There was a fountain of applause for the Edgartown water department on Monday, as selectmen congratulated commissioners and superintendent Bill Chapman for having some of the cleanest water in the state of Massachusetts.

“There are 1,649 water systems in the state,” Mr. Chapman said at the meeting on Monday. “We were in the top 49. And there’s reason to believe our score is on the higher end of that.”

The department received “beyond compliance” awards from the Environmental Protection Agency for going above and beyond the requisite contaminant testing. Water commissioner David Burke also reported that the department had received no violations in the past five years. On Monday, Mr. Burke presented the awards to the selectmen, along with a certificate of recognition from the state senate.

“We greatly appreciate everyone’s involvement,” Mr. Burke said. “Water’s our number one natural resource. We couldn’t do it without everybody here.”

Superintendent Bill Chapman said the award came as a shock.

“I’m sitting in the room with a lot of talent, and the best water suppliers in the commonwealth,” Mr. Chapman said. “And I had already known we were in good shape, and then getting this award, which we did not apply for, it came as a total surprise, it came to be realized that maybe we were better than we thought.”

Selectmen gave the department a hearty congratulations.

In other business, selectmen heard from Don Hatch, manager of the Martha’s Vineyard Refuse District, concerning a recent proposal from Rosewater Market to place five recycling bins in downtown Edgartown. Mr. Hatch said because the price of recycling has declined precipitously in the past year, the refuse district can only accept clean batches — which could be difficult to enforce with public recycling bins.

“The sensitivity to it being clean is important,” Mr. Hatch said.

Edgartown health agent Matt Poole seconded those concerns.

“I’m just aware of the fact that the quality of the product is difficult to police,” Mr. Poole said. He added that while aluminum is still a desirable recycling product, watching for plastic and glass contaminants could spoil entire batches that came from the bins.

Selectmen requested that Rosewater manager Julia Celeste work with Mr. Hatch, Mr. Poole, and the highway department to come up with a suitable recycling plan. They said they would like to see the bins, but suggested starting small on the project.

“The thing that I see happening is that there’s going to be things put in there that shouldn’t be put in there, and how do we control that?” selectman Margaret Serpa said. “So I think we should wait and see if you guys can come up with an easier solution.”

Selectmen also agreed to extend Bad Martha Brewery’s entertainment license from two to four days, approved the Pinkletink Pace 5K to benefit the Martha’s Vineyard Hurricanes youth running group, and allowed a request to continue blocking the sidewalk for construction outside the Kelley House until Friday, May 17.

Town administrator James Hagerty closed the meeting by introducing newly-hired highway superintendent Allan DeBettencourt. Mr. DeBettencourt was selected from a pool of eight candidates and has been performing the job since former superintendent Stuart Fuller left earlier this spring.

“We welcome you and thank you for your application,” Mrs. Serpa said.