Clay Rural Water receives state award

The South Dakota Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) announced today that the Clay Rural Water System public water system and the system's certified operators have been awarded a Drinking Water Certificate of Achievement Award. The award is for outstanding water system operations and environmental compliance with state drinking water standards for the past year.

The system's certified operators are Gregory Merrigan, Tom Hollingsworth, Phil Iverson, and Mike Schuldt.

"Everyone in South Dakota who uses water from public drinking water systems expects that water to be safe and meet all standards," said DENR Secretary Steve Pirner, "so DENR is proud to recognize those systems and operators who have achieved 100 percent compliance during the past year."

To qualify for the Drinking Water Certificate of Achievement Award, systems and their operators had to meet all of the following requirements for 2005:

? compliance monitoring,

? drinking water standards,

?�have a published Consumer Confidence Report,

? lead/copper action levels, and

?�be in compliance with operator certification requirements.