Gail Brion facts for kids
Gail Montgomery Brion is an amazing inventor and a professor! She teaches civil engineering at the University of Kentucky. She also leads the Environmental Research and Training Laboratories (ERTL) there.
Gail is an expert on waterborne illnesses. These are sicknesses caused by dirty water. She also works with the College of Public Health. Her main goal is to help bring and keep clean, safe water systems in places that don't have them.
What Gail Does
Gail Brion started her career working with industrial waste. She was a supervisor for sewer studies. From 1979 to 1980, she worked at a sewage treatment plant. She checked water and wastewater there.
Later, she became the Chief Lab Analyst at another plant in Wyoming. She also worked for the Hach Company. There, she helped with chemical tests and solved customer problems.
In 1982, Gail became a Plant Chemist. She tested cooling water, waste water, and natural water systems.
Then, she spent six years working for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA is a government agency. It works to protect human health and the environment. Gail worked in different areas there. She helped with water quality and air quality.
Gail started teaching engineering at the University of Kentucky in 1995. She connects her research with the College of Public Health. They work together to improve public health through better engineering.
Gail once said, "We can treat extraordinarily dirty water... But even if the water treatment plant does a good job... it then goes into a distribution system that is full of holes." This means that even if water is cleaned, it can get dirty again. This happens if the pipes that carry it have problems. She worries that old water systems in some areas are falling apart. She thinks this could lead to big problems if they are not fixed.
Her Schooling
In 1978, Gail earned her first degree. It was a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering. She got it from the University of California.
She then continued her studies. She earned her master's degree in Civil Engineering in 1985. Later, she completed her PhD in Civil Engineering in 1995. Both of these degrees were from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Why She Cares About Water
Gail's interest in waterborne illnesses started when she was a child. She had some personal experiences with dirty water.
Once, some of her friends got sick. They had played in a city park creek. Gail looked into it and found a pipe. It was dumping untreated hospital waste right into the water!
She also saw a family whose children were too sick to work. They were drinking untreated water from an irrigation ditch. There was no other water for them. These experiences made Gail want to make a difference. She wanted to help make sure everyone had clean water.
See also
In Spanish: Gail Brion para niños
