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101-638: Originally conceived by William Mulholland and designed by Chief Engineer Frank E. Weymouth of the MWD, it was the largest public works project in southern California during the Great Depression . The project employed 30,000 people over an eight-year period and as many as 10,000 at one time. The system is composed of two reservoirs, five pumping stations, 62 mi (100 km) of canals, 92 mi (148 km) of tunnels, and 84 mi (135 km) of buried conduit and siphons. Average annual throughput

202-673: A water supply that allowed Los Angeles to grow into the largest city in California. As the head of a predecessor to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power , Mulholland designed and supervised the building of the Los Angeles Aqueduct , a 233-mile-long (375 km) system to move water from Owens Valley to the San Fernando Valley . The creation and operation of the aqueduct led to

303-457: A "combination of technical engineering achievement, courage and inspiration, and a dramatic influence on the development of [their] communities". The achievements and monuments that best exemplified them included: ASCE's mission is to deliver essential value to "its members, their careers, our partners, and the public" as well as enable "the advancement of technology, encourage and provide the tools for lifelong learning, promote professionalism and

404-510: A broad range of experience and skills. These meetings deal with specific topics and issues facing civil engineers such as America's failing infrastructure, sustainability, earthquakes, and bridge collapses." The engineering programs division directly advances the science of engineering by delivering technical content for ASCE's publications, conferences and continuing education programs. It consists of eight discipline-specific institutes, four technical divisions, and six technical councils. The work

505-568: A consultant, in the Panama Canal Zone. In 1914, the University of California, Berkeley awarded Mulholland an honorary doctorate degree. The inscription on the diploma read, "Percussit saxa et duxit flumina ad terram sitientum" (He broke the rocks and brought the river to the thirsty land). Mulholland's public profile continued to grow. His offices were, at one point, on the top floor of Sid Grauman 's Million Dollar Theater . He

606-649: A corresponding increase in the width of the base. Mulholland spent the rest of his life in relative seclusion, devastated by the tragedy. In retirement, he began writing an autobiography but never completed it. Shortly before his death, he was consulted on the Hoover Dam and Colorado River Aqueduct projects. He died in 1935 from a stroke , and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California . In his book Water and Power , historian William L. Kahrl summed up Mulholland's public legacy to

707-595: A decade, the city's population had doubled from just 50,000 in 1890 to more than 100,000 in 1900. Ten years later it had tripled to almost 320,000. To create this expansion, Eaton and Mulholland realized that the large amount of runoff from the Sierra Nevada in Owens Valley could be delivered to Los Angeles through a gravity-fed aqueduct . From 1902 to 1905, Eaton, Mulholland, and others engaged in underhanded methods to ensure that Los Angeles would gain

808-679: A handyman. Mulholland reconnected with his brother Hugh, and in December 1876 they stowed away on a ship in New York bound for California. They were discovered in Panama and were forced to leave the ship. They then walked over 47 miles through jungle to Balboa . Mulholland arrived in Los Angeles in 1877. After arriving in Los Angeles, which at the time had a population of about 9,000, Mulholland quickly decided to return to life at sea, as work

909-500: A letter to the Times Picayune , that ASCE took "this matter very seriously and that appropriate actions are being taken". The panel recommended in results released on September 12, 2008, that ASCE should immediately take steps to remove the potential for conflict of interest in its participation in post-disaster engineering studies. The most important recommendations were that peer review funds over $ 1 million should come from

1010-412: A metropolitan water district, made up of various cities throughout southern California. The Metropolitan Water District ("Met") was incorporated on December 6, 1928, and in 1929 took over where Los Angeles had left off, planning for a Colorado River aqueduct. (During the same period, as a hedge against the possible abandonment of the planned Colorado River aqueduct, Los Angeles also undertook an extension of

1111-633: A professional society in the newly created United States were in the early 19th century. In 1828, John Kilbourn of Ohio managed a short-lived "Civil Engineering Journal," editorializing about the recent incorporation of the Institution of Civil Engineers in Great Britain that same year, Kilbourn suggested that the American corps of engineers could constitute an American society of civil engineers. Later, in 1834, an American trade periodical,

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1212-522: A separate source, like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), that ASCE should facilitate but not control the assessment teams, and that information to the public and press should be disseminated not under the extremely tight controls that Ray Seed and his team experienced. It concluded that ASCE should draw up an ethics policy to eliminate questions of possible conflicts of interest. On April 6, 2009, an internal probe with

