From do-gooders to good-for-nothings, 50 people, places, and events that shaped, shocked, or otherwise rocked our world over the past year.

Source: PUBLIC WORKS MAGAZINE
Publication date: 2006-11-01

By A. Rozgus, S. Johnston, V. Sicaras, J. Spinner, and A. Trent

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Katie Curry, Franklin, Ind.

Curry has taken on an environmental cause that's not necessarily new. What's unique about her efforts to recycle is that she's 9 years old.

Unlike others her age, she doesn't just come home from school, have a snack, and then do her homework. In addition to the typical things a third-grader does, she also writes grants to help pay for community-improvement projects like the recycled-plastic benches that grace the streets of her hometown.

Required to complete a project in the “public eye” in order to receive a state grant, Curry had the usual choices. She could simply toss the plastic bottles she collected, recycle them—or she could take it to the next level.

With support from her parents and grandmother, help collecting 800 pounds of plastic bottles from her schoolmates and neighbors, and a little media attention, Curry launched a full-scale attack on the plastic garbage generated by residents of her home-town. And these efforts paid off. She was awarded a $3200 grant from the Indiana Office of Energy and Defense Development; the Franklin Beautification Committee matched that amount so the town could buy 12 recycled-plastic benches.

Katie Curry's efforts to encourage others to recycle have made her a local hero. Plus, she gets to sit on her own hard-earned benches when she needs to take a break from bicycling around town with family. Photo: Mary Ann Carter/Black Star

As a two-year member of the Beautification Committee, Curry has more goals for her town: trash containers and cigarette urns made from recycled aluminum, for which she plans to apply for another grant nex t year. It will be her 20th such project.

While everyone has different reasons for recycling, Curry's are simple. “I think only about 50% of kids understand the need to recycle,” she says. Her efforts have helped raise awareness in her school about the importance of environmental issues.

But increasing that level of awareness beyond her classmates is the real goal. Curry hopes that “the world won't be a huge landfill” at some point, so she hammers home one point: People of all ages can and should recycle.

Take it from a 9-year-old. We really can make a difference in our communities. <i>— Amara Rozgus</i>

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Rich Giani, water quality manager, Washington, D.C. Water and Sewer Authority (DC WASA)

Sometimes a “fix” creates more problems. Responding to a federal mandate, in 2001 DC WASA switched from a free-chlorine disinfectant to adding chloramines to purify its drinking water. The modification caused a jump in lead levels—which, in turn, caused a jump in head-scratching among water managers.

“Available research could not identify a cause or solution,” says Giani. “Literature indicated that lead levels should have been decreasing or, at a minimum, remaining stable under water-quality conditions provided to the distribution system.”

Springing into action, Giani formed a research team that included U.S. Environmental Protection Agency representatives, University of Washington experts, and consultants from Omaha, Neb.-based HDR Inc. and Millburn, N.J.-based Hatch Mott Mac-Donald. The crew engineered the concept of “lead profiling”: collecting sequential samples from a home tap to the main after a six-hour stagnation period, then testing the samples to measure dissolved-lead and particulate concentration. Applying this research, DC WASA brought lead concentrations back down below EPA action levels and calmed panicked citizens.

Rich Giani (seated, second from left), water-quality manager at Washington, D.C.'s Water and Sewer Authority, headed a research team that revealed how chloramines affect the leaching of lead into drinking water. Photo: DC WASA

Thanks to Giani, drinking-water leaders across the country can now better understand how changing treatment chemicals can impact corrosion rates and the release of metals into drinking water supplies. Giani, in turn, learned from the process.

“Managing DC WASA's technical team and providing support on the research level, although extremely trying at times, was priceless,” he says. “To be part of a group of experts attempting to solve a complex problem during a public crisis provides you with respect for drinking water programs.”

<i>— Jenni Spinner</i>

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Kathleen Holst, president, Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association (IRTBA)

Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association president Kathleen Holst is more concerned about road-related issues than she is about her status as the association's first female leader. Photo: IRTBA

Holst grabbed IRTBA's reins in December 2005—the first woman in the association's history to do so. She'd already served as president of the American Traffic Safety Services Association, founded Alternate Construction Controls Inc., and accepted her current position as vice president of NES Rentals' Traffic Safety Midwest division after it bought her company. Although she's been asked several times what it's like to be a woman leading a male-dominated field, she doesn't think her gender is much of an issue.

