2006 Issue

www.utahengineerscouncil.org 14 UEC JOURNAL February 2006 Introduction The American Academy of Environmental Engineers was formed 50 years ago to distinguish environmental engineers from other types of engineers. The times were far different than today and so, too, was the profession of environmen- tal engineering or sanitary engineering as it was then called. In retrospect, the fifties seem almost idyllic. Ahard foughtWorldWar had been A History of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers A discipline is born when the development of knowledge and its application evolves from individual experimentation into a formal course of study. ByWilliamC. Anderson, P.E., DEE won and most were focused on building careers and family. Whether in our memo- ries or photos of the time, we see a time of bland conformity, general good will, and expanding affluence. But beneath the sur- face, foundations were being laid for radi- cal changes that would change American culture and society in the decades that fol- lowed. The few sanitary engineers who gave birth to and nurtured the profession in the decades before the War were joined by many who had taken advantage of the G.I. Bill to obtain an engineering educa- tion or a Masters degree in Sanitary Engi- neering. While the numbers who joined the profession then were, relative to today, small, they constituted an explosion in growth. Aided by a new commitment to pollution control, this cadre of sanitary engineering professionals was frustrated by the lack of attention accorded the grow- ing profession by existing engineering so- cieties and technical associations. They decided to address this neglect. The result was the American Academy of Environ- mental Engineers. Background Environmental engineering is a rela- tively new name for a type of engineering that began in the United States in the 1830s. At that time it was primarily hy- draulic engineering helping growing ur- ban centers obtain a plentiful supply of essential water. Under the leadership of John B. Jervis, New York City constructed the first large scale waterworks in 1842 — the Croton River Reservoir and Aque- duct. A few years later in 1848, Ellis Chesbrough, Boston’s first City Engineer, oversaw the construction of the Cochituate Aqueduct and Boston’s pub- lic water system. He went on to design an innovative (for the time) plan of com- bined sewers to drain Chicago’s wastewa- ters into the Chicago River which re- quired raising the elevation of most of the downtown area. AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERS www.aaee.net State Representative/ UEC Representative Kiran Bhayani, P.E., D.E.E. State of Utah, DEQ Contact Information Kiran Bhayani, P.E., D.E.E. Phone: 801-538-6080 E-mail: kbhayani@utah.gov SOCIETY FORUM AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERS