The Kahn Distinguished Lecture Series will be held at Lehigh on February 17, March 23 and April 20 at Lehigh. See www.lehigh.edu/~infrk/ for details.

Sustainable Municipal Infrastructure Planning, Maintenance, Repair and Replacement in Sinkhole Prone Karst Areas

Talk Summary – Michael Perlow Jr Bio

LVASCE January 18, 2012 Dinner Meeting

RSVP By Monday 10/17/11

Presentation By

Michael Perlow Jr, P.E.

Engineering Knowledge Management, LLC

Wednesday Evening – January 18, 2012

ALLENTOWN BREW WORKS

812 West Hamilton Street

Allentown, PA 18101

(610) 433-7777

5:30 – 6:30 pm : Social Hour (Cash-bar)

6:30 – 7:30 pm : Dinner

7:30 – Presentation

DINNER RESERVATIONS REQUIRED

PLEASE RSVP BY MONDAY JANUARY 16TH

TO TIMOTHY KRAMER, P.E. – LVASCE President

Email: tkramer@benesch.com

Three Dinner Menu Options – Please Select One:

*Slag Meatloaf:

*Chicken Piccata:

Pasta Primavera:

* Served with Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Caesar Salad, Rolls & Butter, Coffee, Decaf, Hot Tea

Price: $25 per person, $10 per student

Please consider “sponsoring” a student

by paying the $15 differential cost.

PA CONTINUING EDUCATION:

LVASCE will be providing a (1) PDH certificate of attendance for this event to assist with the continuing education requirements enacted by the PA State Board.

Are You Scheduled for the APRIL 13, 2012  P.E. EXAM?

Are You an Employer with E.I.s or E.I.T.s Who Are Scheduled for the APRIL P.E. EXAM?

THEN YOU SHOULD KNOW

THE LEHIGH VALLEY SECTION OF ASCE IS 

HOSTING ASCE’S P.E. EXAM REVIEW COURSES

RIGHT HERE IN THE LEHIGH VALLEY!!

For the benefit of LV Section members and any others who are interested,

LV ASCE has made arrangements to host live P.E. Exam Review Courses, sponsored by ASCE National,

For the 16 part series P.E. Civil Exam which includes the 4 In-Depth sessions.

The sessions are given on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

February 14, 2012 through March 29, 2012

RETTEW’s Lehigh Valley Office

941 Marcon Boulevard, Suite 801, Allentown, PA 18109.

Cost is $260.00 for ASCE members (which, if you’ve shopped around, is a darn good deal!)

$300.00 for non-members of ASCE

The following Course descriptions were excerpted from the ASCE website (www.ASCE.org):

ASCE’s live P.E. Civil Exam Review Course on the web is a proven way to help you prepare for and pass the P.E. Civil Exam.  Taught by a team of experienced P.E. Exam Review instructors, the course will be presented as a series of 16 two-hour modules held over a seven-week period. This 16-Part Series includes Four Depth Sessions covering Geotechnical, Structures, Transportation, and Water Resources. 

The review course will focus on:

• Topics and material that have a high probability of being included on the exam based on instructor knowledge and opinion
• Solving practice problems and providing immediate feedback

Please RSVP Jim Hendricks at jhendricks@rettew.com.

Seats are limited so please RSVP soon.

Students Assist in Wastewater System Test

The newly lighted classrooms are a beacon of hope in the darkness

Great accomplishments are being made by the Lehigh Valley Professional Chapter of Engineers Without Borders USA on their project to restore the infrastructure of the Centennial Secondary School in Sierra Leone (West Africa).  Founded in 1955, the Centennial Secondary School (CSS) educated students in the 7^th through 12^th grades in the sciences, establishing a regional reputation for excellence.  The school is a complex of 30 buildings.

CSS graduates include engineers, doctors, professors and government leaders.  That legacy has been seriously compromised by the Civil War in Sierra Leone that lasted from 1991 to 2002 – a lost decade of education in that country.  Rebels occupied the school and destroyed its infrastructure.  A school that once had central water and power supplies with western style flush toilets now has no power, no access to an adequate supply of clean water, and has only the most rudimentary of pit latrines for sanitation.  A school that was built to educate 500 students with about 300 borders now tries to educate 1,500.