“Being a woman makes no difference to me, but to others it makes a lot of difference,” she says. Several years ago, when asked what the future would hold for women, Holst said, “I hope that by the time my daughters have the opportunity to lead, no one will notice that a woman is taking on a ‘man's role.' We're not there yet.”

In the meantime, Holst has more daunting challenges.

“Funding needs are at an all-time high, congestion mitigation is an unfunded focus, and the safety of the motoring public and our workers has finally received prominent attention,” she says. Compared to these realities, Holst says, gender matters little.

“I was asked to speak to a group of businesswomen to describe the rocks in the road along the way, and I honestly had to tell them there aren't any rocks—just everyday challenges that we have to face head on,” she says. “If we looked at those issues as ‘rocks,' entrepreneurs would become extinct. We'd spend all our time worrying about what's to come and very little time planning. If a rock falls in your path, just jump over it and keeping running forward.”

<i>— Jenni Spinner</i>

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Bruce Logan, Kappe Professor of environmental engineering, Pennsylvania State University

Bruce Logan is using bacteria in wastewater to create electricity. Photo: Shaoan Cheng

Renewable and clean forms of energy are global necessities. So is adequate waste-water sanitation. Logan is addressing both of these needs.

His work involves using microbial fuel cells to produce electricity or hydrogen from wastewater—while also cleaning the water. This research provides an environmentally friendly method for wastewater treatment based on using bacteria to harvest energy from organic matter.

Logan began microbial fuel cell research in 2002. He'd been exploring methods of hydrogen gas production, but yields were low and too little of the substrate remained unused for hydrogen production by bacteria. So when he heard about the concept of a microbial fuel cell—which could use all the remaining organic matter to produce more hydrogen—he immediately realized “this was a technology that could be transformed from what was then a laboratory curiosity to a real treatment process.”

Logan and his team discovered that by using microbial fuel cells to clean water, they also could generate electricity from ordinary domestic wastewater, animal wastewater, and any biodegradable material. This finding may provide a new method that offsets waste-water treatment plant operating costs, making advanced treatment more affordable for both developing and industrialized nations.

“Five percent of the electricity used in this country is for the water infrastructure,” says Logan. “We can make this sustainable by recovering energy already in the wastewater.” Logan predicts that microbial fuel cells will lead to a complete redesign of wastewater treatment plants, enabling them to also act as energy-producing systems. But first, Logan and his researchers must produce large-scale results.

“Creating this technology could benefit people around the world in obtaining efficient wastewater treatment and protecting human health,” says Logan.

<i>— Victoria K. Sicaras</i>

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Raymond Seed, PhD, professor of civil engineering, University of California, Berkeley; team leader, Independent Levee Investigation Team

Raymond Seed worked without pay to discover why New Orleans's flood control system failed during Hurricane Katrina. Photo: Jenni Spinner

During Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans's levee and flood control system crumbled. More than 1100 people died, hundreds of thousands were displaced as their homes were destroyed, and the city and its people lost millions of dollars to damage and lost tourism.

So what caused the world's most costly failure of an engineered system?

Seed uncovered the unsavory answer: It wasn't just the hurricane. The local and federal governments could have used better materials to build the levees. Instead, safety was trumped by cost-cutting.

“We kept trading risk against efficiency, and we're telling people we're protecting them,” says Seed. “Build it right, or don't build it at all.”

Seed led a National Science Foundation-sponsored team of 38 engineers and investigators as they examined why New Orleans's levees and flood protection system failed. They worked for free because, Seed says, it was the right thing to do.

The Independent Levee Investigation Team presented its findings in May, and Seed pulled no punches. In addition to cost-cutting, Seed also cited poor design and construction, infighting among local agencies that prevented work from being done, stingy federal funding that delayed projects, and lots of human errors as reasons for the levee failures. The bottom line: Most of the levees would have withstood the storm if they'd been built properly.

