Public Concerns Over New Waste-water Treatment Plant

I recently read an article from the Tampa Bay, FL area concerning the construction of a new waste-water treatment plant in Dade City, FL a nearby suburb. Many citizens expressed their frustration over the issue as the proposed site of the plant would be in near proximity to their home. This would impact their property value and residents are also concerned that the plant's effluent could ultimately end up back in the ground-water.

Now as I learned this past spring after touring the waste-water treatment plant in Fargo, treated waste-water is quite clean. Plants normally discharge treated waste-water into a body of water such as the Red River and the treated waste-water is actually cleaner and more pure than the water in the river itself. It is understandable though that there is concern of treated waste-water mixing in with ground-water as many may not have a background on the water-water treatment process.

The ethical issue involved here is if the county is properly planning this project. Some are concerned that the county has worked on plans for this project without first informing residents of their ideas. Are they selecting an appropriate site for the plant to be built? There's no question that the plant will improve the overall quality of life and the environment of the community. I do believe it may not be the best idea to locate it so near a residential area that already exists because of the effect on people's property values as well as a NIMBY-lism, or not in my back yard, attitude of people living there. Whether or not it's ethical to construct the plant there is up to some speculation however I do believe that residents should be given fair notice and warning that there are plans in the works. At this point the county is unsure whether or not to move forward with the facility. I would think the best course of action is to propose alternative locations for the plant to be built and use feedback from the community to choose the option that best suits everyone.

Waste-water Treatment Needs Growing in China

China; most everyone these days knows and understands the vast significance of this country. It is one of the world's largest countries by land mass as well as its population. That in itself is growing at a tremendous rate. China is also has an enormous economic base within not only their own country, but also with exports to other nations such as the United States. An issue that is also growing along with China's population is the environment and quality of living in China.

A research report on the waste-water treatment market in china recently surfaced that outlines the issue of water consumption and the need for waste-water treatment throughout the country. As it stands right now China already has major issues with air and water pollution, so it is critical that civil engineers who specialize in environmental engineering concentrate some of their efforts to address this growing issue.

(Waste-water treatment facility)

China's population is over 1.3 billion people and constantly growing. This growth along with the equal industrialization of the country are the perfect factors for the desperate need for a more widespread and organized waste-water treatment program. The city of Moorhead, MN for example houses two major industries within its borders: American Crystal Sugar and Budweiser both have plants that operate year round. As I found out this past spring these industries consume and dispose of massive amounts of water on a daily basis. The large industrial demand for water inherently places a strain on the water demand for other commercial and residential buildings.

Though it is clear China has a great need for waste-water treatment facilities and programs to clean their environment up there are many challenges that stand in the way of that goal being realized. Can the government effectively put a plan in action to produce results? Would they have the funding and support to do it or may they need additional help from other major countries such as India or the United States? Is the technology up to speed with the times or are improvements needed such as the energy use of a waste-water treatment plant? And if a plan to improve China's waste-water treatment were to be enacted could it keep up with the rapid increase of population and urbanization? These are just some of the questions and issues facing environmental engineers in China today. I personally hope this issue can soon be looked at as China's health and prosperity easily influences the rest of the world.

Fire Effects on Steel Structures

America just recently observed the 10 year anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. With that came a day full of remembrance, humility and grief for many. The events and consequences of that day remain a major turning point in history especially for the youth of this nation such as myself. That day had a major impact on the civil engineering community as well because of the structural failures that occurred at the World Trade Center complex. The two 110-story twin towers collapsed to the ground due to a progressive collapse that began at the impact sites of the airplanes on each building. The structural steel members were significantly weakened from the force of the plane crashes as well as the explosive fires that burned afterward.

A research project has been put into place at Purdue University recently to test effects of fire on steel. Structural steel comes in a variety of choices based on how it is prepared and what types of alloys are used in it. Steel structures can lose around 40% of their strength if the steel temp is in excess of 500 degrees Celsius. Sometimes building fires can reach 1000 degrees Celsius however. Most buildings have fireproofing material applied throughout to protect the structural integrity in the even a fire does happen so the building's occupants can get to safety. There is speculation that the plane impacts to the World Trade Center unfortunately disturbed that fireproofing rendering the steel members vulnerable to the fires burning.

Researchers at Purdue constructed a large structural lab that basically emulates a giant toaster in which large coils heat steel specimens that are also loaded simultaneously to simulate the behavior of structural steel in a building fire. The models and results from these experiments have been found to be quite accurate when compared to real world building fires. These models and results will be used not only to examine the effects of fire on structural steel members in buildings, but perhaps more importantly the extra stress and strain that structural joints experience as a result of weakening members that they connect.

Civil Engineering - At A Glance

Greetings readers.

I'd like to take this opportunity to share with you a little background on the civil engineering field as it pertains our everyday life.  Here is the link to Wikipedia's article regarding civil engineering.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_engineering  As a professor once put it to me, fundamentally speaking civil engineering is something you can see and touch as opposed to the fields of mechanical or electrical engineering for example.  Civil engineering actually covers a broad area of topics and is divided up into sub-fields which include structural, transportation, environmental, geotechnical and water resources engineering.

Structural engineering is my favorite sub-field and will be my focus as I get closer to finishing school.  Structural engineering involves the evaluation and design of loads, size, stress, deformation, etc. of structures and the building materials they are composed of.  Transportation engineering involves things such as design of highways, airport runways/terminals, railways and traffic analysis.  Geotechnical engineering has a strong emphasis on geology and studying the earth.  More specifically studying the soil properties and mechanics of a certain location.  Environmental and water resources engineering are somewhat interchangeable with each other as they involve similar.  Environmental engineering is vital to everyday life for all humans.  Clean water treatment, wastewater treatment, solid waste sites, hazardous waste recycling and site remediation are all products of environmental engineering.  Finally water resources engineering deals with design of water distribution networks in cities and research of water demands by the general public.

One thing that any civil engineer has in common with one another is a rich knowledge of mathematics and basic mechanics.  Civil engineers also have fundamental duties to enhancing the quality of life of the public as well as preserving the public's welfare and safety.  This is manifested in the code of ethics that civil engineers must follow.  All engineers have a code of ethics that they must abide by in their line of work and civil engineers are no different.  This code is put in place to ensure that work is done with integrity and the public's safety in mind along with making good moral decisions a benchmark.