(WESTERVILLE, OH — September 27, 2012) Jane Wittke, senior planner for the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI), has received a 2012 Honorary Member Award from the National Ground Water Association for her leadership in promoting groundwater protection.
This award is presented to persons of distinction outside the groundwater industry who have contributed a special service. It will be presented in December at the NGWA Groundwater Expo and Annual Meeting in Las Vegas.
Wittke began with OKI in 1978 and started working on groundwater issues in 1985. She develops plans to address water quality problems and works on strategies to protect drinking water sources in an eight-county, tri-state area. More than 600,000 people in the OKI region depend on the Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer for drinking water.
Nominator Bruce Whittenberry of the Greater Cincinnati Water Works said Wittke led the “immense” effort to update the Water Quality Management Plan for multiple counties in the region.
“Jane is a strong advocate of groundwater protection and spearheads the OKI Groundwater Committee,” Whittenberry said. “Jane has enormous tenacity to push through the barriers that slow federal funding and resources to ensure important water management work is completed. The communities and residents of the OKI region are fortunate to have her working on their behalf.”
Among the issues she grapples with are disposal of pharmaceutical and personal care products, state and federal regulations and legislation, and the impacts of pumping trends and drought conditions.
She is a member of the Water Management Association of Ohio among other organizations. Her distinctions include receiving one of the first Regional Public Service Awards given by the American Society of Public Administrators in 1998 for her work in drinking water protection.
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NGWA, a nonprofit organization composed of U.S. and international groundwater professionals — contractors, equipment manufacturers, suppliers, scientists, and engineers — is dedicated to advancing groundwater knowledge. NGWA’s vision is to be the leading groundwater association that advocates the responsible development, management, and use of water.
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