Outstanding Service Award
The Washington State Section of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA‑WA) recognizes outstanding contributions to water resources through its Outstanding Service Award. The award honors individuals whose leadership and dedication have made a meaningful impact on water resources management in Washington State. The honoree is recognized at the annual State Conference and receives a $500 award to be donated to the nonprofit organization of their choice.
Tom Webb, 2025 Recipient
After 33 years of service to Washington State and the Department of Ecology, Tom Tebb retires as Director of the Office of Columbia River, leaving behind a legacy defined by collaboration, innovation, and environmental stewardship. Raised in the Yakima Valley, Tom’s early connection to water systems on his family’s fruit farm inspired a lifelong commitment to water management. His career at Ecology began in 1992 and spanned roles in regional water resources, nuclear waste cleanup, and ultimately leadership of the Columbia River office.
Tom is celebrated for his ability to unite diverse stakeholders and drive forward complex water supply projects. Under his leadership, the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan saw major successes, including the Cle Elum Dam fish passage project and efforts to secure water for both fish and farmers. His work helped navigate the region through multiple droughts and shaped policies that balance ecological health with agricultural and community needs. Honored by the Yakama Nation Tribal Council and nominated for the Outstanding Service Award by peers, Tom’s career exemplifies dedication to public service and the environment.
Governor Jay Inslee, 2024 Recipient
Governor Inslee’s life in service of Washington’s waters goes back more than three decades. He served as congressman in central Washington from 1992-1994. In one term he secured passage of the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project legislation, which led to construction of interim fish passage at Cle Elum Dam allowing the reintroduction of Sockeye Salmon after a 99-year forced absence from the basin, along with substantial increases in instream flow and fish habitat through conservation and acquisition, development of a successful water transfer protocol and other improvements. In 2013, shortly after becoming governor, he introduced legislation authorizing the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan. With his support the bill passed with near unanimous support in the legislature. With funding from the Inslee administration, the Yakima Plan has completed permanent fish passage at Cle Elum, acquired 50,000 acres of land in the Teanaway for watershed restoration, augmented streamflow and enhanced habitat in basin tributaries, and supported work on enhancing water supply.
Beyond the Yakima basin, Governor Inslee has championed efforts to battle climate change, combat ocean acidification, restore salmon and orca populations, and other initiatives to protect and restore aquatic ecosystems. For his three decades of work, the Washington Section of the American Water Resources Association is proud to award Governor Jay Inslee the award for Outstanding Contribution to Washington’s Water Resources for 2024.
Stan Miller, 2023 Recipient
Stan Miller began his career in Water Resources in 1977, when he started work as part of the team at Spokane County looking at potential threats to the Spokane Valley Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer. That program is now Spokane County Water Resources. After completion of the Aquifer Protection Plan and its major addendum in 1983, he took over the role of Water Resources Program Manager in Spokane County.
With Stan Miller leading the way, Spokane County Water Resources took on Washington State’s Watershed Planning Act studies for several Water Resource Inventory Areas in the Spokane River Basin. Between 1983 and his retirement in 2004, Mr. Miller received and managed almost 5 Million dollars in state and federal grants. Most of this funding was used to acquire information about how the Spokane River/Aquifer system functioned and implement management actions needed to protect the uses of water in the region. One of the key elements of water management in Spokane County was bringing together a large number of businesses, regulators, and service providers to reach a common goal: water resources protection. Mr. Miller was an integral part of bringing different groups together to protect our water resources. Those groups included over 20 public and private water supply entities, Health and Environmental protection agencies in Washington and Idaho, and the EPA.
During most of his tenure as a Water Resources professional Mr. Miller was a member of the State and National sections of the American Water Resources Association. He served on the board for much of his tenure with the state section and spent a lot of years on the fellowship and awards committee. A little over a year ago he left the WA-AWRA board to pursue other Water Resources related projects. Today, Mr. Miller continues to dedicate this time and energy to water resources in Washington State. He currently is the committee chair for the Priest Lake Basin Monitoring Committee.
