Charles Maddox Honored with Water Industry Hall of Fame

The AWWA Water Industry Hall of Fame is one of the most significant awards in the water community and perpetuates the memory of those living and deceased who have made the most significant contributions to the field of public water supply.

This year, AWWA honored Charles Maddox for his long career as an innovator, regulator, utility manager, and engaged AWWA member. His contributions have supported utility staff so they always had the best chance of success in water system operation and public health protection while at the same time achieving compliance with rules. Maddox’s work experience and AWWA involvement have allowed him to achieve one of the main goals of his work, which was to bring operations and compliance to a practical and realistic level so operators and utility staff had the best chance of success in water system operation and public health protection while at the same time achieving compliance with rules.

Maddox’s career in the drinking water and public health field has spanned forty-nine years, with a beginning in the Texas Department of Health. He moved up in leadership responsibilities and led many efforts in revising the state water system design regulations and the drinking water standards, many of which were the result of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the revisions to that Act. Many of the changes he championed remain in the regulations to this day.

In 1973, he joined AWWA and has attained Life Member status by continuing that membership. He organized the first, and many subsequent, seminars on the 1986 Safe Drinking Water Act amendments to educate operators, managers, and engineers on the treatment and water quality requirements they had to meet within their water systems.

After 29 years of experience in drinking water and public health programs, he retired from state service in 2001 and began a career at Austin Water Utility, where he worked as Water Regulatory Manager for 18 years before retiring in February 2020. He still remains on staff as a part-time consultant to Austin Water Utility.

While employed at Austin Water Utility, he continued and enhanced his AWWA involvement. He served in the officer roles and then became Director of the Texas Section on the AWWA Board of Directors. After those positions, he was selected for a position on the AWWA Water Utility Council, where he served two three-year terms. Over this time, he organized the Texas Section participation in and attended 20 successive AWWA Fly-Ins in Washington, D.C. These Fly-Ins cover two days of visits to congressional offices to promote water utility issues of concern.

Maddox has also participated in many Texas Section educational teleconferences and webinars on technical and regulatory topics. He is a Fuller Award winner and most recently a recipient of the Dr. John L. Leal Award.