Water Resources: Hydraulics and Hydrology
Q ..
Was that when Agnes, Hurricane Agnes.
That was `72.
A ..
So I had to do a lot of flood routing and what not to make various estimates of what
would happen downstream. The way the dam was operated, it didn't really seem to
have added much to the flooding downstream because most of the flooding was due
to the backup, these railroad trestles that backed up into that same area again. They
also hired some other engineers who were more into the computer- business. I did
my stuff by hand and they did a lot of flood routing on their computers. They
settled before it went to trial.
They paid the plaintiff's legal costs, so the case never went to trial. But that Lake
Barcroft thing, that was something. From the very beginning I had lived close by
and when there was a heavy storm or something, I'd go out there, actually during
that heavy storm I was out there. Then, right after, I was out there, got some flood
marks and stuff and did a little surveying that later helped my computations because
you needed to know how high the reservoir got. You needed to know the size of the
washout section of the abutment to figure out what went out. I really enjoyed that.
The Most Complicated Job: Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India
Getting back to what was the most complicated. Probably at the time I thought a lot
of them were, but I don't remember any as being usually so. I'll tell you what's
running through my mind. In the later years, many of my jobs were in Pakistan
through the World Bank. The World Bank requires anybody they loan their money
to for a large dam, why they require them to retain a highly reputable engineering
firm. Then the firms always set up consulting boards.
The work started first in what was then East Pakistan and now Bangladesh. At that
time, when it was East Pakistan, there was a firm operating out of a big city in
Pakistan.
Q ..
Karachi?
A ..
Yes, Karachi. That's where their headquarters were located. Their initials were
ACE, Associated Consulting Engineers. When they set up these contracts, they
generally have an international firm, which often work with a local firm of
engineers. This ACE was the Pakistani company. The head of the firm was in
Washington.
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