2022 - No Award Presented
Stan Isley, 2021 Recipient
The Outstanding Water Resources Professional Award for 2020 is being presented to Stan Isley at this year’s state conference. Stan’s career in Water Resources at the Department of Ecology spanned more than three decades. He served as watermaster in the Teanaway basin (Yakima tributary) where curtailing less senior water right holders was a regular part of the job. In the 2015 drought he had the difficult task of cutting off all but one of the irrigation water rights in the Teanaway. Stan was detailed to act as Ecology liaison to the Bureau of Reclamation for the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project on what I am told was a 90 day assignment. He retired from that position 25 years later. He provided invaluable service to the Water Transfer Working Group which includes participants from all the major water user groups in the Yakima Basin. In order to maintain the integrity of the water transfer process in the basin, someone had to crunch all the numbers. Stan scrutinized every water transfer in the basin for 20 years, routinely finding and correcting math errors in quantities, seasons, and places of use. All of us looked to him for verification. He had the trust of all participants across the spectrum of water users. His diligence and integrity have certainly earned him recognition for career accomplishments.
Maia Bellon, 2020 Recipient
The Outstanding Water Resources Professional Award for 2020 is being presented to Maia Bellon at this year’s state conference. Maia recently returned to the practice of law after serving as the director of the Washington State Department of Ecology since 2013. At Ecology, Maia served as one of Governor Inslee’s closest advisors on climate, water, toxics, and air quality issues. She was the longestserving Ecology director in state history and led the agency to great achievements in water resources, water quality, and carbon emission reduction. While at Ecology, Maia oversaw ten environmental programs and the Offices of the Columbia River and Chehalis Basin. She managed a broad range of environmental challenges and opportunities including updating regulations on water quality human health criteria. Maia was appointed by Governor Inslee as a member of the Southern Resident Orca Taskforce. She also served as the Sustainable Energy and Clean Environment Goal Council Lead for the Governor’s Results Washington Office from 2013-2018. In addition to her work as Director of Ecology, Maia has contributed to the water resources field as the deputy program manager (2010-2011) and then as the program manager (2011-2013) for Ecology’s Water Resources Program. She sustainably managed the state’s freshwater resources, including allocation of water and protection of instream flows and senior water rights. She promoted positive environmental and economic outcomes through innovative water supply solutions for communities, farms and fish. During this time, Maia also oversaw Ecology’s Dam Safety Office and Well Construction and Licensing Program. Prior to joining Ecology, Maia served as an assistant attorney general in the Ecology Division of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office for 15 years. When she is not working, Maia enjoys exploring the coastline of the Pacific Northwest and traveling with her family.
Tom Ring, 2019 Recipient
The Outstanding Water Resources Professional award for 2019 will be presented to Tom Ring at this year’s state conference. Tom recently announced his upcoming retirement from a long and storied career as a hydrologist for the Water Resources Program of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. In that capacity, Tom has worked on a variety of projects involving groundwater and surface water quantity and quality, water rights, irrigation and fisheries issues and planning for future water needs. He spent decades working on the Yakima River adjudication and insuring that water flow and quality was adequate to support salmonid fishery in the Yakima River system. Prior to joining the tribal program in 1990, Tom worked in the Water Resources program at the Washington Department of Ecology. Tom earned a Bachelors degree in Geology at Central Washington State University and a Masters Degree, also in Geology, from Northern Arizona University. In addition to his work with the Yakama Nation, Tom has contributed to the Water Resources field in other ways as well. He has taught geology and hydrogeology at CWU. He is on the board of the Washington Water Trust and has served on the Board of the Washington Section of the AWRA for many years. While on the AWRA board Tom was instrumental in getting the CWU student section started. With his connections in the larger field of water resources in the west, Tom has been a key to bringing in a number of top – notch speakers for the Washington Section’s annual conferences. He has also served as our unofficial photographer, providing images for many of our publications, especially those from our conferences. Tom is a licensed geologist and hydrogeologist in Washington State. When not working, he enjoys hiking, climbing, and skiing in the mountains of the west.
