GAO Finds Massive Failure of Wastewater Treatment Plants
A year-long study by the General Accounting Office of 242 wastewater treatment plants in 10 states concluded that discharge permit violations are the norm, not the exception. The failures,...
Barrier Islands: Should Engineers Interfere with Nature�
The pros and cons of barrier island development and protection are explored. Most coastal professionals think that pristine barrier islands probably ought not to be developed except under...
The Deep-Shaft Process: Bright Future for Treating High-Strength Wastewaters
A Deep-Shaft wastewater treatment process may reduce by 10 to 30 percent the power requirements and land area needed for a plant. The technique is most attractive for treating high-BOD...
Tampa's Hookers Point AWT Plant Working Well
The Tampa, Florida advanced wastewater treatment plant is designed to remove a high degree of BOD suspended solids, nitrogen and phosphorous. Presently, the state has exempted the plant...
Rehab or Replace? Foundation Testing Provides the Answer
A $15 million, multidisciplinary testing program was undertaken to determine the least expensive methods of rehabilitating Locks and Dam No. 26 on the Mississippi River. The Problems were...
Wicks, Fabrics and Sawdust Overcome Thick Mud
A new Dumbarton bridge is replacing the original which was built in 1927 to cross San Francisco Bay at its southern end. The bridge approaches are constructed on top of salt ponds, with...
Can Clay Liners Prevent Migration of Toxic Leachate
According to recent research, low permeability clay barriers, used by landfill operators to contain hazardous wastes, can be rendered highly permeable by certain aggressive chemicals including...
Engineers Assess Aquaculture Systems for Wastewater Treatment
The status of aquaculture technologies for wastewater treatment are explored, and an engineering assessment is made of the feasibility for their routine use in municipal wastewater treatment....
Geotechnical Research Needs
A National Science Foundation-ASCE workshop on research needs looked at, among other subfields, geotechnical engineering. The study identified a number of research needs�based on society's...
The Future of Nuclear Power: A Global View
At ASCE's International Convention in New York City this past May, there was some lively discussion about nuclear waste disposal, the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, the...
If Your City's Well Water Has Chemical Pollutants, Then What�
Synthetic organic chemicals, especially certain solvents, are showing up in groundwater all over the U.S. and in many other industrial countries as well. These substances, some of which...
EPA Moving to control Industrial Toxic Pollutants with New NPDES Permits
To date, the main thrust of the nation's water pollution control program has been to abate traditional pollutants (biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, and heavy...
Four Options for Hazardous Waste Disposal
Landfills, land treatment, mine storage, and deep well injection are four options examined as solutions to the hazardous waste disposal problem. Statistics indicate approximately 40 million...
New Uses For Soil-Cement
Since 1961, the use of soil-cement in energy and water resource projects has increased from 51,000 yd� to over 9,100,000 yd�. Its primary applications are erosion protection and seepage...
Synthetic Fabrics for Reinforced Embankments
Non-woven permeable synthetic fabrics have been used in engineering applications for the last ten years. Considerable research has been conducted throughout the world since the first geotechnical...
EPA's I/A Program Speeds Use of New Wastewater Treatment Methods
Because Congress felt there wasn't enough cost- and energy-saving innovations taking place in the environmental field, it launched the innovative and alternative technologies...
Major Changes Ahead in the Nation's Water Cleanup Program
The federal budget squeeze is about to bring some sweeping changes in the nation's water clean-up program. The federal construction grants program will very likely be phased...
Stopping Water with Chemical Grout
New chemical grouts are now available to repair sewer leaks, control groundwater movement, and stabilize incompetent soils. Some of these grouts came into being only after the American...
Drilled Piers and Caissons
Drilled piers, also called drilled caissons, drilled shafts, bored piles, and cast-in-situ piles, have recently undergone a period of growth in their use as foundation bearing elements,...
Limit Equilibrium, Plasticity and General Stress-Strain in Geotechnical Engineering
Papers and discussions from the workshop on limit equilibrium, plasticity, and generalized stress-strain in geotechnical engineering are presented. The papers address aspects of the problems...
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