Environments Science professor Wesley Winterbottom has been awarded the Connecticut Department of Health (DPH) Drinking Water Section’s 2013 Educational Public Health Drinking Water Merit Award. He was presented with the award at a May 7 ceremony at the State Legislative Office Building in Hartford. 

The DPH Drinking Water Section helps protect public health by assuring the quality and adequacy of the state’s more than 2,500 public water systems. The award recognizes one individual who has made outstanding contributions to the drinking water field in the area of education. 

Winterbottom received the award for his instrumental work in the approval of the Water Management Program at Gateway by the DPH Operator Certification Program. The program provides an important path of entry into certification and related drinking water provisions at many water utilities, especially for water operators. According to a DPH-issued release, Winterbottom “played a large role in the approval of Portland High School’s award-winning Water and People Course college credit at Gateway.”