Guy Gregory, 2018 Recipient
Guy Gregory, this year's winner of the 2018 award for "Outstanding Water Resources Professional," graduated from Washington State University with a BS in 1979 and received an MS in Geology from the University of Vermont in 1982. Guy worked in both the public and private sectors. After several years working in the private sector on mining related projects, Guy joined the Department of Ecology in 1988. He spent 16 years in the Hazardous Waste Program in the Eastern Regional Office before moving to the Water Resources Program in 2004. Guy retired from Ecology in April of 2018 after serving for 30 years. At Ecology, Guy was a leader in developing water resource policy and solutions throughout central and eastern Washington. Early in his Water Resources tenure, he provided input to Ecology for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) relicensing for 5 Avista Dams on the Spokane River. From that work he transitioned into working with the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the US Geological Survey to develop a model of the interaction between Spokane River flow and pumping from the Spokane Valley Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer. Guy's genial personality and technical expertise were key to keeping Spokane River parties, often focused on different agendas, on track to successfully complete the project. Guy was instrumental in creating a user- friendly spreadsheet "tool" through which model results could be emulated on ordinary personal computers in short periods of time (Note: a full model run for differing scenarios could take up to 24 hours). Lastly, Guy was also the lead in Ecology's recent rule-making effort to establish an instream flow rule for the Spokane River.
Rachael Paschal Osborn, 2017 Recipient
The Washington Section of the American Water Resources Association is pleased to present the 2017 award for Outstanding Contribution to Washington's Water Resources to Rachael Paschal Osborn in recognition of her long career promoting and defending the public interest in the state's water resources. Rachael Osborn is a public interest water lawyer and has provided representation to Indian tribes, environmental organizations, labor unions, and small communities since 1992. It is appropriate to give Rachael the award in this year, the centennial of the Water Code, given her life's work in bringing meaning to the public interest prong of the code. After receiving her law degree from the University of Washington, Rachael, along with the late Professor Ralph Johnson, co-founded the Center for Environmental Law and Policy (CELP), dedicated to the protection and restoration of free-flowing waters in Washington State. Rachael served as Executive Director of CELP for many years. Rachael and Ralph's mission was to bring the Public Trust Doctrine into the water right permitting process through public interest comment letters and, at times, litigation. Rachael also co-founded the Washington Water Trust, which, since 1998 has been using voluntary, market-based transactions to improve and protect stream flows and water quality throughout Washington State. Rachael is a dedicated educator and has taught scores of water law and policy courses over the years - in law schools, conferences, seminars, workshops and classroomsand has written extensively on water resources and environmental issues. She has taught water law at Gonzaga Law School in Spokane and at the University of Washington. Rachael's work as an attorney and advocate for the public interest has a long list of accomplishments. To name just a couple, working with her husband John Osborn, Rachael advocated for and eventually won minimum flow over the Spokane Falls during summer low flow during Avista Spokane River Project Relicensing. Working for Tribes and others, Rachael was instrumental in bringing a sound scientific basis to policy on hydraulic continuity in Washington. We applaud Rachael Osborn for her contributions to the water resources of Washington.
Buck Smith, 2016 Recipient
Buck Smith is a Senior Hydrogeologist with a long history in water resources, including recently celebrating his 25th anniversary with Ecology’s Northwest Regional Office section of the Water Resources Program. Buck’s passion for water resources began early on. As a young man, Buck worked as a whitewater raft guide and saw how water resource decisions, such as the damming of the Stanislaus River in California, can have impacts on a wide variety of stakeholders. At Ecology, Buck has piloted innovative, interdisciplinary water resources solutions in the most densely populated, and some of the most agriculturally valuable, regions of Washington. For example, when Buck started working in Whatcom County for Ecology in 1991, he found significant unpermitted water use. To address this, Buck spent years meeting with and educating landowners on water law, identifying innovative tools such as the annual consumptive quantity (ACQ) calculation to better align a farmer’s historic and current water uses and needs. He championed legislation to address legal barriers that penalized farmers for water use efficiencies associated with the change from dairies to berry cultivation. Because of his work, Whatcom farmers are now more legally secure and better understand their impacts on fisheries. Many farmers have switched from surface water to less impactful groundwater withdrawals. As the regional Ecology Trust Water Right Program lead, he also shepherded the first permanent trust water right acquisition in northwestern Washington. The agreement secured critical instream flows for Cascade Creek, which originates in Moran State Park on the flank of Mount Constitution. The full breadth of Buck’s impact on Washington’s water resources is impossible to quantify. Beyond his professional accomplishments and contributions to State water resources science and policy, his legacy is visible among a generation of water resources professionals that have come up under his tutelage. Buck is generous with his time and holds nothing back. Drawing on his encyclopedic institutional knowledge, Buck’s mentorship spans the nuances of permit-writing, compliance, mitigation evaluation, hydrogeology, policy, and case law. To date, three Ecology Water Resources Program section managers have emerged from beneath Buck’s wings, and many more of his “students” continue to carry the water resources torch, both inside and outside the agency.
