Joe Sudol accepts an award on behalf of Harvard Green Condominiums. (Courtesy photo)

On May 4, Joe Sudol, chairman of Harvard Green Board of Trustees, accepted the Public Drinking Water Award at the State House in Boston. The citation was part of the 2010 Public Water Systems Award day held annually by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (Mass. DEP), and it honored Harvard Green as a small community public water system that excelled in providing clean drinking water to their customers. A small community system is one that is independent from the town and that is self-sufficient. Harvard Green, located on Lancaster County Road, was built in 1998 as a 40B project; there are eight affordable townhouses in the development.

“We are extremely pleased to be the recipient of this award. It reflects the commitment the Harvard Green Board of Trustees has made to ensure a safe supply of water for our community,” said Sudol, upon receiving the award. “There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make this happen—monitoring, maintenance, testing and keeping up-to-date on ever-changing DEP requirements.”

Altogether, the Mass. DEP recognized 32 public water systems and one educational institution for their outstanding performances in 2009.

“There are more than 1,700 public drinking water systems in the commonwealth that provide nearly 500 million gallons of safe, clean drinking water to our citizens each day,” said Mass. DEP commissioner Laurie Burt. “Today, we recognize water suppliers that have exceeded the state requirements for compliance and have done a spectacular job of delivering premium drinking water.”

It is the 18th year that this award has been presented and the first year for Harvard Green Condominiums to be recognized. All the communities undergo stringent water quality testing by independent laboratories. The winning systems were chosen based on their compliance with state drinking water regulations. The winners had no violations or monitoring enforcements, submitted all required reports on time, adhered to good water management procedures, and have excellent source protection standards.