To avert other catastrophes, the team recommended changes from the White House and Congress to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers all the way down to the local levee district level. In his report, Seed stated that short-term savings will result in massively larger losses when disaster strikes.

“In the end, we will get no more than what we pay for, and we get that only if we are careful and clever,” Seed says.

<i>— Victoria K. Sicaras</i>

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Kris Riemann, director of public works, Gulfport, Miss.

At 35, Kris Riemann is the youngest public works director Gulfport, Miss., has had. Thanks to careful planning, the city was the first to restore services after Hurricane Katrina. Photo: Pat Sullivan

Like every other city trapped in Hurricane Katrina's path, Gulfport was ravaged. The city's sewer lift stations—all down. Every street light—washed away. All major roads—buried in an avalanche of debris. The entire southern part of the city—completely wiped out.

What separated Gulfport from other municipalities during the disaster was its rapid revival. Battling tropical-storm-force winds, 30 of the public works department's 150-person staff reported to work the day Katrina hit; 90 were on the scene by day three. Because they labored around the clock in the storm's immediate aftermath, streets were cleared and water pressure restored within a week; sewer service and traffic systems were running in four weeks.

At the front lines of this remarkable restoration stood Riemann. He endured exhausting work days for nearly two weeks straight, stealing sleep when he could on his conference table. However, he remains humble about his heroic contribution, deflecting praise to his diligent crew.

“In terms of public works'recovery, our staff is due 100% of the credit for that success,” he says. “Their efforts of working 17-hour days, washing each other's clothes, making sandwiches, doing tasks that they normally wouldn't do, willingly, made all the difference. We would not stop until the roads were cleared, water was on, sewers were flowing, and traffic signals were running.”

Even though he's had time to breathe, Riemann isn't resting. His goal: to make sure citizens get the best possible service in times of calm as well as crisis.

“Every day, we should strive to help someone else,” he says. “We are in the perfect position to help thousands of people and touch their lives every day.”

<i>— Jenni Spinner</i>

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Diane Linderman, director, Urban Infrastructure & Development Services, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc.

Diane Linderman asked Congress to allocate homeland security funds directly to public works as well as police and fire agencies. Photo: APWA

Technology's great—when it works. When it doesn't—like when a natural disaster destroys cell phone towers and power lines—people slip each other handwritten notes and e-mail back and forth on wireless devices like BlackBerries. (This actually happened during Hurricane Katrina.)

Even if communication infrastructure isn't destroyed, fire, police, and public works personnel can't talk to each other during disasters because they're literally on different wavelengths: Many public safety departments use digital equipment, while public works uses older analog technology.

Resolving this breakdown in communications has become Linderman's mission, spawned by hurricane cleanups she oversaw as former public works director for the city of Richmond, Va. First, working with the leaders of two neighboring counties, she developed policy and operational disaster-response protocol that maintains the autonomy of each municipality while outlining their specific roles. Then, the city spent $20 million to integrate the communication infrastructure of first responders.

This year, as the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, loomed, Linderman took her cause to the federal level. In February, she asked the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Science, and Technology to give radio communications grants specifically to public works. Department of Homeland Security grants don't always trickle down to cities and, when they do, it's never enough to support a department-wide technological upgrade.

“The Federal Emergency Management Agency is working hard to improve coordination between all levels of government, but they're not where they'd like to be five years after Sept. 11,” says Linderman. “We need to get the right people together at the same table. And it can be done.”

<i>— Stephanie Johnston</i>

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Joe Haworth, information officer and division engineer, Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, Calif.

Haworth has spent a career making customers care about public infrastructure.

In 1971, as project engineer for the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, Haworth felt the agency's work was too valuable to go unnoticed simply because his colleagues had neither the time nor the inclination to explain their contribution to public health. So he asked his boss if he could formalize the agency's public-outreach efforts into an information office.

