December 10, 2001 — One hundred years ago, life was a constant struggle against disease, pollution and poor living conditions. The disposal of waste generated by human activity posed a significant threat to health and welfare.
Without means of direct and efficient transportation, it was difficult if not impossible for people to do much of what many of us take for granted today: get to work daily, have fresh produce and other goods and create and sustain intrastate and interstate businesses, according to a report from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The economic growth and development of geographically close communities was stifled by large bodies of water flowing between them.
By the end of the 20th century, civil engineering had made the world a healthier, safer and more productive place. Civil engineers planned and constructed—often under perilous conditions—projects that not only made daily life easier, safer and more productive, but also symbolized the best that the human spirit can offer.
As we entered the new millennium, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) initiated programs to reflect on the contributions of the profession to the development of quality of life in the 20th century.
The Millennium Challenge and Monuments of the Millennium were introduced in 1999 and 2000. Through these programs, ASCE seeks to honor the civil engineering profession's contribution to the quality of life and well-being of people and communities worldwide, and acknowledges the creative spirit and ingenuity of the civil engineering profession.
For the Millennium Challenge, ASCE canvassed its members in late 1999 to determine the 10 civil engineering achievements that had the greatest positive impact on life in the 20th century. Rather than individual projects, they chose to recognize broad categories of achievements. ASCE's members ranked the 10 greatest civil engineering achievements as: airports design and development, dams, the interstate highway system, long-span bridges, rail transportation, sanitary landfills/solid waste disposal, skyscrapers, wastewater treatment, water supply and distribution, and water transportation.
Following the Millennium Challenge, in spring 2000 a prestigious panel of civil engineers selected one international or national project to represent each of these 10 achievements. These Monuments of the Millennium demonstrate a combination of technical engineering achievement, courage and inspiration, and a dramatic influence on the development of the communities in which they're located. While each monument exemplifies the use of engineering ingenuity to overcome major design and construction challenges, this is not the sole criterion.
All were selected because, like the great civil engineering works of previous centuries, they uplifted the human spirit and created pride in the communities served; used state-of-the-art design and construction techniques to preserve the natural environment; and made a significant contribution to regional and world economies. Most importantly, all of these monuments have created a positive change in the way people live and how they conduct business. They represent some of the most significant public works achievements of the past century and serve as a symbol of engineering's finest moments in history.
DAMS: During the 20th century, harnessing water by building dams was recognized as a way to meet an unprecedented demand for low-cost, widely available energy sources to aid in the production of goods and services for the consuming public. Dams continue to play an integral role in our daily lives, providing a range of benefits including flood control, hydroelectric power, and water for irrigation, recreation, and fish and wildlife enhancements. Dams spur industrial growth and provide navigation routes in developing nations. As the world's population increases and the need for food multiplies, it is likely, even in the face of increased environmental sensitivity that dams will continue to be built during the 21st century.
HOOVER DAM: The building of the Hoover Dam provided something positive for the United States to focus on during the years of the Great Depression. Completed in 1935, the 726-foot-high structure was the highest dam in the world, by 300 feet, at the time of construction. It is still the highest concrete dam in the Western Hemisphere. Today, it continues to regulate the flow of the Colorado River and provides a range of benefits, including electricity for more than 1.3 million people and irrigation for 1.5 million acres of land in the United States and Mexico. The Hoover Dam was designated an ASCE Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1984 and was named on of America's Seven Modern Civil Engineering Wonders in 1955. The National Park Service designated the Hoover Dam as a National Historic Landmark in 1984. Significant Worldwide Dam Projects include the Aswan Dam across the Nile River in southern Egypt, located near the city of Aswan. The Aswan Dam impounds Lake Nasser, one of the largest reservoirs in the world.
