This year’s AWWA Woodard & Curran Scholarship recipient, Ann Brunton, grew up knowing that water is a big deal. She says, “I’ve always known we need to conserve water,” recalling the local water company giving a shower timer given to her and classmates in grade school and her family placing a rain bin outside to collect stormwater for their plants. When she enrolled at the University of Arizona, her desire to study engineering turned into earning a Bachelor of Science degree in biosystems engineering with a focus on water resources. 

Hands-on Learning and Leadership

As with many Class of 2020 graduates, Ann’s college senior year experience was derailed by the global pandemic. While personally, she didn’t find the shift to online learning difficult, she did miss the celebratory events with her classmates and seeing the fruition of her senior engineering capstone project. She and her classmates worked with Mister Car Wash to design a car wash water reclamation system, which furthered her interest in water reuse and treatment. “Car washes use a lot of water, but water reuse in the carwash industry is uncommon,” she says. “We designed a UV advanced oxidation chamber to treat the water, kill pathogens, and added a filtration system. We never got to test the design, but it hopefully they will implement it and our project will make a difference in advancing water treatment applications.” Continue Reading