Green solutions in Kansas City's Fifth District

The Fifth District City Council members, Cindy Circo and Terry Riley, met with your host (Deb O'Bannon) to discuss the neighborhood aspirations and impacts from the green solutions/raingarden demonstration project in the Middle Blue River drainage area. Listen to the podcast.

Levees in the Kansas City area

Karin Jacoby, P.E., J.D., MPA, who is also one of the 16 members of the National Committee on Levee Safety, shared about levee history, levee characteristics and the national efforts to ensure levee safety in this post-Katrina period. Listen to the podcast.

Statistics for everyone

Dr. Deb explains about the general usefulness of statistics, the difference between accuracy and precision, issues about curving grades in college, and other points of context that you might need to understand the statistics that are generally presented in the media. Listen to the podcast.

Water Softening

Dr. Deb explains the chemistry behind water softening. When you listen, you'll find out that hardness (calcium and magnesium) deposit much faster from hot water than cold, and that engineers can arrange a deposition of hardness solids in a water treatment plant by adding lime and washing soda. She even explained a little about flocculation and carbonate chemistry (CO₂, HCO₃^-, CO₃^-2)! Listen to the podcast.

Aging Infrastructure - Dan Murray, P.E.

Deb interviewed Dan Murray from the USEPA Aging Infrastructure group at the 2009 ASCE EWRI conference that was held here in Kansas City. The Kansas City ASCE Section sponsored the showing of "Liquid Assets" which examined the need to replace and renew our aging water infrastructure. He referred to a very large water main break that we all saw on the news. Here is a link to photos of wooden pipes and tours of the Paris sewers. Listen to the broadcast.

Bill Carter, P.E. - new sewer under park

Bill Carter from GBA Engineering tells Deb and the audience about how and why a 60" sewer pipe was installed under the Overland Park Arboretum. He shared how they're boring under the park. Listen to the broadcast.

Mary Lappin, P.E. - water distribution systems

Mary Lappin's experience in managing Kansas City, MO's water system was explored as she and Deb explained the size of the distribution system, what happens when lines break and how water treatment security has changed since 9/11/2001. Listen to the broadcast.

ASCE - President Wayne Klotz, P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE

Wayne Klotz is the immediate past national president of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Deb recorded an interview with him while he attended the ASCE conference in Kansas City in October. Mr. Klotz shared a 10,000-foot perspective of the civil engineering profession and his plans to reach out to younger ASCE members. Listen to the broadcast.

Darwin's Beagle voyage - Dr. Daniel Pauly

Dr. Pauly spoke as part of the Darwin 200 exhibition at the Linda Hall Library. He has a recent article titled, "Aquacalypse Now" in The New Republic. Dr. Pauly explained the context for the Beagle's voyage and Darwin's role on it. He briefly explained the navigational problem with longitude, and why the Beagle was surveying southern South America. Dr. Pauly, of course, talked about his work with fish ecology and Darwin's interest in fishes. Listen to the broadcast.

Engineering Accreditation - Phil Borrowman, P.E.

Phil Borrowman is the president-elect for the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Phil and Deb discuss the importance of accreditation for engineering programs, and ABET's progressive assessment of educational outcomes (learning vs. teaching). Listen to the broadcast.

Dick Champion

Dick Champion from the City of Independence Water Pollution Control Department shared a variety of water-related topics close to his heart, including the Indendendence EcoFest (see photo of EcoElvis) and the Clean Water America Alliance. Listen to the podcast.

Rising Tide book review by Jerry Richardson, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE

Jerry Richardson from UMKC Civil Engineering gave a book review of Rising Tide: a book about the 1927 flood on the Mississippi River. He divided his comments into three areas: the key engineers, the regional politics, and the effects of the flood. Deb gave a dramatic introduction to Jerry's interview (you've got to listen!).

Waterfront construction - Steve Hague, P.E.

Steve Hague, PE, SE from HNTB shared the technical differences between suspension bridges and cable-stayed bridges (Steve designed the Zakim Bridge in Boston shown in the figure). He also shared how cable-stayed bridges are constructed. Listen to the podcast.

Blue River restoration - Tim Fobes from HDR

Tim shared the efforts to restore normal aquatic and riparian habitats to a section of the Blue River from 53rd Street to the confluence with Brush Creek in eastern Kansas City. The project has two purposes: flood control/conveyance and habitat restoration. Learn about some of the construction and design methods, and what benefits have already been seen. Listen to the podcast.

Rick Besancon, P.E. -- sewer bats

Rick Besancon, P.E. of Burns & McDonnell explained about the grey bats (Myotis grisescens) in the Pittsburg, KS storm sewers. Grey bats are an endangered species. Burns & McDonnell worked with bat ecologists from Missouri State University to modify the new box culvert installation for bat habitation. Listen to the podcast.