1313-465: A series of repair and maintenance programs for aqueduct facilities, that stimulated some local employment and the Los Angeles water employees were paid a month in advance to bring some relief. Mulholland's career effectively ended on March 12, 1928, when the St. Francis Dam failed twelve hours after he and his assistant, Assistant Chief Engineer and general manager Harvey Van Norman, had personally inspected

1414-551: Is 1,200,000 acre⋅ft (1.5 km). The Colorado River Aqueduct begins near Parker Dam on the Colorado River . There, the water is pumped up the Whipple Mountains where the water emerges and begins flowing through 60 mi (97 km) of siphons and open canals on the southern Mojave Desert. At Iron Mountain , the water is again lifted, 144 ft (44 m). The aqueduct then turns southwest towards

1515-528: Is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia , it is the oldest national engineering society in the United States. Its constitution was based on the older Boston Society of Civil Engineers from 1848. ASCE is dedicated to the advancement of the science and profession of civil engineering and

1616-405: Is accomplished by over 600 technical committees with editorial responsibility for 28 of ASCE's 33 journals. On an annual basis, the division conducts more than twelve congresses and specialty conferences. As a founding society of ANSI and accredited standards development organization, ASCE committees use an established and audited process to produce consensus standards under a program supervised by

1717-617: Is an annual data analysis contest held by the ASCE in collaboration with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The participants are supposed to use the LTPP data. The ASCE Foundation is a charitable foundation established in 1994 to support and promote civil engineering programs that "... enhance quality of life, promote the profession, advance technical practices, and prepare civil engineers for tomorrow." It

1818-495: Is given to private practice engineering work that is recognized as a valuable contribution to the field of environmental engineering. The Lifetime Achievement Award has been presented annually since 1999 and recognizes five different individual leaders. One award is present in each category of design, construction, government, education, and management. In July 1946, the Board of Direction authorized annual awards on recommendation by

1919-554: Is incorporated separately from the ASCE, although it has a close relationship to it and all the foundation's personnel are employees of ASCE. The foundation board of directors has seven persons and its bylaws require that four of the seven directors must be ASCE officers as well and the ASCE executive director and chief financial officer must also be ASCE employees. The foundation's support is most often to ASCE's charitable, educational and scientific programs. The foundation's largest program

2020-424: Is supporting three strategic areas; lifelong learning and leadership, advocacy for infrastructure investment and the role of civil engineers in sustainable practices. In 2014, this foundation's support in these areas was almost US$ 4 million. ASCE provides peer reviews at the request of public agencies and projects as a "means to improve the management and quality of [public agency] services and thus better protect

2121-552: The American Statistical Association (1839), American Ethnological Society (1842), American Medical Association (1847), American Association for the Advancement of Science , (1848) and National Education Association (1852). During this same period of association incorporations in the 1840s, attempts were again made at organizing an American engineer association. They succeeded at first with

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2222-587: The Boston Society of Civil Engineers , organized in 1848, and then in October 1852, with an effort to organize a Society of Civil Engineers and Architects in New York. Led by Alfred W. Craven , Chief Engineer of the Croton Aqueduct and future ASCE president, the meeting resolved to incorporate the society under the name "American Society of Civil Engineers And Architects". Membership eligibility

2323-619: The Eagle Mountains . There the water is lifted two more times, first by 438 ft (134 m) to an elevation of more than 1,400 ft (430 m), then by 441 ft (134 m) to an elevation of 1,800 ft (550 m) above sea level. The CRA then runs through the deserts of the Coachella Valley and through the San Gorgonio Pass. Near Cabazon , the aqueduct begins to run underground until it enters

2424-627: The Eastern Sierra to irrigate and store water in the San Fernando Valley . When the aqueduct was built, the San Fernando Valley was not part of the city. From a hydrological point of view, the San Fernando Valley was ideal: its aquifer could serve as free water storage without evaporation. One obstacle to the irrigation was the Los Angeles City Charter, which prohibited the sale, lease, or other use of

2525-710: The Franklin Institute of Philadelphia with a formal proposal that an Institution of American Civil Engineers be established as an adjunct of the Franklin..." Some of them were: Forty engineers actually appeared at the February 1839 meeting in Baltimore, including J. Edgar Thomson (Future Chief Engineer and later President of the Pennsylvania Railroad), Wright, Roberts, Edward Miller, and

2626-605: The San Diego Aqueduct that delivers water to San Diego County . As the Los Angeles metropolitan area grew in the early 1900s, Mulholland and others began looking for new sources of water. Eventually, Los Angeles laid claim to the waters of the Owens Valley , east of the Sierra Nevada, and in 1913 completed the 240-mile (390 km) Los Angeles Aqueduct to deliver its waters to the burgeoning city. By