He started by getting speaking invitations at schools and chambers of commerce, where he passed out brochures on how waste-water is treated and where solid waste goes. He invited residents to join advisory committees. He wrote articles, books, and brochures for local and national associations. He volunteered his materials and services to other agencies. He taught public speaking to masters candidates at Loyola Marymount University's environmental-engineering program.

In the 1980s, he got a coalition of public agencies and private corporations to cast aside their ownership issues and form a foundation (www.thinkearth.org) that targets students. He partnered with local agencies on another program in which high school students run a “baby sewage plant” for a week. “Kids love the ‘yuck factor' of sanitary sewer systems,” says Haworth. “By the end of these courses, half want to work for you, and some even say they want to be sanitation engineers.”

Joe Haworth (middle) urges public agencies to partner with each other to educate their customers about what they do. “Much of the public wants to help; they just need to be told what to do.” Photo: LACSD

In 1997, he joined a group of local newspapers in developing an educational supplement that reaches 4 million customers every other month, including a large Spanish-speaking population.

By the time Haworth retired in July, his eight-member office was spending $1 million a year on communicating with the agency's 5 million customers.

“If you're enthusiastic and persistent, you'll convince people that infrastructure is a worthy community activity,” says Haworth.

<i>— Stephanie Johnston</i>

The former chief executive of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority resigned Aug. 15 after structural flaws in Boston's Big Dig highway project led to the death of a driver.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research program manager approved a $25,000 grant to the American Film Institute to train scientists to write screenplays, hoping to improve the image of engineers and scientists as portrayed in movies. The Air Force also is providing $100,000 annually to boost interest in the sciences.

The Bush administration's $2.7 trillion fiscal year 2007 budget cuts funding for transportation programs, especially for rural areas. Overall, the budget is 4% less than fiscal year 2006, with the largest cuts coming from clean-water projects.

As director of the center of natural resource economics and policy at the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, he has researched and worked to educate the public on coastal and wetland conservation. He received the 2006 Coastal Stewardship Award from the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana; the Louisiana Wildlife Federation also recognized him last year.

Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter

As president/CEO of Def Jam Records, he teamed with the United Nations and MTV to draw attention to the worldwide water crisis during his international concert tour. The rapper also plans to build 1000 play pumps—rudimentary merry-go-rounds that pump water from wells into storage tanks as they spin—in Africa.

City officials were prosecuted for awarding jobs to private truck owners who were either political supporters or had ties to city employees. Some truck owners allegedly paid bribes to get into the program. The Hired Truck Scandal calls into question the procedures cities use to fill jobs and award contracts.

The largest potable ultrafiltration plant in the Western Hemisphere and the second largest in the world, it was named Project of the Year in the 2006 Global Water Awards. Minneapolis Water Works contracted Black & Veatch to design and construct the $65 million facility.

The group—led by Reps. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), Randy Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.), Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), and Mary Bono (R-Calif.)—builds support for national e-waste reduction legislation. So far, only Washington, Maine, California, and Maryland have e-waste laws.

This 9-year-old from Franklin, Ind., started a program to create new benches made of recycled material. She worked to get a $3200 grant from the Indiana Office of Energy and Defense Development, and organized the placement of recycling bins around the town where she collected bottles that were used to make the benches.

U.S. Representative (D-Ore.) who granted funding for the West Eugene Wetlands Education Center, which will be the first LEED-certified building in Eugene.

Program director of vehicle engineering for the U.S. Postal Service, whose department researches and uses biodiesel fuel to significantly reduce petroleum usage in postal vehicles.

Andres Duany

His Miami-based architectural firm Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. introduced SmartCode, a unified land development code; several hurricane-stricken municipalities have adopted it to promote sustainable redevelopment.

John Duncan Jr.

The U.S. Representative (R-Tenn.) introduced legislation that would create the Water Trust Fund, which would provide $7.5 billion from 2006 to 2010 to fund research and improvements at wastewater plants nationwide.

Computer manufacturers CTL, Dell, and HP are making products that meet the new EPEAT green computer standard. The computers have reduced levels of cadmium, lead, and mercury and are more energy-efficient and easy to upgrade and recycle.

As associate professor of civil engineering at the University of New Mexico, she has created nine new courses, including Women Engineering the Future for female freshmen.

