The city of Dawsonville was recently honored by a statewide association that recognizes exceptional water systems on a local level.

The Georgia Association of Water Professionals named the city of Dawsonville award winner for the 2010 best operated groundwater system serving a population of 1,000 to 2,499.

Officials with public works delivered the news to the city council at the May 3 meeting.

Gary Barr, public works director, spoke at the meeting with excitement.

“I knew our water system was really good, but we didn’t know just how good it was,” Barr said.

Russ Chambers, public works associate, said inspectors from the GAWP “gave us just a moment’s notice to get ready. They came and sat with us for about eight hours, inspected all our buildings and went through our filing cabinets and systems.”

Chambers said signs will be placed in front of city hall “to celebrate this lifetime achievement ... we want to show the community how the city has effectively used their money for water and sewer.”

According to its Web site, the GAWP is a not-for-profit professional association “dedicated to exceptional professional education, dissemination of sound technical principals and scientific information, increased public understanding and promotion of valid public laws and programs.”

For more information, visit www.gawp.org.