Bob Barwin, 2015 Recipient
Bob has committed his career to water resources, problem solving, and driving some of the most remarkable solutions in water resources during his 33 year tenure with the Washington Department of Ecology and prior work with Oregon Department of Water Resources. Bob was central to the Ecology instream flow acquisition program, Yakima Water Exchange, Walla Walla instream flow rule and mitigation, Kittitas decision, Dungeness Exchange, Methow Valley Irrigation District, a majority of Central Region’s instream flow rule, City of Roslyn, and many other landmark water resources events. Bob retired on October 15 and it is a pleasure to honor the career of a great man, friend, and mentor.
Urban Eberhardt, 2015 Recipient
Urban is a dedicated Kittitas County farmer and representative of Kittitas Reclamation District (KRD) for the Yakima Integrated Plan. As a high school student at Kittitas High School he interned with Bureau of Reclamation’s Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Program. He has been committed to water resources through his career. In 2015 he championed KRD’s prompt response to drought and provided instream flow augmentation to seven tributaries. This is a remarkable and historic effort. Thank you Urban, for your dedication to Washington’s water resources.
Derek Sandison, 2014 Recipient
Derek Sandison is head of the Department of Ecology’s Office of the Columbia River (OCR). For more than three decades Derek has been a champion for progressive water management in the state. Derek graduated from Central Washington University (CWU) in 1974. He began his career in the Water Resources and Chemical and Physical Hazards Section of the Tacoma – Pierce County Health District in 1979. In 1983 he was appointed to serve on the Pierce County Water Utility Coordinating Committee where he helped craft agreements on water use among the County’s many water supply utilities. By 1985 he was busy implementing a management plan for mitigating the solvent contamination problems in the Chambers/Clover Creek aquifer.
Derek left the Health District in 1986 and spent a short stint as an Environmental Specialist for the Washington Department of Ecology. In 1987 Derek helped found Adolfson Associates, Inc. At Adolfson he served as Vice President of Technical Services. While at Adolfson, Derek completed a Masters in Natural Resources Management at CWU in 1993. Derek left Adolfson in 2001 to return to The Department of Ecology.
Derek was head of the Shorelands and Environmental Assistance Program in 2003 when he was assigned Regional Director for Ecology’s Central Regional Office (CRO) in Yakima. At the CRO, riding herd on the Yakima River Adjudication was one of Derek’s main tasks. In February 2009 Derek was appointed head of Ecology’s new Office of the Columbia River (OCR) to be headquartered in Wenatchee. The Office was established to implement the Legislature’s 2006 initiative to develop and manage water supplies for the Columbia River Basin.
Derek’s work responding to the challenges addressed at the OCR is widely recognized within the water resources community. Charged with the literally impossible task of “making” more water for the Columbia River Basin, managing the OCR meant coaxing cooperation among a number of tribes; federal, state, local agencies; conservation groups; and private water users. Under Derek’s guidance, the OCR is moving toward reaching its goals. A number of water infrastructure projects have been completed or are underways; water users are moving toward more efficient use of agricultural water, and most agencies are operating cooperatively.