The water quality division manager for the Washington, D.C., Water and Sewer Authority pioneered the concept of lead profiling to determine the extent and magnitude of lead released from service lines in piping and plumbing systems, raising awareness of the challenges facing drinking water systems.

Al Gore

His documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” examines causes of, and possible solutions to, global warming. The film drew praise from environmentalists, boos from critics, and millions at the box office.

Named one of the New Faces of Engineering in 2006, she led extensive hurricane research projects with the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center. Her work is considered the foundation for most areas of hurricane evacuation research.

Honored in February with a 2006 ASCE Outstanding Projects and Leaders Award, he served in the U.S. Army for 35 years and was the chief of engineers and commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His volunteer work includes improving engineering expertise in Iraq and Afghanistan and strengthening UNESCO engineering programs.

As founder of the information office of the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, Calif., he initiated extensive outreach to customers in Los Angeles and, through the Think Earth environmental education program, nationwide. He also helped develop newspaper supplements to educate Spanish-speaking customers about public works.

As director of fleet operations with E.A. Sween Co., Eden Prairie, Minn., he developed a vintage chart that provides a baseline for understanding how additions and changes to fleet operations will create changes throughout the next nine years.

Recently named 2006–2007 president of the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association, she's the first woman to lead the 67-year-old organization.

The Federal Highway Administration presented this Edwards and Kelcey senior technical specialist with the 2006 Utility Outstanding Achievement Award for work on the New Jersey Route 21 reconstruction project ($100 million). He developed a technique called test excavation that removed sections of pavement and ground where utilities were to be installed prior to installation, allowing the pipe layout to be planned before it was too late, which minimized project delays.

The Arkansas governor—sometimes called the highway governor—began the Pave the Way campaign in 1999 to completely rehabilitate the state's crumbling highways. The state is now completing the largest highway project its history.

Working with local agencies and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, volunteers from across the country helped clean up the messes left by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in late 2005. From engineering services to general aid and assistance, these citizens worked tirelessly to put the Gulf Region back on track.

Interstate Highway System

Happy 50th birthday! More than 46,000 miles of highway have been laid since President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act on June 29, 1956.

The California DOT hydraulic engineer introduced the use of remote-controlled surveillance cameras to assess conditions of culverts, enhancing the agency's inventory process and improving motorist safety.

District manager of the Baca Grande (Colo.) Water and Sanitation District and a leader in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified building movement. He incorporated underground water storage tanks, a lift station with a living roof, and a sequence batch reactor sewer plant that uses ultraviolet and ozone treatment into both new construction and redesigned systems.

One of the nation's foremost researchers in high-temperature materials, she became the director of Smith College's Picker Engineering Program in July 2005. Since then, the school has partnered with Princeton University to begin an engineering exchange program to place men and women in different learning environments and prepare them for teamwork in their careers. Smith College is the nation's first women's college to have an engineering program, which graduated its first class in 2004. In 2005, the program was accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.

First wastewater treatment plant to be certified in all three of these standards: ISO 14001 environmental management system standard, Occupational Health and Safety Assessment System 18001 health and safety standard, and National Biosolids Partnership environmental management system standard. It also won an award for its Environmental Health and Safety Management System, and the EPA's 2006 Operations and Maintenance Excellence Award.

The U.S. Representative (R-Ill.) worked on an amendment to prohibit planning and construction funds for building the pork barrel Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska, which was approved by the House Appropriations Committee in June. As a member of the Appropriations Committee and a former member of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, he has worked to make major infrastructure improvements in our transportation systems.

The Leadership Initiatives for Teaching and Technology program encourages engineering firms, the Massachusetts legislature, and governor's office to introduce Boston secondary school students to careers in engineering. Partnered with engineering firm CDM to create summer externship programs that allow teachers and students to work alongside experienced engineers.

As APWA director-at-large (public works leadership and management), she was a first responder to testify before Congress about the State of Interoperable Communications: Perspectives from the Field. Now director of urban infrastructure and development services for Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, she advocates change in transportation policy at the local and state levels.

