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Geotechnical News • March 2013
www.geotechnicalnews.com
ASFE NEWS
wastewater-management plans and
implement integrated approaches to
reduce wastewater-systems overflows
and stormwater pollution. EPA says
“an integrated planning process has
the potential to identify a prioritized
critical path to achieving the water
quality objectives of the Clean Water
Act (CWA) by identifying efficien-
cies in implementing competing
requirements that arise from separate
wastewater and stormwater projects,
including capital investments and
operation and maintenance require-
ments. This approach can also lead to
more sustainable and comprehensive
solutions, such as green infrastructure,
that improves water quality as well as
supports other quality of life attributes
that enhance the vitality of communi-
ties.”
The framework “will help com-
munities as they develop plans that
prioritize their investments in storm
and wastewater infrastructure.” The
framework highlights the importance
of managing stormwater and waste-
water releases into the nation’s waters.
According to EPA, “When wastewater
systems, many of which are aging,
overflow they can release untreated
sewage and other pollutants into local
waterways. These overflows can
carry a variety of harmful pollutants
that can threaten communities’ water
quality, including bacteria, metals,
and nutrients, and can contribute to
disease outbreaks, beach and shellfish
bed closings, and fishing or swimming
advisories. Stormwater discharges can
also contain many of these pollutants,
and municipalities are often faced with
difficult choices about how to direct
their funds to solve the most critical
problems first.” Obtain a copy of the
new framework by clicking here, or by
sending your request to info@asfe.org.
Road warrior
Heads up:
Car-rental companies are
becoming far more aggressive in terms
of billing customers for dents, dings,
and scrapes that allegedly occurred
while the vehicle was in a renter’s
possession.
Protect yourself
: Use
your smart-phone still-photo or video
camera to document the vehicle’s
condition – focus on dents, dings, and
scrapes – before you leave the lot. It
can save you significant heartache (not
to mention wallet-ache) later.
Dr. English
Do some of your reports include a
table of contents? If so, you may begin
the page with the title
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
. But if you look closely,
or even if you don’t, you’ll see it’s not
a table: It’s a listing that is commonly
referred to as a “table of contents.”
Using “table of contents” to refer to a
contents page is fine: What’s not fine
is titling the page
TABLE OF CON-
TENTS,
because it’s not a table. So,
what should the title of your contents
page be? Simple:
CONTENTS
…and
let it go at that.
...How do you
create a
strategic plan when
the future of your
most important
issues is
uncertain?...
Planning for uncertainty: The
new
ASFE practice alert no. 55
How do you create a strategic plan
when the future of your most impor-
tant issues is uncertain? That’s exactly
the problem that confronted partici-
pants in the Crystal Ball Workshop
hosted by ASFE’s Emerging Issues
and Trends Committee. The solution?
Scenario planning, characterized by
the Committee as “a powerful tool in
planning for uncertainty: You don’t
have to get the future ‘right’ from the
outset. To make it work, you need to
choose significant and relevant trends,
and select appropriate ‘triggers’ for
implementation of various strategies.”
The economy and infrastructure fund-
ing were the two uncertain trends con-
sidered at the workshop and discussed
in the new
ASFE Practice Alert:
No. 55
, “Planning for an Uncertain
Future.” (Trends considered certain
were discussed in
ASFE Practice Alert
No. 53
, “The Crystal Ball Workshop:
Ten Certain Trends To Consider
Now.”) The strategies developed –
30 of them – are categorized as “No
Brainers” (those that make sense for
all scenarios), “No Regrets” (strategies
that work best for one scenario but
won’t be harmful if another scenario
plays out), and “Contingent Possibili-
ties” (strategies that make most sense
for one scenario, but could be harmful
if others materialize).
The new
Practice Alert
is now avail-
able to ASFE members free of charge
at www.asfe.org.
You’ve just got to be kidding
The national capital area is not unique
for its growing use of speed cameras,
the cash-cow devices that jurisdictions
throughout the nation are installing to
encourage better driving. But the area
may be in the vanguard with respect
to the citizenry’s response and, in par-
ticular, the police response to the pub-
lic protest that begin in April, when
someone unholstered a gun and shot
an Upper Marlboro, MD camera. Two
weeks later, someone knocked over a
camera located near Prince George’s
Community College. (Because of the
camera’s weight, two or three people
had to have been involved, police
believe; i.e., it takes a village.) In
May, someone walked up to a camera
near FedEx Field and cut off one of
its legs. (Police say it wasn’t that big
a deal. They fitted the camera with a
prosthetic device and put it right back
to work.) Two months later, however,
someone torched a speed camera near
Bowie State College and put it out of
commission. Permanently.
According to Prince George’s County
Police Major Robert V. Liberati, the
human (we assume) in charge of the