Baylis was born in rural Mississippi (Eastabuchie, Jones County) but lived most of his adult life in northern U.S.
[7] These advances included: In 1938, Baylis was put in charge of the design of the South District Filtration Plant, which was completed in 1943.
The work became a classic in the field of sanitary engineering and paved the way for others to control taste and odor problems.
The book goes into some detail on how and where to feed powdered activated carbon (PAC) for taste and odor control.
Baylis said that “…the reservoir should be roofed to prevent pollution from birds, insects, rodents, small animals, dirt, soot, leaves and other debris which he said was in the open water.”[8] It would take many decades before his concerns were codified into a USEPA regulation that deals specifically with this danger to human health.
Now called the Publications Award, it is conferred on the author of the best paper published that year in the Journal AWWA.
The award was established to recognize contributions to the advancement of transportation engineering, either in research, planning, design, or construction.
In 1970, Mayor Richard J. Daley dedicated the John R. Baylis Memorial library at Chicago's Central Water Filtration Plant.