The Pennsylvania State University environmental engineering professor developed an environmentally friendly method of producing energy while cleaning wastewater.

Executive director of the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio, which won a 2006 Excellence Award (Silver–Marketing Award) from the Solid Waste Association of North America. This summer, he initiated the Partnership for Industrial Ecology in Central Ohio, which seeks cost-effective ways of reducing municipal and industrial waste through sustainability programs. He hopes his initiative will provide a model for implementing industrial ecology through public-private collaboration.

The Orange County (Fla.) Water Reclamation Division plant manager worked with the Boy Scouts to increase awareness of water and wastewater infrastructure, watershed-based approach to pollution control, beneficial use of biosolids, and prevention of oil and fat-oil-grease blockages to control sewer system overflows, winning a number of regional and national awards.

This APWA board member (transportation) and chief administrative officer for the Port of Seattle met with Congressional staff to discuss public works needs, infrastructure issues, security challenges, global competition, and port efficiency. He proposes road and railway improvements to be the main priority. He also won the National Management Association's Silver Knight of Leadership award for excellence in leadership in 2005.

The Wisconsin landfill is supplying Ocean Spray's Wisconsin Rapids plant with energy through a mile-long pipeline that carries methane gas from the landfill to the plant's steam boilers. This reduces greenhouse emissions from the landfill by 7000 tons a year, and cuts Ocean Spray's annual fuel costs by 25%.

Nominated as undersecretary for FEMA at the Department of Homeland Security. He has been acting director of the agency since September 2005.

Leader of the Sowing Green Collaborative, which proposes green reconstruction (energy efficiency, storm-resistant design, etc.) of Mississippi's Gulf Coast to decrease long-term reconstruction costs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Tim Pawlenty

The Minnesota governor signed legislation requiring 2% of diesel fuel to contain biodiesel, making his state the first to mandate the sale of biodiesel. With three biodiesel plants producing 63 million gallons a year, the state is the nation's leading producer.

This recently named Secretary of Transportation has spent more than 20 years crafting solutions to our nation's toughest transportation challenges. Most recently Federal Highway Administration administrator, she found new ways to invest in road and bridge construction, and advocated for public-private partnerships and new technologies.

As state equipment manager with the Virginia DOT, he developed the VDOT TRUCKS (Training Rewards Us with Competencies, Knowledge, and Skills) program. In 10 years, the program increased the number of ASCE-certified VDOT technicians from 300 to 3000. Potter received the 2006 Larry Goill Award from the National Association of Fleet Administrators Inc.

Owned and operated by the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, the $35 million facility was designed to extract and divert recyclables from the 4000 tons of garbage it processes every day. It has significantly reduced the amount of material going to the area's nearly filled landfills since it opened in July 2005. Received a Solid Waste Association of North America 2006 Excellence Award (Gold–Transfer Station Award).

Public works director of Gulfport, Miss. His fast work made Gulfport the first city in the region to restore city services after Hurricane Katrina.

Its Victory Over Vandalism program won the Graffiti Hurts National Award in December. In just one year, the outreach and enforcement program reduced the city's vandalism costs from $50,000 to $2500.

A professor of civil and environmental engineering at University of California, Berkeley, he was team leader of the Independent Levee Investigation Team (sponsored by the National Science Foundation), which studied the failure of New Orleans's flood protection system during Hurricane Katrina.

An associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia, he is a 2006 EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award recipient. He created a process for converting natural glycerin into propylene glycol that can be used to make antifreeze. The propylene glycol may eventually replace a toxic chemical currently used in antifreeze.

This U.S. Senator (R-Mo.) secured $1.5 million in federal funding for a biodiesel engine testing program through the Energy and Water Appropriations bill. He also secured more than $150 million for energy development, flood control, environmental restoration, navigation improvements, and water transportation modernization projects in Missouri.

The son of a local politician, he was fired from the Suffolk County (N.Y.) Water Authority for fouling up routine drinking water tests, costing the agency $100,000 in overtime, bottled water, ice, and other costs. His mistake prompted cities to closely question hiring procedures for city positions.