KATHRYN S. LOWE, Senior Research Associate

Education

• M.S. Environmental Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, 1993.
• B.S. Geology, Mesa State College, 1982.

Professional Experience

• 2000-Present: Senior Research Associate, Environmental Science and Engineering, Colorado School of Mines.
• 1984-2000: Project Manager & Research Staff, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Relevant Research Interests

Applied research and evaluation of onsite wastewater treatment systems; in situ treatment of hazardous waste contaminated soil and ground water; environmental characterization and assessment of fate and transport of contaminants in vadose and saturated zones.

Selected Relevant Publications and Presentations

Lowe, K.S. and R.L. Siegrist. 2007. Controlled Field Experiment for Performance Evaluation of Septic tank Effluent Treatment during Soil Infiltration.  J. Env. Eng.  134(2):93-101.

Lowe, K.S. S.M. VanCuyk, R.L. Siegrist, and J.E. Drewes. 2007. Field Evaluation of the Performance of Engineered Onsite Wastewater Treatment Units.  J. Hydrologic Engineering.  Accepted and in press.

Lowe, K.S., S.M. VanCuyk, and R.L. Siegrist. 2007. Soil Treatment Unit Performance as Affected by Hydraulic Loading Rate and Applied Effluent Quality.  Eleventh National Symposium on Individual and Small Community Sewage Systems, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), October 2007.

Lowe, K.S., N. Rothe, J. Tomaras, K. DeJong, M Tucholke, J. Drewes, J. McCray, and J. Munakata-Marr. 2007. Influent Constituent Characteristics of the Modern Waste Stream from Single Sources:  Literature Review.  Water Environment Research Foundation.  04-DEC-1. PDF available at: www.ndwrcdp.org/publications

Lowe, K.S., R.L. Siegrist, and K.N. Tackett. 2006. Hydraulic Loading Rate and Infiltrative Surface Architecture Effects on Septic Tank Effluent Treatment During Soil Infiltration.  Proc. of the NOWRA 2006 Annual Technical Education Conference.

Dimick, C.A., K.S. Lowe, R.L. Siegrist, and S.M. Van Cuyk. 2006. Effects of Applied Wastewater Quality on Soil Treatment of Effluent.  Proc. of the NOWRA 2006 Annual Technical Education Conference.

Beach, D.N.H., J.E. McCray, K.S. Lowe, and R.L. Siegrist. 2005.  Temporal Changes in Hydraulic Conductivity of Sand Porous Media Biofilters during Wastewater Infiltration Due to Biomat Formation.  J. of Hydrology.  311(2005): 230-243.

Van Cuyk, S., R.L. Siegrist, K. Lowe, J. Drewes, J. Munakata-Marr, and L. Figueroa. 2005. Performance of Engineered Treatment Units and Their Effects on Biozone Formation in Soil and System Purification Efficiency.  National Decentralized Water Resources Capacity Development Project. Washington University, St. Louis, MO: 2003  WUHT-03-36.  241 pg.  PDF available at: www.ndwrcdp.org/publications

Heatwole, K., J. McCray, K. Lowe, K. Murray. 2005. Evaluation of Potential Impacts of ISDS in a Proposed Development Area near Todd Creek, Adams County, Colorado.  Final report submitted to Adams County Commissioners by the Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, August 2005.

Siegrist, R.L., J. McCray, L. Weintraub, C. Chen, J. Bagdol, P. Lemonds, S. Van Cuyk, K. Lowe, R. Goldstein, and J. Rada. 2005. Quantifying Site-Scale Processes & Watershed-Scale Cumulative Effects of Decentralized Wastewater Systems.  National Decentralized Water Resources Capacity Development Project. Washington University, St. Louis, MO: 2003  WUHT-02-27.  587 pg. PDF available at: www.ndwrcdp.org/publications

Siegrist, R.L., J.E. McCray, and K.S. Lowe. 2004.  Wastewater Infiltration into Soil and the Effects of Infiltrative Surface Architecture.  Small Flows Journal.  5(1): 29-39.

Van Cuyk, S., R.L. Siegrist, K. Lowe, and R.W. Harvey. 2004.  Evaluating Microbial Purification during Soil Treatment of Wastewater with Multicomponent Tracer and Surrogate Tests.  J. Environ. Qual.  33: 316-329.

Siegrist, R.L., M.A. Urynowicz, M.L. Crimi, and K.S. Lowe. 2002. Genesis and Effects of Particles Produced during In Situ Chemical Oxidation Using Permanganate. Journal of Environmental Engineering. 128(11):1068-1079.

Siegrist, R.L., K.S. Lowe, J.E. McCray, D. Beach, and S. VanCuyk. 2002. Accelerated Loading Methods to Evaluate Long-Term Performance of Soil PMBs Used for Wastewater Treatment. 11th Northwest On-Site Wastewater Conference, Seattle, WA, April 3-4, 2002.

Siegrist, R. L. M. A. Urynowicz, O. R. West, M. L. Crimi, and K. S. Lowe. 2001. Principles and Practices of In Situ Chemical Oxidation Using Permanganate.  Battelle Press.  348 pgs.

Lowe, K. S., F. G. Gardner, and R. L. Siegrist. 2000. “Field Evaluation of In Situ Chemical Oxidation through Vertical Well to Well Recirculation of NaMnO4,” Ground Water Monitoring and Remediation. Winter 2002, pp:106-115.

Siegrist, R. L., K. S. Lowe, L. D. Murdoch, D. A. Pickering, and T. L. Case. 1999. “In Situ Oxidation by Fracture Emplaced Reactive Solids,” J. of Environmental Engineering, 125(5):429-440.

Siegrist, R. L., K. S. Lowe, L. D. Murdoch, W. W. Slack, and T. C. Houk. 1998. X231A Demonstration of Soil Fracturing for Delivery of Hot Fluids and Emplacement of Reactive Horizontal Barriers for In Situ Remediation of DNAPL Compounds in Low Permeability Media. ORNL-TM 13534, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN.

Research Grants and Contracts

Ms. Lowe is currently PI and co-PI on CSM research projects with budgets totaling over $1M. These projects include onsite wastewater treatment system investigations from the 1-D laboratory scale, to pilot field scale, to the watershed scale.  Topic areas include: confined treatment unit treatment performance; soil treatment unit hydraulic performance, treatment performance, and impact to receiving waters; and, assessment of wastewater characteristics from different sources.