Oct. 27, 2010 (Business Wire) — Linda Bridwell, Kentucky American Water’s director of water quality and environmental compliance, has received the 2010 Robert M. Gillim Professional Recognition Award presented by the Kentucky Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, which recognizes Bridwell for her service to civil engineering in the Commonwealth. She is the first female to receive the honor, which has been awarded annually since 1966.
Bridwell, a native of Lexington and graduate of Lafayette High School, holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of Kentucky, a master’s degree in business administration from Xavier University and is a licensed professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
She joined Kentucky American Water’s engineering team in 1989 and soon was working on plans to address Central Kentucky’s water supply deficit. She was promoted to lead the company’s engineering department in 1995 and became widely recognized within the company and the state as an expert on the region’s water supply issue.
Her efforts to resolve that increasingly worsening issue continued tirelessly for more than 20 years as selecting a solution became more and more complex. During that time Bridwell served as the company’s water supply representative on numerous local, regional and state committees. In recent years, she led the project team that designed and constructed the solution approved by the Kentucky Public Service Commission in 2008: a new 20 million-gallon-per-day water treatment plant in Owen County, Ky., connected to Kentucky American Water’s existing Central Kentucky distribution system by a 31-mile, 42-inch diameter underground pipeline from Owen County through Franklin and Scott counties to Fayette County.
Under Bridwell’s direction the project was designed in 12 months, which is considered an ambitious schedule by those in the industry. Similarly, construction of the $164 million project was completed in September 2010 – just 25 months after it started – on time and on budget.