Clay Rural Water receives honor

The South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has announced 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 operators and environmental compliance with state drinking water standards for the past year.

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

"Everyone in South Dakota who uses water from public drinking water systems expects that water to be safe and to meet all standards," said DENR Secretary Steve Pimer. "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 2006:

• Compliance monitoring,
• Drinking water standards,
• Annual Drinking Water Report distribution,
• Lead/copper action levels, and
• Operator certification requirements.