2727-659: The San Jacinto Tunnel at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains . On the other side of the mountains the aqueduct continues to run underground until it reaches the terminus at Lake Mathews . From there, 156 mi (251 km) of distribution lines, along with eight more tunnels, delivers water to member cities. Some of the water is siphoned off in San Jacinto via the San Diego canal, part of

2828-551: The "American Railroad Journal," advocated for a similar national organization of civil engineers. On December 17, 1838, a petition started circulating asking civil engineers to meet in 1839 in Baltimore , Maryland, to organize a permanent society of civil engineers. Prior to that, thirteen notable civil engineers largely identifiable as being from New York, Pennsylvania, or Maryland met in Philadelphia . This group presented

2929-637: The 1840s, professional organizations continued to develop and organize in the United States. The organizers' motives were largely to "improve common standards, foster research, and disseminate knowledge through meetings and publications." Unlike earlier associations such as the American Philosophical Society , these newer associations were not seeking to limit membership as much as pursue "more specialized interests." Examples of this surge in new professional organizations in America were

3030-409: The 1974 film Chinatown . The water from Mulholland's aqueduct also shifted farming from wheat to irrigated crops such as corn, beans, squash, and cotton; orchards of apricots, persimmons, and walnuts; and major citrus groves of oranges and lemons. These continued within the city environs until the next increment of development converted land use into suburbanization . A few enclaves remain, such as

3131-754: The ASCE Grand Challenge, and Raise the Bar. ASCE honors civil engineers through many Society Awards including the Norman medal (1874), Wellington prize (1921), Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize , the Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) awards in the categories of construction, design, education, government and management, the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement (OCEA) for projects,

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3232-814: The ASCE issued a report that ordered a retraction of the ASCE's June 1, 2007, press release. The panel determined that the press release had "inadvertently conveyed a misleading impression regarding the role of engineering failures in the devastation of New Orleans", that it incorrectly said that surge levels along Mississippi's coastline were higher than water levels caused by a tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004, and that it had incorrectly repeated estimates of deaths and property damage in New Orleans that might have occurred if levees and floodwalls had not been breached. On November 5, 2007, New Orleans–based grassroots group Levees.org led by Sandy Rosenthal criticized

3333-576: The ASCE's close relationship with the United States Army Corps of Engineers in a spoof online public service announcement. On November 12, 2007, the ASCE asked Levees.org to remove the video from the internet, threatening the organization with legal action if it did not comply. On November 13, the Times-Picayune posted the video on its website. Flanked by lawyers with Adams and Reese in the presence of extensive media coverage,

3434-612: The Henry L. Michel Award for Industry Advancement of Research and the Charles Pankow Award for innovation, 12 scholarships and fellowships for student members. Created in 1968 by ASCE's Sanitary Engineering Division, the Wesley W. Horner award is named after former ASCE President Wesley W. Horner, and given to a recently peer reviewed published paper in the fields of hydrology , urban drainage, or sewerage. Special consideration

3535-587: The June press release." On November 14, 2007, ASCE announced that U.S. Congressman Sherwood Boehlert , R‑N.Y. (ret), would lead an independent task force of outside experts to review how ASCE participated in engineering studies of national significance. ASCE President David Mongan said the review was to address criticism of ASCE´s role in assisting the Army Corps of Engineers-sponsored investigation of Katrina failures. Mongan assured citizens of metro New Orleans in

3636-716: The Los Angeles Aqueduct to the Mono Lake Basin.) The MWD considered eight routes for the aqueduct. In 1931, the MWD board of directors chose the Parker route which would require the building of the Parker Dam. The Parker route was chosen because it was seen as the safest and most economical. A $ 220 million bond was approved on September 29, 1931. Work began in January 1933 near Thousand Palms, and in 1934

3737-476: The Los Angeles Coroner's Inquest, Mulholland said, "this inquest is very painful for me to have to attend but it is the occasion of what is painful. The only ones I envy about this whole thing are the ones who are dead." In later testimony, after responding to a question he added, "Whether it is good or bad, don't blame anyone else, you just fasten it on me. If there was an error in human judgment, I

3838-642: The Maryland engineers Isaac Trimble and Benjamin Henry Latrobe II and attendees from as far as Massachusetts, Illinois, and Louisiana. Subsequently, a group met again in Philadelphia, led by its Secretary, Edward Miller to take steps to formalize the society, participants now included such other notable engineers as: Miller drafted a proposed constitution that defined society's purpose as "the collection and diffusion of professional knowledge,

