Grant’s Blog

The twenty-ninth anniversary of Earth Day recently passed us by. Hereabouts it didn’t get much attention. I’m a bit conflicted about that.

The good news is we’ve institutionalized environmental protection. Most everybody takes some action most everyday to minimize their global impact. One example, the routine daily recycling of cans and paper waste.

Given the increased awareness in environmental protection, it’s understandable that Americans have lost the need to hold rallies to show their love for Planet Earth. Leaving things to the “experts” and subscribing to conventional wisdom is, however, dangerous.

Example: Until last year, a former Greenpeace member, Russell George, presided over Planktos, a company that sought to reduce global warming. The idea was to fertilize deep, offshore ocean waters with iron dust in order to stimulate plankton growth in oceanic deserts. Doing so would have removed huge quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The CO2 reduction was to be measured and sold to individuals and businesses as carbon credits.

I was excited with the idea. I had long thought that the dispersal of wastewater sludge in deep ocean waters could be made into an environmentally beneficial practice and was looking forward to the day when the true environmental impacts could be analyzed.

Unfortunately, before Planktos’ work began, the company was shut down by “environmentalists” who were apoplectic over the idea of humankind manipulating the environment. (Note to pseudo-environmentalists: have you ever visited a Midwestern farm? Talk about a beneficial re-engineering of the environment!) Some expressed the concern that Planktos’ efforts could be so successful as to eliminate the need for traditional end-of-stack air pollution controls. (But, alas, regulators can be secure in their jobs, it didn’t happen.)

Meanwhile, we quietly do our sewage-to-clean-water work.

Consider this, wastewater treatment plant personnel prevent the equivalent of one brick per day from entering their discharge stream for every ppm of suspended solids removed from a 1 MGD flow. Fish may not vote, but your good works do not go unnoticed.

Thanks for the good work.

And, thanks for reading.

Grant

Some engineers are concerned that their work is seen as a “commodity” and not the “professional service” that they wish it to be. To further professionalize engineers, an Engineering News Record contributor recently presented an argument for expanding the curricula at engineering schools across the country to include training in public policy, leadership, and other non-technical skills. The discussion is ongoing at ENR’s website.

My opinion: this is ridiculous.

We need engineers to be technicians. When somebody has a technical problem that needs fixing, we need engineers to make things right. We need engineers to accept that their best work, like that of wastewater professionals, goes unnoticed by most everyone. To those engineers who “get it..” To those who effectively make things work better… To you, I say THANKS. 

In our world of wastewater treatment, the last thing we need is to promote engineering self-aggrandizement. We need engineers to spend less time gold-bricking and more time problem-solving. As wastewater professionals, we need capable technical support so that we can best do our job of making clean water. We don’t need “professionals” wasting money to make utilitarian waste conveyance and treatment facilities into award-winning pieces of art.

Not that I object to art. I’m $100,000 in debt for my daughter’s art school education. Come to think of it, if any of you would employ her to create artwork for your municipal wastewater facilities, I could see a way to change my attitude.

Seriously, any engineer who takes offense to the notion that his job is to provide clients with the most practical, lowest cost way to get the job done should be collecting unemployment. It is absurd to allow engineers to express their “professionalism” at the public’s expense. Who among us would pay extra to have our furnace gold plated?  

Engineers needing public accolade are in need of job training, alright. They are in the wrong line of work and need a new career.

Thanks for reading.

Grant