WASTEWATER

Harry B. “Hal” Walker, P.E.
 
You’ve heard the phrase “If you ain’t wit us, yore agin’ us!” which probably has its roots in the dialog from numerous old western movies or novels. Or perhaps the following meme has a familiar ring, “I’m an Engineer, to save time let’s just assume that I’m never wrong.“ Although I take it as a means to poke fun at ourselves, have you ever met a fellow engineer who believes in that statement? While I personally have not come across an engineer with such a lofty attitude, I have had stories relayed to me by non-engineers over the years of such individuals.  View Full Post

Corbett Freeman, P.E.

Money for infrastructure always seems to be scarce, but our great “Bayou City” continues to grow and, at the same time, continues to age. Without needs-based programs like ReBuild Houston that prioritize replacement of crumbling infrastructure, a full eighty percent of drainage structures and streets will outlive their useful life in the next 20 years. Nationally, the last increase in the gas tax, which generally pays for our transportation system, was over 20 years ago. That bill, however, was passed to balance the budget, not to pay for new and replacement infrastructure.  View Full Post

Jon VanderWilt, P.E.
 
Why create a MUD? We all know the answer to that question. Property taxes from developed land pays for water, sewer and drainage improvements. Lately, the list has grown to include roads and parks, too.

There is no place in the world I would rather be than Houston, Texas. It is the greatest place in the world to live, work, and raise a family. All of us involved in the business of working with MUDs are the privileged few that have the opportunity and honor, on a daily basis, to create neighborhoods from farmland, pastures, and forests, making it possible for others to live in the greatest place in the world. I thank God every day for this opportunity and enjoy it so much that I can't call it "work." View Full Post

 
John Lacy, P.E.

Take a deep breath.  Almost 80 percent of what you just inhaled was nitrogen.  It's too bad that you can’t use it – the bonds are too strong for us to break -- and yet we’d die without it!  So where do we get a usable form of this vital nutrient?  Well, it’s part of the cycle of life; rain carries it from the air to the soil, soil carries it to the plants, animals eat plants, and we eat plants and animals.  Thanks to waste and bacteria, the limited amount of usable nitrogen returns to the air and soil to begin the process again.  If nitrogen doesn’t make it back to the air or soil, fewer plants can grow and that means less animals and people can survive.  In order to prevent this, a German chemist figured out in 1909 how to create nitrogen fertilizer from air to feed plants.  Today, hydrogen from natural gas and nitrogen from air are combined to make nitrogen fertilizer using this same basic process. View Full Post