3939-760: The Owens Valley, while planning on using the full water rights to fill the aquifer of the San Fernando Valley . In 1906, the Los Angeles Board of Water Commissioners appointed Mulholland the Chief Engineer of the Bureau of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. From 1907 to 1913, Mulholland directed the building of the aqueduct. The 233-mile (375 km) Los Angeles Aqueduct , inaugurated in November 1913, required 3900 workers at its peak and involved

4040-646: The San Fernando investors demanded so much water from the Owens Valley that it started to transform from "The Switzerland of California" into a desert. Mulholland was blocked from obtaining additional water from the Colorado River, so decided to take all available water from the Owens Valley. By exploiting personal bitterness of some of the Owens Valley farmers, Los Angeles managed to acquire some key water rights. After these water rights were secured, inflows to Owens Lake were heavily diverted, which caused

4141-604: The United States Bureau of Reclamation began work on the Parker Dam. Construction of the aqueduct was finished in 1935. Water first flowed in the aqueduct on January 7, 1939. The CRA contributed to urban growth in the south coast region. Although the CRA brought "too much, too expensive" water in its early years of operation, subsidies (via property taxes) and expansion of MWD's service area brought reduced prices and expanded demand. (Holding supply constant, that meant that

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4242-566: The Water Company. When Eaton was elected mayor of Los Angeles, he was instrumental in converting the Water Company to city control in 1902. When the company became the Los Angeles Water Department , Mulholland continued to be superintendent, due to his vast knowledge of the water system. Expansion rapidly followed as Mulholland's public works program began to irrigate large areas of previously arid land. Within

4343-540: The Water Department was renamed the Bureau of Water Works and Supply with Mulholland named as its chief engineer. In 1937, two years after Mulholland's death, the Bureau of Water Works and Supply merged with the Bureau of Power and Light to form the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) ; the agency continues to control, supply and maintain all the city's domestic services. Mulholland envisioned Los Angeles growing much larger. The limiting factor to

4444-464: The advancement of mechanical philosophy, and the elevation of the character and standing of the Civil Engineers of the United States." Membership in the new society restricted membership to engineers, and "architects and eminent machinists were to be admitted only as Associates." The proposed constitution failed, and no further attempts were made to form another society. Miller later ascribed

4545-411: The aqueduct continued through the year, culminating in a major showdown when opponents seized a key part of the aqueduct and, for four days, completely shut off the water to Los Angeles. The State and local authorities declined to take any action and the press portrayed the Owens Valley farmers and ranchers as underdogs. Eventually, Mulholland and the city administration were forced to negotiate. Mulholland

4646-436: The city's water without a two-thirds approval by the voters. This charter limitation would be avoided through the annexation of a large portion of the San Fernando Valley to the city. Mulholland realised that the annexation would raise the debt limit of Los Angeles, which allowed the financing of the aqueduct. By 1915, the initial annexations were completed, and by 1926 the land area of Los Angeles had doubled, making it

4747-984: The civil engineering profession was a major goal of the society. This is accomplished through a variety of publications and information products, including 35 technical and professional journals amongst them: They also publish an online bibliographic database, conference proceedings, standards, manuals of practice, and technical reports. The ASCE Library contains 470+ E-books and standards, some with chapter-level access and no restrictive DRM, and 600+ online proceedings. Each year, more than 55,000 engineers earn continuing education units (CEUs) and/or professional development hours (PDHs) by participating in ASCE's continuing education programs. ASCE hosts more than 15 annual and specialty conferences, over 200 continuing education seminars and more than 300 live web seminars. Meetings include "...committees, task forces, focus groups, workshops and seminars designed to bring together civil engineering experts either from specific fields or those with

4848-555: The committee was also authorized to hire Mulholland as a consultant. That October, with construction of the dam underway, San Francisco's City Engineer, Michael O'Shaughnessy , wrote negatively of Mulholland in a letter to John R. Freeman, an engineer who had assisted the city in its pursuit of permission to construct the Hetch Hetchy reservoir and water system in Yosemite National Park . O'Shaughnessy expressed

4949-418: The corps and onto local levee officials. Members of the ASCE are forbidden from making false or exaggerated statements and also from making statements for an interested party unless this is disclosed. Levees.org claimed the records showed how the external peer review would be done in four phases: Phase 1 was research and analysis on the performance of the levees, floodwalls and other important structures. Phase 2

5050-530: The digging of 164 tunnels. Construction began in 1908. The complexity of the project has been compared to the building of the Panama Canal . Water from the Owens River reached a reservoir in the San Fernando Valley on November 5, 1913. At a ceremony that day, Mulholland spoke his famous words about this engineering feat: "There it is. Take it." The aqueduct carries water from the Owens Valley in

