Etowah Water and Sewer Authority picked up its fourth award this year, winning first place for Collections System of the Year on Nov. 18.

The authority was awarded by The Georgia Association of Water Professionals for having an outstanding operations of waste water collection system, among systems with less than 10,000 customers.

“It’s the first time we applied and the first time we won,” said Doris Cook, resource manager for the authority. “That’s pretty good.”

Etowah Water and Sewer Authority procedures of maintenance and operations of the collections system were evaluated by the association  before winning the award.

“They waded through all of our procedures and even took pictures of Townley Construction’s crew, our 24-hour water contractors on call for emergencies, working on leaks and main breaks. They examined our entire process,” explained Cook.

“This is just another example of the authority’s dedication to excellence,” said Cook.

The authority applied for five awards this year and won four. The Public Education Award, which the authority was not eligible to win this year on account of a new rule mandating an authority cannot win two years in a row, still honored the local authority by featuring the Etowah Water and Sewer Authority 2008 Award Notebook as an example for other authorities to follow after.

The notebook covers the authority’s community outreach program, how they interact with the community, how they promote conservation, how they conduct workshops and how they educate the community about protecting natural resources.

“It’s great recognition,” said Cook. “What an honor to know that other authorities are being encouraged to follow suit after us.”

But Cook is not content with the authority’s success, and hopes to do even better.

“We always want to continue to find better and more efficient ways to improve our services to customers in Dawson County,” said Cook.