Wastewater Treatment:
Throughout the 19th century, people lived in filth, disposing of garbage and raw sewage by dumping it into streets, alleys and waterways. As a result, they often suffered from such deadly diseases as cholera and typhus. Until the early 1900s, America's urban wastewater including industrial waste was dumped into the nation's waterways. Few municipalities treated wastewater, as it was widely believed that running water purified itself. Ironically, with the implementation of water treatment supply systems, the need for uncontaminated water supplies decreased and the nation's waterways become more polluted.
As recently as 1968, the city of St. Louis discharged 300 million gallons per day of raw waste into the Mississippi River. By 1972, only one-third of U.S. waterways were safe for drinking and fishing. With the advent of wastewater treatment, cities became much more equipped to deal with population influx. Such innovations as activated sludge treatment allow for the maintenance of high levels of water quality. Wastewater treatment led to an increase in life expectancy, reduction in infant mortality and morbidity, control and prevention of communicable diseases, and improvements to the aquatic environment, which enables the public to enjoy water sports and maintain a healthy ecosystem for marine life.
Chicago Wastewater System:
The reversal of the Chicago River, completed in 1900, enabled Chicago to continue its growth and progress after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Before the reversal, the safety of the Lake Michigan drinking water supply was constantly threatened by untreated sewage flowing directly into the river, which then flowed back into the lake. The Chicago Sanitary District, as it was known then, undertook a monumental task when it built a 28-mile-long channel that would connect the Chicago River with the Des Plaines River to reverse the flow of the river away from Lake Michigan.
More than 28 million cubic yards of glacial drift and 12.9 million cubic yards of solid rock were removed, using conveyers, steam shovels, horse-drawn wagons, dynamite and the labor of thousands of immigrants. Today, the wastewater system consists of seven water reclamation plants, including the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant, which is one of the world's largest. The system also has 554 miles of intercepting sewers, more than 100 miles of combined sewer overflow control deep tunnels, 23 pumping stations, and 31 flood control reservoirs. It also boasts 82 miles of navigable urban waterways that serve as the mid-continental water connection between the Atlantic Ocean in Canada and the Gulf of Mexico. The wastewater system services 91 percent of the area of Cook County, Illinois, which includes 5.1 million people and 4.5 million commercial entities in the City of Chicago and 124 suburban communities.
Water Supply and Distribution
The collection, storage, treatment, transmission and distribution of water played a significant role in urbanization, population growth and commercial agriculture and land use. Today, storage and distribution systems enable semi-arid and arid regions to store water for later use during periods of high precipitation. Clean, potable water piped from afar led to the development of such large cities as Las Vegas, and the suburban areas around Chicago and Los Angeles.
The development and distribution of large water delivery systems, in conjunction with the development of collection, removal and treatment systems, enabled people to move from large cities to suburban communities and helped well-dependent, rural communities to prosper. During the 20th century, water supply and distribution systems have led to an increase in life expectancy, reduction in infant mortality and morbidity, and improvements in environmental quality in developed countries. It is estimated that in the year 2000, 2.2 billion people in developing countries will die due to the lack of safe drinking water.
The transfer of civil engineering knowledge to ensure safe water supplies through the collection, treatment and distribution of surface, ground and wastewater is imperative for the continued economic growth and development of nations in the 21st century.
The California Water Project:
The California State Water Project was selected as much for its remarkable engineering aspects, as for the positive impact it has had on regional economic trade and development. Conceived more than fifty years ago with bold imagination by engineers of dedication and courage, a system of aqueducts, dams, reservoirs and plants meets the water resources needs of two-thirds of California's population serving more than 23 million citizens and thousands of businesses daily.
Features of the project include 32 storage facilities, reservoirs and lakes, 17 pumping plants, three pumping-generating plants, five hydroelectric power plants, and 660 miles of open canals and pipelines.
Other Monuments of the Millennium selected by ASCE also include Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan; the U.S. Interstate Highway system; the Golden Gate Bridge; the Eurotunnel Rail System; The Empire State Building; and the Panama Canal.
Source: ASCE