5151-632: The disputes known as the California Water Wars . In March 1928, Mulholland's career came to an end when the St. Francis Dam failed just over 12 hours after he and his assistant gave it a safety inspection. William Mulholland was born in Belfast , Ireland, part of the United Kingdom. His parents Hugh and Ellen Mulholland were Dubliners and they returned to the city a few years after William's birth. His younger brother, Hugh Jr.,

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5252-424: The early 1920s, Los Angeles had grown so rapidly that the Owens River watershed could no longer supply the city's needs for domestic and agricultural water. By 1923, Mulholland and his engineers were looking east to an even larger water supply, the Colorado River. The plan was to dam the Colorado River and carry its waters across hundreds of miles of mountains and deserts. In 1924, the first steps were taken to create

5353-404: The editor of the American Railroad Journal commented that effort had failed in part due to certain jealousies that arose due to the proposed affiliation with the Franklin Institute. That journal continued discussion on forming an engineers' organization from 1839 thru 1843 serving its own self-interests in advocating its journal as a replacement for a professional society but to no avail. During

5454-476: The enhancement of human welfare through the activities of society members. It has more than 143,000 members in 177 countries. Its mission is to provide essential value to members, their careers, partners, and the public; facilitate the advancement of technology; encourage and provide the tools for lifelong learning; promote professionalism and the profession; develop and support civil engineers. The first serious and documented attempts to organize civil engineers as

5555-408: The failure to the difficulties of assembling members due to available means for traveling in the country at the time. One of the other difficulties members would have to contend with was the requirement to produce each year one previously unpublished paper or "...present a scientific book, map, plan or model, not already in the possession of the Society, under the penalty of $ 10." In that same period,

5656-448: The final results until the public's attention had turned elsewhere. The corps acknowledged receiving a copy of the letter and refused to comment until the ASCE's Committee on Professional Conduct (CPC) had commented on the complaint. It took over a year for the ASCE to announce the results of the CPC. The ASCE self-study panel did not file charges of ethical misconduct and blamed errors on "staff" and not review panel members having created

5757-493: The furor that followed upon the mistakes made in the last seven years of his public service discredited the man and thereby gave aid to the enemies of the ideal he had labored all his life to establish. In Los Angeles, Mulholland Dam in the Hollywood Hills , Mulholland Drive , Mulholland Highway and Mullholland Middle School are named for Mulholland. Notes Bibliography . American Society of Civil Engineers The American Society of Civil Engineers ( ASCE )

5858-490: The group ignored the threat and posted the video to YouTube citing Louisiana's Anti- SLAPP statute, a "strategic lawsuit against public participation", which allows courts to weed out lawsuits designed to chill public participation on matters of public significance. In a response for comment, ASCE President Mongan replied, "Since the video has already been widely reposted by other organizations, moving forward, we feel our time and expertise are best utilized working to help protect

5959-402: The groves at the Orcutt Ranch Park and CSUN campus . Mulholland, who was self-taught, became the first American civil engineer to use hydraulic sluicing to build a dam while constructing the Silver Lake Reservoir in 1906. This new method attracted nationwide attention of engineers and dam builders. Government engineers adopted the method when building Gatun Dam , on which Mulholland was

6060-481: The growth of Los Angeles was its water supply, because it has a semi-arid climate with unreliable rainfall. "If you don't get the water, you won't need it," Mulholland famously remarked. Mulholland shared the vision of a much larger Los Angeles with Frederick Eaton , the mayor of Los Angeles from 1898 through 1900. They both worked together in the private Los Angeles Water Company in the 1880s. In 1886, Eaton became City Engineer and Mulholland became superintendent of

6161-434: The hurricane protection system in metro New Orleans. Lawrence Roth, deputy executive director of the ASCE led the ERP development, served as the panel's chief of staff and facilitated its interaction with IPET. The expert panel's role was to provide an independent technical review of the IPET's activities and findings, as stated at a National Research Council meeting in New Orleans: "an independent review panel ensure[s] that

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6262-415: The lake to dry up by 1924. By 1924, farmers and ranchers rebelled. A series of provocations by Mulholland were, in turn, followed by corresponding threats from local farmers, and the destruction of Los Angeles property. Finally, a group of armed ranchers seized the Alabama Gates and dynamited the aqueduct at Jawbone Canyon , letting water return to the Owens River. Additional acts of violence against

6363-411: The largest city in the United States by area. Areas that opted to join the municipal water network were Owensmouth (Canoga Park) (1917), Laurel Canyon (1923), Lankershim (1923), Sunland (1926), La Tuna Canyon (1926), and the incorporated city of Tujunga (1932). The historical relationship between water and the rapid urbanisation and growth of Los Angeles is the basis for the fictional plot of

