their allotted individual memberships under their utility membership. Together they drafted up talking points of interest, composed an outreach letter, and called our utility members to ensure their awareness of these opportunities.

Celine exemplifies how our committee chairs and their teams impact the GAWWA membership.

Eric Osborne and Cornell SimsHaving a positive glass-half-full outlook has been a guiding point throughout my life. My grandfather Luther Schildt instilled positivity in me and taught me that life is not a problem but an opportunity. As incoming Chair, I am excited to continue the great job Cornell Sims did last year. We all thank Cornell for serving our membership and being a focused leader. Our focus will continue on education, training, philanthropy, and membership. This year’s annual conference recorded record attendance at the GAWWA Water For People Barbecue. As a result, we will continue our contributions to the Water Equation and Water for People. Leading an all-volunteer organization can be daunting, but we have fantastic volunteers that make it all work. If you are a member of our local GAWWA, we would love to have you become active in one of our committees listed above, and if you are not a member yet, we would love to have you come aboard. Becoming a member of GAWWA is an excellent opportunity as AWWA offers a trial, Student and Operator administrator membership levels, etc., and each comes with a bonus membership to GAWP. AWWA membership is 2-for-one, and remember; with GAWWA, you can access a national-level organization with national resources. This year we look forward to doing more philanthropy, AWWA stand-alone training, and working with RCAP to train small systems. I would also like to thank Henry County Water Authority for supporting me in improving water for everyone worldwide, especially here in Georgia.

 

Eric S. Osborne
Chair – GA Section-American Water Work Association

Water For People

In 1991, AWWA founded Water For People with a vision of a world where everyone has safe drinking water and no one dies from a water-related disease. WFP now works in 11 developing countries in Asia, Africa, Central America and South America.

“Water For People’s founders had a clear, simple and world-changing vision that all people should have access to safe water,” said David LaFrance, AWWA executive director. “AWWA is proud that 20 years ago we were there when Water For People started, and we continue our pride as a committed giving partner for the future.”

American Water Works Association

The AWWA was established in 1881 by 22 dedicated water supply professionals, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) has grown to a membership of over 57,000 individuals, utilities, and other water professionals. AWWA is an international, non-profit, scientific and educational association dedicated to improving drinking water for people everywhere.