MCLEAN, VA, Oct. 14, 2005 -- William E. Pearson II, CWT, received the prestigious Ray Baum Memorial Water Technologist of the Year Award during the recent Association of Water Technologies (AWT) 2005 Convention & Exposition in Palm Springs, Calif., on Sept. 23.
The award recognizes exemplary service to the AWT membership and outstanding contributions to the field of water treatment. Pearson has been a long time friend of AWT through his chairmanship and activity with the Technical Committee. Pearson has sat on the Board of Directors, been involved with many task force projects and in 2003 was AWT's president. His tireless efforts and work throughout the years helped develop the water treatment industry's first independent certification program, the Certified Water Technologist (CWT), and he is the primary author of AWT's major Legionella documents.
During his distinguished career, Pearson authored numerous papers and articles on the subject of water treatment, and made presentations not only to AWT members, but other related trade organization's meetings as well. He has served as AWT's liaison to ASHRAE for the past five years on its Water Treatment Technical Committee, where his efforts lead to a jointly co-funded research project in 2005 with ASHRAE titled, "An Evaluation of the Efficacy of Fill Removal, Cleaning and Disinfection in Controlling Legionella Populations in Cooling Tower Systems."
Pearson becomes the 15th recipient of this award. Past recipients include: D.C. "Chuck" Brandvold; Robert R. Cavano; Ronald Knestaut; Dennis Clayton; E.J. Caruso; John J. Baum; Jessie Jefferies; Brent Chettle; Dr. Janet E. Stout; Dr. Arthur J. Freedman; Dr. Bennett P. Boffardi; Dr. Zahid Amjad; Dick Blake; and, Colin Frayne.
Pearson is a biochemistry graduate of East Carolina University and a member of the American Chemical Society and the National Association of Corrosion Engineers. He lives in Raleigh, N.C., and is vice president and director of sales, consulting and technical services for Southeastern Laboratories Inc. He's a Certified Water Technologist and has more than 30 years experience in the water treatment industry, beginning his career with SEL in 1975.
The Association of Water Technologies (www.awt.org) is an international trade association representing nearly 600 regional companies that specialize in industrial and commercial water treatment for heating and cooling systems (boilers, cooling towers, etc). These companies may also specialize in wastewater treatment, potable water treatment and other industry segments.
###
