Current Trends in Engineering

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Current Trends in Engineering Design and
Evaluation of Environmentally Sustainable Flood
Damage Reduction Projects
Tonja Koob President, Gaea Engineering Consultants
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Or The Lorax and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers
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US Army Corps of Engineers Mission Statement

• Planning, designing, building and operating water
  resources and other civil works projects.
• Designing and managing the construction of
  military facilities for the Army and Air Force.
• Providing design and construction management
  support for other Defense and federal agencies.

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Civil Engineering

• Civil Engineering is the art of directing the
  great sources of power in Nature for the use and
  convenience of man. The most important object
  of Civil Engineering is to improve the means of
  production and of traffic in states, both for
  external and internal trade.
• Thomas Tredgold, 1828

• Civil engineers conceive, plan, design,
  construct and operate the facilities essential to
  modern life. They are problem-solvers, innovators
  and in the forefront of new technology.
• Civil engineering is a profession that works to
  improve the quality of life for all people.
  People remain at the center of all we do.
• American Society
• of Civil Engineering, 2002

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Mississippi River Ancient and Modern Courses
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Old River, Louisiana
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Congress Authorizes Old River Control Structure

• The distribution of flow and sediment in the
  Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers is now in
  desirable proportions and should be so
  maintained.
• The United States Congress, 1954

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Low Sill Structure 1957
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Old River Control Complex
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• We harnessed it, straightened it, regularized
  it, shackled it.
• USACE, Pre 1973
• The Corps of Engineers can make the
  Mississippi River go anywhere the Corps directs
  it to go.
• USACE, Post 1973

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The Lorax and the USACE

• Old River is the scene of a direct confrontation
  between the United States Government and the
  Mississippi River.
• Water Resource Research Institute,
• Louisiana State University
• 1980

• Old River Control is the keystone of the
  comprehensive flood-protection project for the
  lower Mississippi Valley.
• Old River Control
• promotional film
• Post 1973

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Low Sill Structure
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Auxiliary Structure 1986
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Evolution of the Old River Control Complex
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Old River Control Complex
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Civil Engineering and South Louisiana

• Civil Engineering is the art of directing the
  great sources of power in Nature for the use and
  convenience of man. The most important object
  of Civil Engineering is to improve the means of
  production and of traffic in states, both for
  external and internal trade.
• Thomas Tredgold, 1828

• Society required artifice to survive in a region
  where nature might reasonably have asked a few
  more eons to finish a work of creation that was
  incomplete.
• Albert Cowdrey, 1977

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• Because engineering works affect the public,
  much of what the engineer can and cannot do is
  specified by law. When a whole society is
  committed to an environmental ethic, it will
  codify these values into law.
• Engineering, Ethics, and the Environment, 1998

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Chief Unveils Environmental Operating Principles

• The principles foster unity of purpose on
  environmental issues, reflect a new tone and
  direction for dialogue on environmental matters,
  and ensure that employees consider conservation,
  environmental preservation and restoration in all
  activities.
• The Corps Environment, April 2002

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Environmental Operating Principles

• Strive to achieve environmental sustainability.
• Recognize the interdependence of life and the
  physical environment.

• 3. Seek balance and synergy among human
  development activities and natural systems by
  designing economic and environmental solutions
  that support and reinforce one another.

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Environmental Operating Principles

• 4. Continue to accept corporate responsibility
  and accountability under the law for activities
  and decisions under our control that impact human
  health and welfare and the continued viability of
  natural systems.

• 5. Seek ways and means to assess and mitigate
  cumulative impacts to the environment bring
  systems approaches to the full life cycle of our
  processes and work.

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Environmental Operating Principles

• 6. Build and share an integrated scientific,
  economic, and social knowledge base that supports
  a greater understanding of the environment and
  impacts of our work.

• 7. Respect the views of individuals and groups
  interested in Corps activities, listen to them
  actively, and learn from their perspective in the
  search to find innovative win-win solutions to
  the nations problems that also protect and
  enhance the environment.

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USACE News Releases

• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today increased
  the diversions of Mississippi River flows into
  the Atchafalaya Basin in response to Louisiana
  Gov. Mike Fosters request to improve water
  quality.
• May 9, 2002

• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has extended
  for 11 days the increased diversion of
  Mississippi River flows into the Atchafalaya
  Basin in response to another request from
  Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster to aid water quality.
• May 24, 2002

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USACE Thenand Now

• This nation has a large and powerful adversary.
  Our opponent could cause the United States to
  lose nearly all her seaborne commerce, to lose
  her standing as first among trading nations. We
  are fighting Mother Nature. Its a battle we
  have to fight day by day, year by year the
  health of our economy depends on victory.
• USACE Old River Control Structure Film
• Post 1963

• Environmental sustainability can only be
  achieved by the combined efforts of federal
  agencies, state and local governments, and the
  private sector, each doing their part, back by
  the citizens throughout the world.
• Lt. General Robert B. Flowers,
• 50th Chief of the USACE
• March 26, 2002

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US Army Corps of Engineers Mission Statement

• Planning, designing, building and operating water
  resources and other civil works projects
  (Navigation, Flood Control, Environmental
  Protection, Disaster Response, etc).
• Designing and managing the construction of
  military facilities for the Army and Air Force.
• Providing design and construction management
  support for other Defense and federal agencies.

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