Personal Narrative: My Ceramic Filter

I felt like I was doing something wrong as I was going to the basement of the Ocean and Meteorology in the dark to dose my bio-sand filter and check on my ceramic filter. Weeks were spent talking, planning and designing two point of use water filtration systems that would feasible in a developing country. I was spending my Friday night inspecting, dosing, and hoping my handmade bio-sand would form a microbial layer necessary for the filter to work and checking on the flow rate of my ceramic filter. My excitement could not be contained as trial tests were done and the e-coli and coliform bacteria counts came out as undetectable after the water went through the filtration system. This was the first time in college I had the opportunity to do
my own independent research and I didn’t realize at the time but that research would shape my career and education path. That same desire and enthusiasm I experienced has now led me to pursue a Master of Science in Public Health. I believe that my educational background along with my relevant work experienced has prepared me to meet the demands of this degree and profession.
What began of understanding my career path was majoring in Environmental Studies, College of Geoscience at Texas A&M University. As an excited freshman, I joined any organization I could that focused on providing clean water to the developing world. I worked on marketing and fundraising for two separate organizations that provided funding to Blood Water Mission and Living Water International to provide water wells. I contributed my own funds because I also wanted to be a part of the solution to the global water crisis. While I enjoyed being an advocate for clean water, I wasn’t satisfied. I knew I wanted to do more, but I wasn’t sure how. At the same time I noticed that I loved my classes that not only focused on environmental issues but connected the environment to health.
During my college career I was inspired and motived by two professors who did connect environmental issues to public health.
I had the privilege of taking a small research based class with Dr. Jepson that focused on environmental justice. A part of this course we took a field trip to areas around Houston where petroleum oil industry was negatively effecting the health of citizens in low income neighborhoods. My class was able to talk to local leaders in the communities who were fighting for the health of their neighborhoods. I wrote my research paper of a high school that was a quarter mile from two factories and the students experienced significant health problems because of the proximity. As a part of the class Dr. Jepson talked about how culture can impact public health. She would also talk about how her research in water crisis along the Texas-Mexico border. She inspired me and helped shape my interest on how environmental policy can affect public health and how culture can negatively affect public health. As a part of my research project comparing water filtration systems. I sought external help and ended up working with Dr. Boulanger in the Environmental Engineering department. He taught me how to make ceramic filters using clay and organic material. I learned from him and was inspired by his work of taking ceramic filter to Haiti. Dr. Boulanger helped shaped my interest in technology that can provide clean water to at risk
populations.
I wanted to enter graduate school immediately after college, but I knew it would be valuable to gain work experience and pay off my student loans. I began to work for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in January 2013. Originally, I was hired in a position to enforce the state’s air regulations, and I worked diligently on that issue while fostering a desire to learn more about the issues and regulatory laws involved with clean water. Eventually, I was able to transfer first from air regulatory law to wastewater. I enjoyed wastewater and knew it would beneficial in understanding sanitation. I then transferred to the public drinking water enforcement team. I learned valuable information about treatment and monitoring methods to keep public drinking water clean and the laws that are enforced by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency. I also have received training in the operation of a public water supply and the processes used for the treatment of groundwater and surface water.
Besides increasing my knowledge in what makes water clean and how the state is able to preserve the research, I wanted to know more about how hygiene and sanitation could improve health. I signed up and trained with Living Water International, a non-profit organization that advocates for clean water, provides wells, and teaches hygiene and sanitation practices around the world. I received a certificate for completing the minimum standards for hygiene training. I attended the training originally to be prepared for a trip to Cap Haitien, Haiti where I would be a part of a team teaching hygiene and sanitation practices to a community where a well was being drilled. Unfortunately, the week I was supposed to fly into Cap Haitien, the city experienced massive flooding. With flights to Cap Haitien cancelled, my team and I flew into Port Au Price and worked to improve technology in vocational schools built by a prominent local pastor. I also had the opportunity to visit a planned community designed to take people out of the tent cities that were built from rubble from the 2010 earthquake and give them a permanent home. I enjoyed visiting with the residents, but I was troubled by their concerns about not having a clean water supply in their community. The trip impacted me and confirmed my desire to build a career focused on water, sanitation and hygiene programs.
Recently, I was given the opportunity to move to Asheville, North Carolina and work for an environmental nonprofit through AmeriCorps where I have learned about watershed management.
It has been interesting to work with farmers in Mills River to protect their drinking water from sediment run off, erosion and other environmental pollutants. I knew the regulatory side of public drinking water, but it has been good to understand the community perspective as well. Combining this experience with my time at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, I feel like I have learned both sides of caring for a community’s drinking water
supply.
In the near future, I hope to be working for a nonprofit or an NGO doing research or field work in water and sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Overall, my interests include regulation with WASH and how this looks in a developing country. I am also interested in how to market sanitation and hygiene and how this looks across different cultures. I'm also interested in equipping communities with technology to purify water that are sustainable. Along with an interest to research which methods and technologies have the greatest impact on public health with water and sanitation.
I was fortunate enough to visit UNC during a graduate school open house, where I heard from the Dean of the Environmental Science and Engineering department and learned more about the Water Institute. Dr. Peter Kolosky was kind enough to talk to me and other students about his background and current research. I also attended a presentation that Jamie Barton gave on water issues in North Carolina. Being impressed with the Gillings School of Global Public Health, I wish to attend UNC and pursue my research interest in WASH strategies. I am interested in working with Dr. Kolosky or Dr. Bartman and contributing to the Water Institute. I hope to pursue a career in the field or focus on improving global public health through WASH strategies. My top interests include global environmental health, policy, decision-making and risk analysis, contaminant sources, fate and transport, design and analysis of engineered systems, exposure biology, bookmarkers and mechanisms of disease, and impacts and mitigation of climate change.