6464-468: The lives of 64 of the 67 workmen and their families living there. The waters traveled south and emptied into the Santa Clara riverbed flooding parts of present-day Valencia and Newhall . Following the river bed, the water continued west, flooding the towns of Castaic Junction , Piru , Fillmore , Bardsdale and Santa Paula in Ventura County . It was almost two miles (3 km) wide, and still traveling at 5 miles (8 km) per hour when it reached

6565-452: The nation's infrastructure, and advance the profession of engineering specifically, ASCE lobbied on legislation at the Federal, State and local levels. In 2015, ASCE's Lobbying at the Federal level was focused primarily upon: Lobbying at the state and local level focused primarily upon licensure of civil engineers, procurement of engineering services, continuing education, and the financing of infrastructure improvements as well as lobbying at

6666-734: The now-defunct Building Security Council. The Committee on Critical Infrastructure (CCI) provides vision and guidance on ASCE activities related to critical infrastructure resilience, including planning, design, construction, O&M, and event mitigation, response and recovery. Certification is the recognition of attaining advanced knowledge and skills in a specialty area of civil engineering. ASCE offers certifications for engineers who demonstrate advanced knowledge and skills in their area of engineering. ASCE also has nine full-service institutes created to serve working professionals working within specialized fields of civil engineering: To advance its policy mission, ASCE "...identifies legislation to improve

6767-519: The ocean at 5:30 am; emptying its victims and debris into the Pacific Ocean near Montalvo, 54 miles (87 km) from the reservoir and dam site. Many of the bodies that had been washed out to sea were recovered from the sea, some as far south as the Mexican border; others were never found. Santa Paula received some of the worst damage, especially the lowland areas nearer the riverbed. Here, in many areas, only foundations or rubble marked where many homes had been. Rescue efforts were hampered and walking

6868-404: The original founders, such as James Laurie, J.W. Adams, C. W. Copeland, and W. H. Talcott, were at this meeting and were dedicated to the objective of resuscitating the society. They also planned to put the society on a more permanent footing and elect fifty-four new members. With success in that effort, the young engineering society passed a resolution noting that its preservation was mainly due to

6969-417: The outcome is a robust, credible and defensible performance evaluation". On February 12, 2007, Lt. Gen Strock gave all expert review panel members an Outstanding Civilian Service Medals. On June 1, 2007, the ASCE issued its expert review panel report, and an accompanying press release. The press release was considered controversial because it contained information not present in the report, conflicting with

7070-471: The part of the Board of Water Works and Supply of the City of Los Angeles, or any engineer or employee in the construction or operation of the St. Francis Dam..." Nonetheless, his critics pointed out that another dam on which Mulholland had acted as a consultant collapsed, and the city abandoned a dam project in San Gabriel before completion. Mulholland had increased the height of the dam by 20 feet (6.1 m) after construction had started, without specifying

7171-422: The persevering efforts of its first president, James Laurie. The address of President James Pugh Kirkwood delivered at that meeting in 1867 was the first publication of the society, appearing in Volume 1 of "Transactions", bearing date of 1872. On March 4, 1868, by a vote of 17 to 4, the name was changed to "American Society of Civil Engineers", but it was not until April 17, 1877, that the lack of incorporation

7272-498: The principle of public water development in writing: The harshest judgement of Mulholland's actions lay in the damage he had done to the principle of public water development. More than any other individual, William Mulholland, through the building of the aqueduct and the formation of the Metropolitan Water District, established the principle of public ownership of water indelibly on California's history. But

7373-404: The profession." The society also seeks to "develop and support civil engineer leaders, and advocate infrastructure and environmental stewardship." The society as an exempt organization in the United States (Section 501(c)(3)) was required to reported its program service accomplishments and related expenses and revenues. ASCE stated that dissemination of technical and professional information to

7474-620: The proper steps were never taken, and therefore this name never legally belonged to the association. The ASCE held its first meetings at the Croton Aqueduct Department building in City Hall Park , Manhattan. The meetings only went through 1855 and with the advent of the American Civil War, the society suspended its activities. The next meeting was more than twelve years later in 1867. A number of

7575-477: The public health and safety with which they are entrusted". After the 2005 levee failures in Greater New Orleans , the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Lt Gen Carl Strock P.E., M.ASCE) requested that ASCE create an expert review panel to peer review the corps-sponsored Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, the body commissioned by the corps to assess the performance of

