NGWA Past President Robert B. Heater passed away on June 5, 2022. He was 93.
Heater, who served as president of the then National Water Well Association (NWWA) in 1968, received NGWA’s Life Member Award in 1980. He received NGWA’s top honor — the Ross L. Oliver Award — in 1969 and was a Master Groundwater Contractor (MGWC) at the time of both of these awards.
Heater also served the North Carolina Groundwater Association and made one of his greatest contributions to the water well profession when he began a successful campaign to develop a standardized certification program for well drilling professionals in 1969. To honor his work, the NWWA’s Water Well Journal® dedicated a 1986 article to Heater, “Can One Man Make a Difference?” and named him one of the “Most Influential People in the Groundwater Industry” in 1989.
Another great contribution to the water well industry from Heater came in 1976 when he helped structure the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Manual of Water Well Construction Practices and authored the manual’s master key for the NWAA’s well water standards.
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