GRA Requests Nominations for the 2011 "Lifetime Achievement" and "Kevin J. Neese Awards"

The purpose of the GRA Awards Program is to recognize noteworthy projects and exceptional individual contributions related to the understanding, protection, and management of groundwater resources. The objectives of the annual Awards Program are:

1. To provide recognition to individuals who have demonstrated leadership and continuous dedication in groundwater hydrology;

2. To provide recognition for unique contributions to groundwater hydrology in 2010-2011. All nominations for the Lifetime Achievement and Kevin J. Neese Awards must be received by David W. Abbott at dabbottgw@gmail.com or can be sent to 607 Chetwood Street, Oakland, CA 94610-1433 no later than Friday, June 24, 2011.

Nominations should be completed using the nomination forms available on the GRA website at http://www.grac.org/nominations.pdf. Nominations should: not exceed one page, identify the award for which the nomination is made, and include justification for the award based on the criteria listed below.

The GRA Awards will be presented to the recipients selected by the GRA Board of Directors at 20th GRA Annual Meeting in Sacramento, October 5-6, 2011.

AWARDS

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: presented to individuals for their exemplary contributions to the groundwater industry, and contributions that have been in the spirit of GRA's mission and organization objectives. Individuals that receive the Lifetime Achievement Award have dedicated their lives to the groundwater industry and have been pioneers in their field of expertise.

Previous Lifetime Achievement Award recipients include:

• 2010 - Dr. John A. Cherry
  
• 2009 - Dr. T.N. Narasimhan
  
• 2008 - Dr. Perry L. McCarty
  
• 2007 - Dr. Herman Bouwer
  
• 2006 - Glenn A. Brown
  
• 2005 - Dr. Luna P. Leopold
  
• 2004 - Dr. John D. Bredehoeft
  
• 2003 - Rita Schmidt Sudman
  
• 2002 - Thomas W. Dibblee
  
• 2001 - Carl J. Hauge
  
• 2000 - Dr. Joseph H. Birman
  
• 1999 - Dr. David Keith Todd
  
• 1998 - Eugene E. Luhdorff, Jr.
  

KEVIN J. NEESE: recognizes significant accomplishment by a person or entity within the most recent 12-month period that fosters the understanding, development, protection, or management of groundwater.

Previous Kevin J. Neese Award recipients include:

• 2010 - Senator Fran Pavley for leadership in the enactment of the comprehensive, statewide groundwater level monitoring legislation in California.
  
• 2009 - USGS Water Resources Science center for the recently completed report titled "Groundwater Availability of the Central Valley Aquifer" USGS Professional Paper 1766.
  
• 2008 - Orange County Water District for its Groundwater Replenishment System (GRS), a new water purification plant that produces 70 MGD of near-distilled-quality water each day.
• 2007 - University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Groundwater Hydrology Program for its efforts to engage scientists, regulators, farm advisors, dairy industry representatives, and dairy farmers to better understand the effects of dairy operations on water quality.
  
• 2006 - Senator Sheila Kuehl for her work to improve the production and availability of information about the state of our groundwater resources, information on which reasonable and sensible groundwater management may be developed.
  
• 2004 - California Department of Water Resources for publication in 2003 of its updated Bulletin 118: "California's Groundwater."
  
• 2002 - Glenn County Water Advisory Committee for formulating a significant groundwater management ordinance that was adopted by the Glenn County Board of Supervisors.
  
• 2001 - American River Basin Cooperating Agencies and Sacramento Groundwater Authority Partnership for fostering the understanding and development of a cooperative approach to regional planning, protection and management of groundwater.
  
• 2000 - Board of Directors of the Chino Basin Watermaster for delivering a remarkable OBMP that created a consensus-based approach for making water supplies in the Chino Basin more reliable and cost effective.
  
• 1999 - Governor Gray Davis for his work and leadership in addressing MTBE.