7676-409: The quantity demanded rose to meet supplies.) On subsidies and sprawl, note that it was not until 1954 that Met's revenue from selling water exceed the cost of delivering it; it was not until 1973 that revenue from sales exceeded revenue from taxes. Since about 80 percent of Met's costs are fixed, revenue needs to cover far more than operating expenses in order to pay for all costs. In 1955, the aqueduct

7777-469: The report, and minimized the Army Corps' involvement in the catastrophe: "Even without breaching, Hurricane Katrina's rainfall and surge overtopping would have caused extensive and severe flooding—and the worst loss of life and property loss ever experienced in New Orleans." The report stated that had levees and pump stations not failed, "far less property loss would have occurred and nearly two-thirds of deaths could have been avoided." The ASCE administration

7878-497: The residents of New Orleans from future storms and flooding." In March 2008, Levees.org announced that records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that as early October 2005, the Army Corps of Engineers had directed and later paid the ASCE more than $ 1.1 million for its peer review (Grant Number: W912HZ-06-1-0001). The grant also paid for a series of misleading ASCE presentations attempting to shift blame away from

7979-433: The site. Within seconds after the collapse, only what had been a large section of the central part of the dam remained standing and the reservoir's 12.4 billion gallons (47 million m ) of water began moving down San Francisquito Canyon in a 140-foot-high (43 m) torrent at 18 miles per hour (29 km/h). In the canyon, it demolished the heavy concrete Powerhouse Number Two (a hydroelectric power plant) and took

8080-464: The society's Codes and Standards Committee. Civil Engineering Certification Inc. (CEC), affiliated with ASCE, has been established to support specialty certification academies for civil engineering specialties and is accredited by the Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards (CESB). CEC also handles safety certification for state, municipal, and federal buildings, formerly the province of

8181-479: The society's Committee on Research to stimulate research in civil engineering. In October 1964, Mrs. Alberta Reed Huber endowed these prizes in honor of her husband, Walter L. Huber, past president, ASCE. The Huber Prize is considered the highest level mid-career research prize in civil engineering and is awarded for outstanding achievements and contributions in research with respect to all disciplines of civil engineering. The LTPP International Data Analysis Contest

8282-492: The state level to raise the minimum requirements for licensure as a professional engineer as part of ASCE's Raise the Bar (RTB) and Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge (CEBoK) initiatives. For 2018, ASCE identified Federal advocacy priorities as follows: The State advocacy priorities in 2018 are as follows: To promote the society's objectives and address key issues facing the civil engineering profession, ASCE developed three strategic initiatives: Sustainable Infrastructure,

8383-525: The view that Mulholland and F. C. Hermann, chief engineer for the SVWC, were "so intensely conceited that they imagine all they might do should be immune from criticism." Indicating construction details or practices that he thought incorrect, O'Shaughnessy wrote of what was, in his view, sloppiness and recklessness at the Calaveras dam site; he said "another feature which made objectionable impressions" on him

8484-526: The water rights in the Owens Valley, blocking the Bureau of Reclamation from building water infrastructure for the residents in Owens Valley. While Eaton engaged in most of the political maneuverings and chicanery, Mulholland misled Los Angeles public opinion by dramatically understating the amount of water then available for Los Angeles' growth. Mulholland also misled residents of the Owens Valley; he indicated that Los Angeles would only use unused flows in

8585-411: Was "the flippant manner in which the young college boys in charge of the work and Mulholland, with his swollen ideas of accomplishment, have undertaken this very serious engineering project." On March 24, 1918, the dam suffered a partial collapse of the upstream slope. At the time, the water in the reservoir was fifty-five feet deep; no water was released. After the Los Angeles Aqueduct was completed,

8686-616: Was a member of the British Merchant Navy . He spent the next four years as a seaman on Gleniffer , making at least 19 Atlantic crossings to ports in North America and the Caribbean. In 1874 he disembarked in New York and headed west to Michigan where he worked a summer on a Great Lakes freighter and the winter in a lumber camp . After nearly losing a leg in a logging accident, he moved to Ohio where he worked as

8787-594: Was born in 1856. At the time of Mulholland's birth, his father was working as a guard for the Royal Mail . In 1862, when William was seven years old, his mother died. Three years later his father remarried. William was educated at O'Connell School by the Christian Brothers in Dublin. After having been beaten by his father for receiving bad marks in school, Mulholland ran off to sea. At 15, Mulholland

8888-574: Was completed in 1897 and served as the society's headquarters until 1917 when the ASCE moved to the Engineering Societies' Building . Nora Stanton Barney was among the first women in the United States to earn a civil engineering degree, graduating from Cornell University in 1905. In the same year, she was accepted as a junior member of the organization and began work for the New York City Board of Water Supply. She

