As a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), I regularly receive information and notices proclaiming their annual "grading" of our nation's infrastructure. There is even a website to promote this effort: http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/. My opinion on this might not be popular with my colleagues, but frankly I have never thought this report was…
Category: Wastewater
A Day in the Life of a Civil Engineer – Day 52
Day 52 Although I worked in the office for a few hours today mainly on correspondence and checking with our inspector and engineers to find out the status of some projects, most of my day was spent at our APWA Public Works Camp. This event is our second unconference session that we've hosted, and both…
A Day in the Life of a Civil Engineer – Days 39 to 43
Day 39 through 43 Day 39—Monday, Sept. 26 On Monday I attended our staff development meeting. We discussed several of the projects that are either under review or construction. We also talked about the challenge of helping people understand and follow through our development process which is as follows: during the concept stage, our staff…
Got Sewer Gas Smell?
One of the most common complaints we received at the city where I used to work was sewer odors in homes or businesses. The callers always assumed it had to be caused by the city sewers, and therefore, they always requested that we flush our lines to solve the problem. So the city had adopted…
Revving up the Street Sweeper
The other day I commented about the reviews written about a street sweeping game. The post ended up on GovLoop where Denise Petet added some great insights on how the game might be made more fun and engaging. She suggested adding more interesting cars, having pedestrians interact with the sweeper, and even allowing the sweeper…
Setting Sustainable Water Rates
Raising water or sewer rates is never a popular move, and in this economy many have tried to avoid it as if they are fleeing from a zombie apocalypse. But for many utilities expenditures are exceeding revenues, and there's sometimes little choice other than a rate increase. You can only cut so much from a…
CCDD Update – Get the Scoop on CCDD & Let IEPA Know What You Think
If you’re involved in construction in Illinois, you are probably well aware of new CCDD law passed last year and made effective immediately by our state legislators and governor. Many of us have been struggling to understand this new law because it was created with little guidance but severe penalties for noncompliance. Fortunately the Chicago…
A CCDD Update – February 2011
Background information for those just wandering into this legislative disaster: Last year, some of our Illinois legislators passed a law to regulate and impose a fee on anyone trying to dump dirt in a hole. At least that's the way it started out. As you will see from this update, the IEPA has worked to…
Awesome Products/Demos from the ACE2010 Expo – Part 3
SIGELOCK HYDRANTS One of the more interesting new products unveiled at the show was the Sigelock hydrant. The connections are all completely enclosed and do not extend beyond the body of the hydrant. The inventor of this hydrant showed us how easy it was to take off the protective covers and access the operating nut…
Awesome Products/Demos from the ACE2010 Expo – Part 1
Today a coworker and I had the chance to attend the ACE 2010 Expo put on by the American WaterWorks Association (AWWA). We learned a lot about traditional products and some new innovations. Fortunately I brought my Flip camera and thanks to some great vendors was able to get short videos of their products to…