Day 64 Culvert Lining Project Today was somewhat of a continuation of the issues that started yesterday with our culvert project. Tomorrow I am meeting with the contractor and giving him the detailed structural design that we received today from our consultant. The contractor will have to determine if the work shown was what he…
Tag: water
A Day in the Life of a Civil Engineer – Day 16
Day 16 Back to work after a weekend of working on a presentation I'm giving in September at the Illinois Association of Highway Engineers conference in Normal, Ill. I'm really looking forward to the event, and if anyone reading this is going make sure to say hi at the conference! Development Meeting So today was…
Setting Sustainable Water Rates
Raising water or sewer rates is never a popular move, and in this economy many have tried to avoid it as if they are fleeing from a zombie apocalypse. But for many utilities expenditures are exceeding revenues, and there's sometimes little choice other than a rate increase. You can only cut so much from a…
Bryan’s Consumer Confidence Report on Stage at Gov 2.0 Expo
Each year, water utilities all over the U.S. have to prepare and distribute Consumer Confidence Reports (CCR) to their customers. Usually these documents are sent out as two or three page sheets of tiny text filled with standard, required language reporting on water sources and chemicals found in drinking water. My guess is most Americans…
Selling off Assets: A Road to Failure?
Today I read an article on Reuters indicating voters are increasingly supportive of government leasing infrastructure assets. I cannot imagine how anyone who truly understands infrastructure and government can come away with a blanket statement supporting privatization of government assets. From reading the story, I can only think that these voters are making this decision…
Public Works Industry Starting to Blog
Over the last few years, I have been on the lookout for blogs and other social media related to the public works industry. Up until lately that trough has been a little dry, but fortunately that seems to finally be changing. As I was working on a presentation I am giving in March in Springfield,…
Stimulus Money Won’t Stimulate?
I am disappointed to have to write this blog post but wanted to make sure others were aware of what is happening due to the language of the Recovery Bill with respect to road construction. So far, from what I have been told by DOT employees, the only roads that will be eligible to receive…