In 2009, the Lehigh Valley Professional Chapter of Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-LVP) began a partnership with CSS and its international Alumni Association to rebuild the school’s infrastructure.  An EWB-LVP team first visited CSS in February 2010 to develop relationships and gather data.  A program was developed to improve all facets of the school’s infrastructure.

Sanitation – In February 2011, an EWB-LVP team returned to CSS to convert the existing bath houses into an urinary.  The existing wastewater system at the school is undersized to handle the total load of 1,500 students + staff that live on campus, however it was determined that the existing system could handle liquid waste.  The EWB-LVP team worked beside students, parents, faculty, and other local volunteers to refurbish the girls bathhouse.  They built a urinary and a hand washing station that utilizes water brought from a nearby river in buckets each morning.   Based on this example, the school successfully refurbished the boys bathhouse in the absence of the EWB-LVP team – a great achievement in them taking ownership and responsibility for the project.  A second phase of improvements will be made in early 2012 to begin construction of waste treatment capacity to handle solid waste.  Testing for these facilities was completed during the February 2011 trip with an army of students carry 5 gallon jugs of water on their heads to do a capacity test on the future system.  In a future phase, a piped potable water supply will be re-established.

Potable Water – Solving the potable water supply problem has been arguably the most challenging for the EWB-LVP team.  They identified several potential water sources, including: pumped surface water extraction from the Jong River that abuts the school property; gravity flow from the Sowa Creek that about a quarter mile from the school, and groundwater extraction with a well.  The topography prohibits the establishment of a gravity flow to the school.  Pumped extraction from the Jong River was seriously considered but ultimately discarded in favor of a well option because there were concerns about the long term operations and maintenance (O&M) costs of the river extraction system as well as concerns about contamination from upstream mining operations that are not well regulated.  Use of surface water is considered an optional alternative for non-potable use and will be reassesses for that purpose at a future date.  The well presents its own challenges as the school is founded on about twenty feet of soil underlain by igneous rock.  EWB-LVP consulted with several drilling companies and has determined the groundwater option to be feasible and have the potential to be the most cost effective option when taking into account long term O&M costs.

The next step will be to drill the bedrock well during the upcoming dry season in the March-April 2012 time frame. Initially, the well will be equipped with a hand pump. Point of use potable water disinfection, if necessary, will be set up at the same time. Testing of the well when installed will give a good indication of what the expected yield of the well will be. After the installation, EWB — Lehigh Valley will work with the school to determine the best options for pumping and distribution of the water. Potable water, sanitation and hand washing will be the initial primary uses for the water. Other uses will be dependent on the availability of water, equipment cost and sustainability of operations.

Classroom Lighting – When the CSS students were initially polled by EWB-LVP on what their first priority was in rebuilding the school, their response was overwhelmingly in favor of establishing lights for evening study – there is no central power in the region and the sun sets promptly at seven pm.  Evening study would have an enormous impact on the students’ education as most have chores to do at home to support their families during daylight hours.  They need time to study for exams that permit them to advance to successive years of high school as well as for college eligibility.

The EWB-LVP Team developed a context-oriented solution for the school with battery system charged by photovoltaic panels.  This solution was arrived at after careful consideration of alternatives such as standard gas/diesel generators, wind and hydro power, and even a human-powered bike-generator.  Wind and hydro were found to be unfeasible.  Gas/Diesel generators are typical in Sierra Leone, however the cost of fuel is the same as here, creating an enormous challenge of keeping up with O&M costs for a country where the average annual income is less than $700 per year.  The EWB-LVP team chose to pursue the photovoltaic option because the parts and equipment can be procured in country and there is little operational cost once it is installed.

In November 2011, a third EWB-LVP team traveled to Sierra Leone to install a pilot photovoltaic installation.  This project provides light for three classrooms.  Not only does this project have an immediate impact on the student’s education, but it also affords EWB-LVP the opportunity to measure the school administration’s capacity to operate and maintain this type of system before making a commitment to increase the scale of the system to expand access to lighting and electricity throughout the campus.

The installed system consists of two 185 watt solar PV modules, one charge controller, one 225amp-hour battery and one 220 VAC inverter.  Each of the three classrooms has four 11 watt CFL lights.  There are also three security lights on the classroom building and one at the Administration Building where the PV modules and the rest of the equipment are housed.  The system is designed to provide light for 3 hours a night, 7 nights a week, 52 weeks a year.  When fully charged, it can run for two days with little or no sun. The battery should last for five years based on the environmental conditions and operating parameters.

