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EPA's Soderberg Wins Gold Award for Contributions to Clean Water in the Caribbean Region

Release Date: 01/30/2007
Contact Information: Ben Barry (212) 637-3651, barry.benjamin@epa.gov or Brenda Reyes (787) 977-5869, reyes.brenda@epa.gov

(SAN JUAN, P.R.) Carl Soderberg, Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Caribbean Environmental Protection Division in Santurce, has received the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association’s Gold Award for 2006 for his outstanding efforts to protect and restore Caribbean waters throughout his career.

“Carl Soderberg is a true champion of the environment,” said EPA Regional Administrator Alan J. Steinberg. “His leadership in promoting environmental protection, conservation and enlightened stewardship of the natural resources critical to preserving and sustaining the quality of life in the Caribbean has been exemplary; this recognition is well deserved.”

Carl Soderberg started his professional career in 1970 as a staff engineer in the Water Pollution Control Program at the Puerto Rico Department of Health. One year later, he joined the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board (EQB) as a staff engineer in the Water Pollution Control Bureau and, within six months, was promoted to Technical Assistant and then Associate Director for Air and Water Programs. He subsequently served as Chief of the Water Quality Bureau and Director of Water Quality. From 1979 to 1989, Soderberg also served as an alternate member of the governing board of EQB. In 1981, he was promoted to Vice Chairman.

In 1987, Mr. Soderberg was recruited by the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority to establish and implement their industrial pretreatment program; he served as Director of the pretreatment area until January 1992. Since 1992, Soderberg has been the Director of the EPA Region 2 Caribbean Environmental Protection Division.

Carl Soderberg is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico, the Water Environmental Federation, the Puerto Rico Planning Society, the Natural History Society of Puerto Rico and the Air and Waste Management Association. He also served as the President of the Puerto Rico Chapter of the Interamerican Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineers (known by the Spanish Acronym AIDIS) and most recently, as President of the organization’s region, which encompasses the AIDIS chapters of Canada, USA, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the English-speaking Caribbean.

Soderberg has received a special EPA award for merit for outstanding public service in the pollution control field and another for his long standing commitment to environmental protection. In 1990, he received an award from EQB for his achievements as President of the Puerto Rico Chapter of AIDIS, and in 1992, he received an award from the Association of Professional Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico for his contributions to environmental protection in Puerto Rico.

The Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association, based in Trinidad and Tobago, is committed to cooperation and technology transfer among Caribbean nations to address the unique challenges regarding drinking water, wastewater and solid waste management facing these nations.

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