Committees

GAWWA Committee Chairs

Awards	Angelique Young	awards@gawwa.org
Communications – Chair	Jason Burton	communications@gawwa.org
Communications – Vice Chair	Solomon Kang	communications@gawwa.org
Competitions	Donald Conner	competitions@gawwa.org
Distribution – Chair	Jason Vo	distribution@gawwa.org
Distribution – Vice Chair	Chris Clark	distribution@gawwa.org
Distribution – Secretary	Kimbrough Pace	distribution@gawwa.org
Distribution – Backflow	Tracy Thigpen	distribution@gawwa.org
Diversity – Chair	Brittany Israel	diversity@gawwa.org
Diversity – Vice Chair	Joy Hinkle	diversity@gawwa.org
GAWARN – Chair	Walter Barber	gawarn@gawwa.org
GAWARN – Vice Chair	Nicole Holloman	gawarn@gawwa.org
Membership	Celine Benoit	membership@gawwa.org
Model Water Tower – Chair	Will England	mwt@gawwa.org
Model Water Tower – Vice Chair	Leadra Collins	mwt@gawwa.org
Model Water Tower – Secretary	Melanie B. Head	mwt@gawwa.org
Events	Amber Whisner	asstsec.treas@gawwa.org
Scholarships	Jennifer Arp	scholarship@gawwa.org
Veterans Workforce Initiative – Chair	Michael Burch	veterans@gawwa.org
Veterans Workforce Initiative – Vice Chair	Solomon Kang	veterans@gawwa.org
Water Loss Control – Chair	Derek Bufardi	waterloss@gawwa.org
Water Loss Control – Vice Chair	John Abera	waterloss@gawwa.org
Water Loss Control – Secretary	Kristen Watson (Howard)	waterloss@gawwa.org
Water Plant of the Year – Chair	Drew Strickland	wpoty@gawwa.org
Water Plant of the Year – Vice Chair	Michael Melton	wpoty@gawwa.org
Water Treatment – Chair	Partiban Raja	watertreatment@gawwa.org
Water Treatment – Vice Chair	James Stephens	watertreatment@gawwa.org
Water Treatment – Secretary	Wiley Helm	watertreatment@gawwa.org

GAWWA Committee Liaisons

GAWP Legislative	Steve Simpson
GAWP Membership	Sarah Skinner

Committee Overview

Awards: Acknowledges outstanding work by utilities and individuals in providing safe drinking water through awards distributed at the Annual Conference.

Communications: Supports communications with our members through management of the section website (www.gawwa.org).

Distribution: Provides information to personnel responsible for water distribution systems that will help them avoid acute and chronic delivery problems and to maintain water quality in the system.

Diversity: Assists GAWWA in creating a diverse membership and establishing an organizational environment that recognizes, encourages, celebrates and effectively utilizes each individual. The Diversity Committee also presents an Annual Champion of Diversity of Award to an individual, group, or organization within the Georgia water industry for contributions and achievements in the area of diversity and inclusion.

GAWARN: The Georgia Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (GAWARN) promotes emergency preparedness, and disaster response. The committee manages the mutual aid assistance for public and private water and wastewater municipalities that allows utilities to ask for and offer help following natural and man-made events.

Membership: Plans activities and events to recruit new members to the organization, retain members, and encourage active involvement of current members in GAWWA.

Model Water Tower Competition Committee: The purpose of the Model Water Tower Competition (MWTC) is to provide information to young students about water resource engineering, infrastructure, water treatment and conservation in hope that some will become future water professionals. The mission statement for the competition is: “From Today’s Youth Come Tomorrow’s Leaders – Let’s Lead Some To The Water Profession.”

Plant of the Year: Facilitates selection of the “System of the Year Awards” by identifying and training treatment plant inspectors.

Scholarship: The Scholarship Committee is responsible for advertising and selecting the Section’s scholarship awardees.

Water Treatment: Provides technical information to personnel responsible for water treatment systems.

Water Loss Control: Supports the identification and reduction of water losses, both real and apparent, through the use of the IWA/AWWA Methodology.

Water for People: Works to 1) provide local support for the national Water for People organization; 2) increase awareness of water issues in developing countries; and 3) raise funds to further drinking water and sanitation projects in developing countries. The annual BBQ contest and Popcorn for People sales at conferences are two of the ongoing fundraisers.