The system was installed ahead of schedule and is working very well.  It was tested for several days and then officially commissioned with a formal lighting ceremony.

Education – In addition to infrastructure improvements, EWB-LVP members have volunteered their efforts to boost the quality of education at CSS.  Bethlehem middle school teacher Lori Cirruci spent time giving classes during the time the team was there this past November.  Various groups are helping to equip chemistry labs, workshops, and home economics classrooms.  Quilting bees have donated money to purchase sewing machines.  The Easton Rotary Club is helping to collect and refurbish music instruments to establish a marching band – something the students want nearly as much as electricity and water.  All in all, there is a project for almost anyone to get involved in and EWB-LVP could use all of the help, no matter how small, to keep the mission moving forward.

You are Invited to get Involved – Many people and organizations contributed to the success of EWB-LVP:  Rotary International, which provided much of the funding for the hardware and in-country travel; members of the CSS Alumni Association who volunteer their time to travel and work with us in-country; the CSS administration, teachers and students; Energy for Opportunity, an NGO bringing solar power to Sierra Leone; and the many members of EWB-LVP who worked on the project.

Go to EWB-LehighValley.org  to learn more about EWB-LVP, join and make donations.

Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC) received a grant

for $3.4 million to implement portions of the Comprehensive Plan –

Lehigh Valley 2030 — and to fill some gaps to create a sustainability plan

for the Lehigh Valley. The plan will involve significant planning work

for three catalytic projects in each of the three cities in the region.

LVASCE’s regional infrastructure inventory information could be useful

in the regional economic development plan that is to be part of the

project. We will have LVEDC give us a presentation on their plans in

March or April. For additional information, check out LVDEC at

http://prosperlehighvalley.com/home/lvedc-receives-historic-3-4-m-grant.

By Bethany Ashman

On November 2, 2011, the Lehigh Valley ASCE Younger Members Forum (YMF) and students from Lehigh University and Lafayette College attended the 3^rd Annual Allentown Bridge Tour.  The tour was led by Dr. Ben Yen, from Lehigh University, with guest speakers Greg Kuklinski and Jim Pudleiner.  The tour consisted of various types of bridges including the 8^th Street Bridge, a concrete open spandrel arch bridge, the Ward Street Bridge, a steel bridge with a metal grate deck, and the 15^th Street Bridge, the oldest operational prestressed concrete bridge in Pennsylvania.

Greg Kuklinski added to the bridge tour by explaining the environmental impact studies and the complex hydrological analysis that is often needed when designing bridges.  Mr. Kuklinski is currently working with the contractor for the Ward Street Bridge to replace the current bridge.  The insight of Greg allowed everyone on the tour to have a greater understanding of everything that is involved with bridge design.

The last stop on the tour this year was Bogert’s Bridge on the Lehigh Parkway.  Bogert’s Bridge is the oldest covered bridge in Lehigh County, built in 1841.  Jim Pudleiner recently inspected the bridge and had everyone fascinated by the different rehabilitation methods used to keep the bridge operational for the numerous runners and bikers that use it every day.

Here is the October Newsletter in pdf:

LVASCEOctober2011Newsletter

Now is your chance to submit nominations for the following Section awards:

A) Civil Engineer of the Year

B) Young Civil Engineer of the Year

C) Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement of the Year

Please use this link — http://lvasce.org/resources/downloads –  to view and download the nomination forms (in either pdf or Word format). The forms contain all of the criteria for each award. Please note the following:

1) All forms must be submitted Phil Gauffreau via mail or e-mail no later than Monday January 9, 2012 (see contact information below).

2) ASCE award winners will also be eligible for PSPE’s overall Engineer and Young Engineer of the Year awards.

3) The ASCE and PSPE awards will be presented at the Engineer’s Week Banquet, scheduled for February 17, 2012. (Award winners will be notified in advance so they can plan to attend with their families and colleagues.)

Phil Gauffreau, P.E.

NTH Consultants, Ltd.

2770 Emrick Boulevard

Bethlehem, PA 18020

pgauffreau@nthconsultants.com