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Geotechnical News • September 2013
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ASFE NEWS
Congress will have to provide better
guidance about maintenance priorities.
Decommissioning or divesting some
components should also be consid-
ered, the committee said.
The committee said that partnerships
with states, communities, and the pri-
vate sector could yield new resources
and more efficient methods, especially
in hydropower generation, flood-risk
management, and port and harbor
maintenance. The committee said the
Corps could increase its hydropower
revenues by rehabilitating and upgrad-
ing existing facilities to improve the
efficiency of their turbines and related
power-generation and distribution sys-
tems. According to the report, “Total
generation from Corps hydropower
projects decreased by 16 percent from
2000-2008. By contrast, the [Tennes-
see Valley Authority] increased hydro-
power generation 34 percent with
the same water availability through
efficiency improvements in the 1980s
and early 1990s.”
With regard to flood-risk manage-
ment, reducing federal funding for
traditional, structural projects would
present opportunities to apply non-
structural flood control options that
often are more efficient, cost less, and
provide more environmental benefits.
They also offer a chance for the Corps
to extend its partnerships with local
communities in providing technical
advice and other support. The report
cited Davenport, Iowa as an example.
The largest city along the Mississippi
River without a flood control levee,
Davenport “made the decision that it
did not want a levee that would wall
the city off from the Mississippi River
and its aesthetic, historical and cultural
values” the report states. “Over the
years, the city has bought out struc-
tures to create parks and open spaces,
limiting development in order to limit
possible flood losses.”
In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, hit by devas-
tating river flooding in 2008, officials
are implementing a similar plan that
calls for building structures to pro-
tect higher-value property (private
investors are shouldering part of the
cost), and relocating other facilities
out of the floodplain. However, as the
report points out, the Corps’ existing
programs and sponsorship agreements
lack provisions to require or even
encourage local sponsors to implement
land-use zoning or other nonstructural
measures.
Maintaining the inland-navigation
system presents especially formidable
challenges and choices for the Corps.
Federal resources for construction and
rehabilitation have declined steadily;
proposals to generate additional
revenue by charging lockage fees to
system users have, historically, gone
nowhere. Parts of the system could
be decommissioned, but Congress
must make that decision. Keeping
the
status quo
– i.e., steady deteriora-
tion – would lead to significant service
disruptions, the committee said.
The report calls for an independent
investigation of the opportunities for
additional partnerships for opera-
tions and maintenance of Corps water
infrastructure. Examples of such
partnerships include those developed
with private entities by state and local
governments for port operation. The
report does not address the Corps’
somewhat-new (since 1996) role as an
environmental restoration agency.
All things considered, the nation soon
will have no choice but to inspect,
evaluate, prioritize, and begin work on
restoring and rehabilitating existing
Corps infrastructure. The vast majority
of the services required are geoprofes-
sional.
Brace Yourself: The Talent War
has Begun
“A ‘war for talent’ is brewing. Eco-
nomic difficulties have depressed
morale in many firms, and, as the
economy improves, the likelihood of
voluntary turnover will increase sig-
nificantly. This is particularly the case
in a day when loyalty to an employer
is being supplanted by loyalty to the
personal network that is nurtured by
the connectivity derived from the
changes in how we communicate.
Understanding the ‘employee value
proposition’ – the interplay of intrinsic
and extrinsic factors that motivate job
satisfaction and employee engagement
– is more important than ever to retain
existing personnel and attract new
staff, an outcome that will be critical
to profitability in the short term, and
leadership and ownership succession
in the long term.”
So said ASFE’s Emerging Issues and
Trends Committee in
ASFE Practice
Alert 53, “The Crystal Ball Work-
shop: Ten Certain Trends To Consider
Now.”
Prescient? Well, consider a new
report from
WANTED Analytics
, a
leading source of real-time business-
talent intelligence. During September-
November 2012, employers posted
more than 22,000 on-line advertise-
ments for civil engineers (the most of
any engineering occupation), a 16%
jump compared to the same 90-day
period in 2011. Houston, New York,
Los Angeles, the District of Columbia,
and Denver were the metropolitan
areas where civil engineers were in
most demand. While Houston and
New York employers placed the high-
est number of ads, Denver experienced
the biggest jump, an 80% year-over-
year increase.
According to the report, “Some of
the most commonly advertised job
titles were civil engineer, structural
engineer, project engineer, geotechni-
cal engineer, and design engineer.”
The most commonly required skills
were project management, Autodesk
AutoCAD, construction manage-
ment, oral and written communica-
tion skills, Microsoft Office, Bentley
Microstation, business development,
and self-motivation. Demand for civil
engineers is outpacing the supply in
many areas, the report said, noting
that recruiters across the United States
spend an average of six weeks adver-
tising jobs and sourcing candidates
for these positions. The best areas for
recruiting civil engineers? Boston and
Seattle, the report said, where demand