8989-514: Was criticized by the Times-Picayune for an attempt to minimize and understate the role of the Army Corps in the flooding. In October 2007, Raymond Seed, a University of California-Berkeley civil engineering professor and ASCE member, submitted a 42-page ethics complaint to the ASCE alleging that the corps of engineers with ASCE's help sought to minimize the corps' mistakes in the flooding, intimidate anyone who tried to intervene, and delay

9090-590: Was delivered to Pueblo de Los Angeles in a large open ditch, the Zanja Madre . The man who tended the ditch was known as a zanjero . In 1880, Mulholland oversaw the laying of the first iron water pipeline in Los Angeles. Mulholland left the employment of the LACWC briefly in 1884, but returned in mid-December. He left again in 1885 and worked for the Sespe Land and Water Company. As part of his compensation he

9191-560: Was discovered and the proper steps taken to remedy the defect. The society was then chartered and incorporated in New York state. The reconvened ASCE met at the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York until 1875 when the society moved to 4 East 23rd Street. The ASCE moved again in 1877 to 104 East 20th Street and in 1881 to 127 East 23rd Street. The ASCE commissioned a new headquarters at 220 West 57th Street in 1895. The building

9292-480: Was even a favorite to become mayor of Los Angeles . When asked if he was considering running for office he replied, "I'd rather give birth to a porcupine backward". In May 1913, the Spring Valley Water Company (SVWC), which owned the water supply of San Francisco, authorized an executive committee to approve plans and direct construction of the original dam to create Calaveras Reservoir ;

9393-487: Was granted twenty acres on Sespe Creek. In 1886 he returned to the LACWC, and in October became a naturalized American citizen. At the end of the year he was made the superintendent of the LACWC. In 1898, the Los Angeles city government decided not to renew the contract with the LACWC. Four years later, the Los Angeles Water Department was established with Mulholland as its superintendent. In 1911,

9494-532: Was hard to find. On his way to the port at San Pedro to find a ship, he accepted a job digging a well . After a brief stint in Arizona where he prospected for gold and worked on the Colorado River , he obtained a job from Frederick Eaton as Deputy Zanjero (water distributor) with the newly formed Los Angeles City Water Company (LACWC). In Alta California during the Spanish and Mexican administrations, water

9595-411: Was made hazardous by a thick layer of mud which carpeted the area. Recovery crews worked for days to dig out bodies and clear away the mud from the flood's path. The final death toll is estimated to be at least 431, of whom at least 108 were minors. Mulholland took full responsibility for what has been called the worst US man-made disaster of the 20th century and retired in November 1928. During

9696-491: Was provision of information on the current system to prevent future flooding. Phase 3 was provision of information to evaluate alternative approaches to flood protection. Phase 4 was transfer information and knowledge gained to a broader audience within Corps and its consultancy community to communicate lessons learned. The group claimed that these records were proof that ASCE's routine powerpoint presentation from 2007 and 2008 were

9797-480: Was quoted as saying, in anger, he "half-regretted the demise of so many of the valley's orchard trees, because now there were no longer enough trees to hang all the troublemakers who live there". In 1927, when the conflict over the water was at its height, the Inyo County Bank collapsed, due to embezzlement. The economy of Owens Valley collapsed, and the attacks ceased. The city of Los Angeles sponsored

9898-540: Was recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) as one of their "Seven Modern Civil Engineering Wonders". The Colorado River Aqueduct was featured by Huell Howser in California's Gold . William Mulholland William Mulholland (September 11, 1855 – July 22, 1935) was an Irish American self-taught civil engineer who was responsible for building the infrastructure to provide

9999-400: Was restricted to "civil, geological, mining and mechanical Engineers, architects, and other persons who, by profession, are interested in the advancement of science." James Laurie was elected the society's first president. At an early meeting of the Board of Direction in 1852, instructions were given for the incorporation of the "American Society of Civil Engineers and Architects" but this was

10100-476: Was the first female member of ASCE, where she was allowed to be a junior member, but was denied advancement to associate member in 1916 because of her gender. In 2015, she was posthumously advanced to ASCE Fellow status. In 1999, the ASCE elected the top-ten "civil engineering achievements that had the greatest positive impact on life in the 20th century" in "broad categories". Monuments of the Millennium were

10201-496: Was the human, I won't try to fasten it on anyone else." The inquest jury concluded that responsibility for the disaster lay in an error in engineering judgment about the suitability of the area's geology as a stable foundation for the dam, and in errors in public policy. They recommended that Mulholland not be held criminally responsible as they stated in their verdict, "We, the Jury, find no evidence of act of criminal act or intent on

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