Robert J. Kukenberger of Cazenovia, is receiving a Life Membership Award during the New York Water Environment Association (NYWEA) 89th annual meeting on Feb. 6-8 in New York City.

Kukenberger, a 40-year member of NYWEA, served as its president in 2008 and then served as a national representative to its parent, national organization, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) House of Delegates for three years. A lifelong, dedicated volunteer, Kukenberger serves on NYWEA and WEF’s Governmental Affairs committees and has been a driving force for NYWEA’s political initiatives and WEF’s Strategic Planning Committee. As NYWEA President, he served on the Governor’s NYS Clean Water Collaborative and was a member of the State Revolving Fund (SRF) Sustainability Initiative, helping with policy improvements to the Clean Water SRF.

Kukenberger was inducted into the Select Society of Sanitary Sludge Shovelers and the NYWEA Hall of Fame, and was given the WEF Arthur Sidney Bedell service award, among other honors.

He is past president of the Cazenovia Lake Association.

Kukenberger is vice president and program manager for CDM Smith of Syracuse and is board certified as an environmental engineer and is a licensed professional engineer. He resides in Cazenovia with his wife Claudia. They have two grown children and a granddaughter.

The NYWEA, founded in 1929 by professionals in the field of water quality as a nonprofit educational organization, has 2,500 members statewide. The Association hosts several technical conferences each year for environmental engineers, scientists, public officials and others who work in water and wastewater quality management. For more information, visit nywea.org.