Washington, D.C.-Representative John Linder (GA-07) received the National Ground Water Association’s 2009 Ground Water Protector Award for all his efforts to put the spotlight on water resources issues as a Co-Chair of the bi-partisan House Water Caucus.   

“It is an honor to receive the 2009 Ground Water Protector Award, and I sincerely thank the National Ground Water Association for selecting me to be this year’s recipient of this noteworthy distinction.  I have been interested in water issues for more than thirty years now.  In fact, in 1978 I wrote an article that described our nation’s water resources as among our most precious and yet troubled assets.  Indeed, today our water resources are fast becoming threatened.  With this notion in mind, I co-founded the House Water Caucus.  In doing so, one of my goals was to provide an educational and water policy tool-kit for Members, staff, and organizations off the Hill to use as they confront the challenges we face today, whether it be droughts, legacy infrastructure, inability to recharge our depleted aquifers, devastation to the environment from poorly designed systems of the past, a lack of basic data, or fractured interests.”   

Similar to the House Water Caucus, which has tasked itself with finding the best water resources experts and documentaries on the subject and bringing them to a central venue on the Hill, the National Ground Water Association is highly dedicated to promoting and sharing the knowledge of ground water experts, including advancing ground water awareness and protection through educational and outreach activities.  The National Ground Water Association is also noted as one of the leading communities of ground water professionals in the country.  Moreover, it shares a comparable mission to one of the founding principles of the House Water Caucus: the responsible development, use, and management of our nation’s ground water resources.   

“Above all else today, I would like to take this opportunity to commend the National Ground Water Association for all its efforts to protect our water resources.  Protecting ground water supply must be a high priority for Americans since ground water provides nearly half of the U.S. population with drinking water.  When I founded the House Water Caucus in 2007, the National Ground Water Association involved itself readily.  The organization has been a tremendous benefit to the House Water Caucus, and I look forward to continuing my work with them in the coming months and years so that we will all be better prepared to face the challenges that lie ahead.  It is a great privilege for me to help play a role in shaping and forming meaningful dialogues that will allow us to reform and optimize our water resources management efforts, and I am pleased that the National Ground Water Association has joined me in these efforts.”     

Linder continued to express his heartfelt thanks to the National Ground Water Association for the group’s generosity in recognizing him for his commitment to water resources management, and thanked the group’s members for all their hard work and enthusiasm in providing an educational forum to debate the most pressing themes facing those involved in managing our nation’s water resources today.