A research collaboration between civil engineering professor Dr. Mark Elliott and his former doctoral student Jillian Maxcy-Brown has earned national recognition from the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Their paper, “Evaluating Statewide Wastewater Affordability for Users of Sewer Systems and Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems Based on Household Incomes at the Census Tract Level,” was published in July 2024 in the Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management and received the journal’s Best Policy-Oriented Paper award. The study originated as a chapter of Maxcy-Brown’s doctoral dissertation.
The paper addresses a critical gap, which is that roughly 25% of U.S. households rely on onsite wastewater systems, such as septic tanks, yet affordability analyses typically focus only on centralized sewer systems and median household income. Maxcy-Brown and Elliott built an original dataset, collecting rates and demographic data for hundreds of systems across nearly 1,200 Alabama census tracts. Their findings show that wastewater costs, particularly for onsite systems, can impose long-term financial burdens, affecting roughly 24% of Alabamians.
“This study is the first of its kind, so there were no precedents that could guide our methods,” Maxcy-Brown said. “We had to collect the data set from scratch, which was quite tedious.”
Maxcy-Brown shared that it’s an honor to have this work recognized and to see the impact it has on others. “I am hoping this award will raise the profile of this study’s findings so we can begin to use them to ensure all people have affordable access to wastewater management,” said Maxcy-Brown.
Elliott said mentoring Maxcy-Brown through the project was especially rewarding and eye-opening. “Her work exemplifies how rigorous, data-driven research can inform more equitable infrastructure policy and practice. The methods developed in this dissertation chapter are already influencing how wastewater affordability is discussed at state and national levels, and I am confident her contributions will continue to resonate through the field,” he said.
Since completing her doctorate, Maxcy-Brown has expanded the methodology to drinking water affordability, including private well users, establishing a new benchmark for equitable water and wastewater research.