Environmental and Water Resources group of the Philadelphia Section of ASCE

11/06/2023

The meeting will cover the planning, design and construction challenges of resilient projects particularly in waterfront situations. The presentation will summarize the greatest risks to resilience and Indigo River's planning and design approach to these projects. This will include case studies and....

10/19/2023

We are hosting a joint Tech Group virtual event. The topic is Resiliency! Hope to see everyone on the call.

The meeting will cover the planning, design and construction challenges of resilient projects particularly in waterfront situations. The presentation will summarize the greatest risks to resilience and Indigo River's planning and design approach to these projects. This will include case studies and....

03/23/2023

March 23 is the World Meteorological Day.
In 2023, it highlights the future of weather, climate, and water across generations.
Rapid scientific and technological advances have greatly improved the accuracy of weather forecasts and life-saving early warnings.
Our weather, climate and water cycle will be different in the future than in the past. Weather services and water resources engineers will help solving the associated challenges and seize the opportunities to make the World a better place.

03/17/2023

The 2023 ASCE Philadelphia Scholarship Program is now open and applications are due by Friday, March 31st at 11:59 PM ET! There are two distinct scholarships - the Section Student Scholarship and the Section Member Scholarship. The winners will be recognized as the Section's guests at our Annual Spring Social. Additional information is available at https://sections.asce.org/philadelphia. We encourage all eligible students to apply. Any questions can be sent to Scholarship Committee Chair, Dani Schroeder ([email protected]). Good luck!

Alternative Text: White background with blue ASCE Philadelphia section logo. Photo of several graduation caps with the following text: Scholarship Program. Applications Due Friday, March 31st at 11:59 PM ET. More Information: https://sections.asce.org/philadelphia/.

10/31/2022

On this day in engineering: Mount Rushmore National Memorial opens October 31, 1941.
DYK?
Park area 1,278.45 acres
Visitors 2,525,868 (2021)
Designated as a National Memorial - October 1, 1925
Each day carvers climbed 700 stairs to the top of the mountain
90% of the mountain was carved using dynamite
During the 14 years of construction, not one fatality occurred
Timeline:
1923. December 28 - South Dakota State Historian Doane Robinson suggests a sculpture in the Black Hills.
1925. March 3 and 5 - Federal Government and South Dakota authorize a carving in the Harney National Forest.
1927. August 10 - First ceremonial drilling takes place at Mount Rushmore after President Coolidge hands Borglum a set of drill bits.
1941. March 6 - Gutzon Borglum dies in Chicago.
1941. October 31 - Final drilling takes place under the direction of Lincoln Borglum, the son of Gutzon Borglum. Mount Rushmore National Memorial was declared a completed project.
Images:
3 Gutzon Borglum inspecting work on nose of Washington.
4 Lincoln figure under construction. The face of Abraham Lincoln under construction on Mount Rushmore in 1936 with Gutzon Borglum monitoring the work.
5 Gutzon Borglum observes two workers carving Jeffersons eye
6 A driller uses a jackhammer drill to honeycomb the granite while carving Mount Rushmore. This was one of the final stages in removing the excess rock during the carving process.
7 Inside a winch house. Winch houses were built on top of Mount Rushmore during the construction. Workers in Bosun's chairs attached to steel cables would be raised and lowered by the winches while they worked on the carving.
8 A blacksmith sharpens drill steel in a shop located at Mount Rushmore. A blacksmith would sharpen as many as 400 drill bits in one day.
Learn more:
Jenny Jones. A Symbol of Democracy: The Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Civil Engineering Magazine, Vol 81, Issue 2 (2/2011)
https://doi.org/10.1061/ciegag.0000547
Mount Rushmore. History & Culture. The National Park Service (2022) https://www.nps.gov/moru/learn/historyculture/index.htm
📷 LoC, NPS, Carol Highsmith. Public domain.

10/13/2022

October 13 is the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction
Since 1989, the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction celebrates the progress being made towards preventing and reducing disaster risk and losses of lives, health, and societal and environmental assets.
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 provides the UN member states with concrete actions to protect development gains from the risk of disaster.
It recognizes that the State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk, but that responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders like local government or the private sector.
In 2022, the International Day will focus on Target G of the Sendai Framework: “Substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to people by 2030.”
Learn more at https://www.un.org/en/observances/disaster-reduction-day

09/30/2022

September 30. in engineering history 1882. The first hydroelectric plant in the world begun supplying electricity customers in Appleton, WI. The plant had its own building along Vulcan Street, on the grounds of the Appleton Pulp Mill. The Fox River supplied water through a system of flumes, wooden penstocks, and head-gate controls to a wheel which powered a 110 V 12.5 kW Edison "K" type generator through gears and belts.
Search for more details on:
https://www.asce.org/
https://www.asme.org/
https://ethw.org/
Public domain image. An unknown author in an article by Louise P. Kellogg: The Electric Light System at Appleton in The Wisconsin Magazine of History. Band 6, Nr. 2, 1922, pages 190-191, JSTOR:4630421.