Last week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency honored two Lancaster County, Pa. communities for protecting sources of drinking water used by more than 20,000 people. EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin presented the agency’s 2012 regional Source Water Protection Award to the Warwick Township Municipal Authority and the Borough of Lititz at a ceremony at the Warwick Municipal Office.

“Protecting the sources of our drinking water benefits public health, our environment, and our economic well-being as well as our quality of life,” said Garvin. “Warwick and Lititz have shown the way for more than a decade of working with farmers and others in taking responsible steps protecting drinking water supplies.”

The Source Water Protection Award recognizes organizations and communities that take extraordinary steps to protect drinking water sources in EPA’s mid-Atlantic region.