Senior Hydrogeologist and veteran of more than 1,600 groundwater investigation projects nationally and internationally named “Kim Ayers Award” Winner

GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. (GZA), a leading multi-disciplinary firm providing geotechnical, environmental, ecological, water, and construction management services, recently announced that James M. (Jamie) Emery, CEO of GZA subsidiary Emery and Garrett Groundwater Investigations (EGGI), was honored for his work to protect groundwater quality in New Hampshire’s Lakes Region.

Jamie was nominated by the Board of Selectmen of New Hampton, N.H., his hometown, for the Kim Ayers Award. Presented by the Lakes Region Planning Commission since 1988, the award is named in memory of B. Kimball Ayers Jr. and recognizes residents who have made “a major voluntary contribution to the environmental quality of the Lakes Region.”

Jamie co-founded EGGI in 1989 and has participated in or supervised more than 1,600 groundwater development and protection programs for major municipal and private water development projects throughout the Eastern Seaboard. He has also helped lead water supply development programs in nations as far flung as theDominican Republic, Somalia, and South Africa and been invited by the U.S. Department of Defense and World Bank to address their staffs on critical water supply issues.

While engaged in his national and international work, the New Hampton Selectmen noted, Jamie has also been devoted to developing and protecting water supplies in their town, such as developing a water source for the town’s new Public Safety Building, managing and monitoring groundwater around the closed town landfill near the Pemigewassett River, and developing plans to mitigate contamination of wells from road salt and ethanol additives. “He is a most worthy candidate for this important award,” the selectmen wrote, and has made an “invaluable contribution to the protection of groundwater resources not only in New Hampton, the Lakes Region, and the state of New Hampshire, but nationally as well as internationally.”

GZA CEO Patrick Sheehan said: “We’re proud that Jamie has been recognized by the Lakes Region Planning Commission that is made up of 30 New Hampshire communities for the important work he’s also been doing right at home. Seeking to behave and operate under sustainable principles as a positive and active member of the communities in which, and for which, we work is one of our core values, and Jamie exemplifies that commitment.”