Day 9- May 23 2018

Good evening,

It was a long day in the classroom for the group today. We finished up presentations on our stormwater overflow problems and got an insight on how we prepared to fix the problem and how Philadephia actually proposed and went about fixing the problem. Philadelphia used a conglomerate of ideas ranging from Bioswales to rain gardens. Everyone thought this was an excellent project to work through with different disciplines of engineering and see how other people think when faced with a problem. To fill in time before our guest speaker in the afternoon, the group was presented with another problem-solving exercise, this time focusing on solar energy and whether or not solar panels can be placed on a building that was considered not structurally sound to hold solar panels. Our task was to develop a solution, meeting all the criteria that went along with the problem.

Figure 1: The class enjoyed some German snacks provided by Coach Dawn during the problem-solving exercise 

Today, we also had a guest speaker come to the classroom and speak with us. Our guest speaker was Ralf Steeg who is a German Civil Engineer, and he has spent the last 15 years working on wastewater management all over the world such as Germany, Chile, Vietnam, India, and China. He works for an Engineering Design and Research company called Luri which specializes in wastewater treatment and stormwater plants. Luri was created in 2007 in Berlin and is known for developing the first modular system for wastewater treatment. He talked us through the improvement of stormwater and wastewater management throughout time, hitting Rome first with their combined sewage system and how it made everyone ill due to the fact it was going in the drinking water. After talking about the mistakes of the past, he started to talk about the future of building resources such as energy and wastewater treatment plants in the water. He spoke of the one in Berlin and how it is 30% cheaper to build and maintain than ones on land which sounds pretty cool and innovative. Looks like the future is significant for the management of wastewater!

Figure 2: Ralf Steeg on the front of the magazine. Der Wasserman means "The Water Man."

About the Author:

Allyson Cleary has had some experience blogging but is still struggling. She will be a rising Senior Civil Engineering Student and the activities she enjoys the most include watching the sunset and eating ice cream.