Pete Sturtevant, 2013 Recipient
Pete has 34 years of professional experience specializing in the field of hydrology and water resources and a passion for service to others. Pete’s career began in California and Nevada, including several years as a planner with the Clark County (Nevada) Department of Comprehensive Planning, where he prepared and managed numerous environmental impact statements (EISs) and assessments, flood studies and drainage designs. Pete has prepared water supply studies for locations around the United States and has a wide range of experience in assessing nonpoint source pollution for river basins in multiple states including the Northwest. Recently, Pete has had the opportunity to expand his work and service internationally through his energetic contributions to Engineers without Borders (Bolivia), Ecologists without Borders (Cambodia) and project work (Saudi Arabia, Korea and Indonesia). Pete particularly embodies the spirit of the Outstanding Contribution to Washington’s Water Resources Award through his continued contributions to the state section. Pete was a member of the Chapter Board from 1996 to 2011, was the Section President in 2000, was Co-Chair for two AWRA National Conferences held in Seattle in 1999 and 2005, and has remained as an active member of this organization. This past year Pete served on the conference planning and on the fellowship committee where he has enthusiastically evaluated students for the fellowship awards. Pete thrives on a good challenge, whether it’s organizing an annual state conference for AWRA, helping students bring improvements to a village in South America, or completing the renowned Ptarmigan Traverse, a 40 mile off-trail trip along the crest of the North Cascades that passes through some of the most rugged terrain in Washington State. In all these endeavors he brings a spirit of teamwork, creativity, and good humor.
Steve Foley, 2012 Recipient
Steve Foley's varied history was part of what made him an exceptional asset to both King County and the State of Washington. Steve has a Bachelor's in Geophysics from Western Washington University, Master's in Geological Engineering from University of Arizona; and P.E. in Arizona and Washington. He is a world traveler, was a consultant for 10 years and spent most of the last two decades with King County's Water and Land Resources Division, and has now retired to the southwest. He held a Senior Engineer position responsible for managing the Surface Water Design Manual program (updates, errata, interpretations, website, training, building department support, and user support on stormwater regulations for new development and redevelopment), the Engineering Studies program (addressing complex drainage and regulatory problems), and the Stormwater Structural Controls program (stormwater capital planning). He was also the King County Water and Land Resources Division's liaison to the County building department on stormwater issues involving new development and redevelopment. In addition, he was recognized as the County's leading expert on stormwater low impact development techniques (LID) and stormwater-related regulations in general. For the past several decades, the County's stormwater management program has frequently been at the forefront in this state and Steve's leadership during his career has been a positive influence for the region.
Ed O’Brien, 2011 Recipient
Ed O’Brien, P.E., got his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Notre Dame. While working at the Department of Ecology for the past three decades, Ed has been dedicated to achieving the goal of improving water quality throughout the State. He has been instrumental in developing manuals, regulations, permits and has participated in countless diverse stakeholder interest groups to strengthen stormwater management and improve water quality. Early in his career Ed worked on and was instrumental in writing the secondary treatment regulation (WAC 173-221) as well as the CSO rule (WAC 173-245). Ed played a key role in starting the state’s stormwater program; he wrote the first industrial stormwater permit as well as the first municipal permits. He also was responsible for assembling the state’s first stormwater manual. Ed has always been one of the leading advocates for addressing stormwater problems at the basin or subbasin scale by acknowledging that land use decisions drive both stormwater impacts and solutions. This is an area where Ed has shown true leadership throughout the stormwater community in Washington. He has persisted in pushing this issue in every venue possible: low impact development, updating the stormwater manual and municipal permits. Washington State has one of the strongest stormwater management programs in the country and Ed is largely responsible for this achievement. Ed has also served on Thurston County’s Eld Inlet Watershed Committee that produced one of the first watershed-based water quality protection and restoration plans in the state. As a result, shellfish beds in Eld Inlet have been re-certified for use and saved from pollution. New development must abide by strict water quality protection standards. Residents in the watershed take great pride in keeping the inlet clean and safe for swimming and fishing. Through this work Ed helped Thurston County create its first Stormwater Management Utility. The utility has improved the management of stormwater so that rivers, streams, lakes and salt water are cleaner today.
