On Getting Foreign Jobs: Does Uncle Sam Help or Hinder
With his broad overview of the Washington scene, CIVIL ENGINEERING's Gene Halmos sought to get a reading on whether the U.S. government helps or hinders this country's...
The Greening of the Desert: What Cost to Farmers�
The influence of irrigation schemes on the people who work them is a combination of beneficial effects (provision of water, food and opportunity for economic advancement) and undesirable...
Giant Irrigation Projects: What Effect on Rural Development
The success of large-scale irrigation/agriculture projects in the developing world is dependent on good engineering, good management and good planning. The benefits of the first two are...
Citizen Participation for Successful Village Water Supply
In developing nations, two keys to the success of village water supply projects are citizen planning and the use of the appropriate technology. The two are related. Involvement of citizens...
Sanitary Sewers for Developing Countries
To combat disease, we try to ensure water supply purity. Water is only one of many methods of disease transmission, however, and its purity does not alone eliminate the spread of disease....
Treating Waste Streams: New Challenge to the Water-Treatment Industry
Increasingly, state and federal water pollution control agencies have been becoming more strict about pollution from drinking water treatment plants. Specifically, most water treatment...
Reinforced Concrete Research Council: Why So Successful�
At 30 years old the first-formed of ASCE's 14 research councils, the Reinforced Concrete Research Council is also one of the most successful. Some 40 RCRC research projects...
Cofferdams�Economical Flood Protection
Houston Lighting and Power Co. Sam Bertron Generating Station, located on the Houston Ship Channel, had suffered a drop in elevation of 7.5 ft since its construction in 1954. At such a...
Dredge-and-Fill Saves $2 Million at Steel Mill Built in Swamp
The Georgetown Texas Steel Corp., in late 1973, accepted the challenge of developing a previously cleared cypress swamp on the east side of the Neches River across from Beaumont, Texas....
Reliability and Limit States Approaches to Design
Increasingly, designers of structures and other civil engineering projects will be designing in these ways. What is the reliability approach? It is based in part on the fact that the magnitude...
Chevrolet Raises the Roof
Chevrolet's Gear and Axle plants in Detroit needed more space so a decision to renovate the 60-yr old structures rather than relocate the operation was made. New roof structures...
Prefab Structural Components Solve Expansion Problem
Another story was added onto an existing low-rise building, where soil strength was so low that the new floor had to be built by sinking new columns down to a sounder stratum, placing...
Reservoir Outlet Extended Above Silt to Prevent Clogging
Accumulation of silt in an on-stream water storage reservoir almost completely buried the concrete tower originally provided as an outlet intake shaft for releasing stored water through...
Public Affairs Primer
Many civil engineers don't bother getting involved in public affairs. And they are poorer for it�� poor not necessarily in monetary rewards, but in the satisfaction that comes...
High Voltage Transmission Lines: Pros and Cons
This article, written in response to a CE Engineering News item, puts into perspective some of the pros and cons of high voltage transmission lines (500 and 765-kV lines). Specific problems...
Alternative Sewage Systems�Reliable, Cost-Effective
The increasing need to provide adequate sewage disposal systems to meet housing needs of the future should include the evaluation and acceptance of alternative sewage disposal methods....
Personnel Management of Engineering Organizations
Which personnel management approaches are most successful, and why? We surveyed ASCE's Sections and Branches in search of answers. And reviewed the 120 or so nominations in...
Corps Developing Wildlife Habitat to Solve Disposal Problems
The large volume of sediments dredged each year by the Corps of Engineers from navigable waterways can be considered a resource instead of a waste product, and used as a substrate for...
Weather Modification Could Solve Some Water Resource Problems
On July 12, 1978 the Weather Modification Advisory Board submitted its final report to the Secretary of Commerce. The report proposes a national program for weather resources management,...
Aerated-Pile Composting: A Promising New Alternative for Sewage Sludge Disposal
In the past several years, traditional methods of sludge disposal such as incineration and ocean dumping have come under fire from environmental groups and the EPA. This has sparked a...
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