Issue link: https://kusm-wichita.uberflip.com/i/1530178
11 Established in 1970, the EPA conducts environmental assessment, research and education. It has the responsibility of maintaining and enforcing national standards under a variety of environmental laws, in consultation with state, tribal and local governments. The Herman Hill water treatment facility at 101 E. Pawnee Street in Wichita cleanses 1.2 million gallons of water daily and is devoted to water-specific ecology issues. "I've always wrapped in the practical experience I have from working in local government and public health, particularly as it relates to the environment, because a lot of public health work is done through local, state and federal organizations." — Jack Brown, research instructor which opened in 2003 in Herman Hill Park in south Wichita and has a two-fold purpose: cleaning up polluted groundwater extracted through 14 wells in a four-square-mile area in central Wichita and educating the public about how reclaimed water can be used. programs, and they impact the general population," Brown explained. "My career started around the same time the EPA was created and that was a new and exciting thing because it became a very active time for environmental law," said Brown, who was one of the first environmental health practitioners in Kansas to earn the designation of registered sanitarian. "While there's a lot of regulation, there is still a lot of work to be done. It would be misguided to think that everything's cleaned up now." With more work to be done, it's important for public health practitioners to understand the concepts of environmental health. As part of the class, Brown includes "field experiences where we go out and observe what we've talked about in class related to the practices we've talked about." One of the field trip destinations is the Wichita Area Treatment Education Remediation (WATER) Center, "I've taught the class since the beginning of the MPH program (in 1997) and it's always focused on all aspects of the environment, particularly from a practitioner's standpoint," said Brown, whose achievements range from having served as the project manager of a Wichita groundwater cleanup eort that led to the building of one of the nation's most innovative treatment centers to developing recommendations to help ensure safe water for Kansans using private household wells. When Brown joined the KUSM-Wichita faculty in the mid-1990s, he was still involved in leading the Wichita-Sedgwick County environmental health department, the state's largest such department. He retired from that position in 2003. Environmental law is one of the key areas of his class because "it establishes standards for everything we do in the country in terms of air quality, water quality and hazardous waste disposal. All of these you find in government environmental Jack Brown, R.S., MPA, research instructor Population Health