Book reviews by Jerry Richardson, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE

Jerry Richardson will be a returning guest on the show to share his passion for nonfiction books about rivers and water. Here is a list of possible radio interview subjects:

• Rising Tide: the great Mississippi flood of 1927 and how it changed America, by John M. Barry.
• Down the Colorado: diary of the first trip through the Grand Canyon, 1869, by John Wesley Powell and Eliot Porter.
• The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey, by Candice Millard.
• The Blue Nile, by Alan Moorehead.
• The White Nile, by Alan Moorehead.
• The Journals of Lewis and Clark
• Sources of the River: tracking David Thompson across western North America, by Jack Nisbet.
• Cadillac Desert: the American West and its disappearing water, by Marc Reisner and John Lust.
• Longitude: the true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time, by Dava Sobel.

Biochemical oxygen demand - Deb O'Bannon, Ph.D., P.E.

Your, host, Dr. Deb, outlined why we measure BOD (biochemical oxygen demand), why it's often done for five days (five days along the Thames from London to the North Sea), how the test is completed, and what we do with the data (wasteload allocations). She also explained why this archival test is still useful when we have gas chromatographs and other high-tech laboratory instrumentation. This show is part of a set of shows on water quality testing (see/hear also 5/10/09 and 3/15/09 on "Water, Water Everywhere". Listen to the podcast.

Storm and hurricane formation - Andy Bailey returns

Andy Bailey of the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill, MO returns. Andy and Deb described the physics of thunderstorms and hurrricanes in layman's terms. Listen to the broadcast.

Copper toxicity interview on KSHB-NBC 41

Lenexa Mexican restaurant problem. The reporter wanted to know if backflow from the carbonated fountain machine could cause copper problems in the drinking water drawn from the dispenser.

US Army Corps - Neil Bass

Neil Bass is an Environmental Resources Planner with the Kansas City District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Learn how the Corps is reconstructing lost habitats along the Missouri River in Kansas and Missouri, and what exactly they're doing to achieve this goal. Listen to the podcast.

KCMO's Water Laboratory - Lorene Lindsay

Listen to Lorene Lindsay of Kansas City's Water Services laboratory give us an audio tour of the high-tech facility on the grounds of the Kansas City water plant on North Oak. Lorene and Deb explained some of the testing methods that some of us see every week on CSI. Listen to the podcast.

Jason Wright, P.E. - Cistern capacity optimization

Jason Wright, P.E. shared his research on cistern (and rain barrel) use optimization. Deb also walked the audience through some residential runoff calculations and how even small reductions in storm runoff can benefit our storm water systems. Listen to the podcast.

Extraterrestrial water - Prof. Dan McIntosh

Prof. Dan McIntosh talked about how water (liquid, ice, vapor) is detected in space, where it's been found, and why extraterrestrial water is important. He is also the director of UMKC's Warkoczewski Observatory. Listen to the podcast.

Lake Lenexa Dam Spillway - Joel Marquardt

Joel Marquardt of Gastinger Walker Hardin Architects was one of the architects who designed the award-winning, and very interesting, Lake Lenexa Dam and Spillway. Joel shared the artistic interpretation of the various elements of the spillway and the history of the design.
The spillway has won design awards from the American Concrete Institute (Technical Innovations Award, 2006), the American City and County Crown Community Award for Black Hoof Park in 2006, the American Public Works Association (Kansas City Chapter 2007 Project of the Year), 2007 Kansas Engineering Excellence Award (with Black & Veatch), the American Council of Engineering Companies, the National League of Cities (Gold Winner for the Rain to Recreation program in 2007), and 2009 Project of the Year from the US Society of Dams. Listen to the podcast.

Avi Ostfeld from Technion University

Dr. Avi Ostfeld told the listeners about drinking water security in Israel and Technion University, and Deb and Avi talked about more general water issues in Israel like desalination and the ecological gradients there. Listen to the podcast.

Missouri River 340 race - Scott Mansker

Listen to the inspiring/ intimidating information on the Missouri River 340 race. Yes, it's a canoe (or other human-powered, not sailboat) race from the mouth of the Kaw River to St. Charles, MO. More than 200 boats are registered for this year's race, which happens August 4-7, 2009. You can view the flotilla at Riverfront Park on Tuesday morning, August 4, from 7:15-9:00. The Friends of the River will sell you a donut and coffee at the park that morning. Listen to the podcast.

Moving to 11:30 CST !!

"Water, Water Everywhere" is moving to 11:30 CDST starting Sunday, 19 July 2009. I hope you'll be listening. Deb O'Bannon

Infrastructure Report Card - Alysen Abel & Jennifer Jacka

Two members of the Kansas City Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers' leadership team joined Deb O'Bannon to discuss the report card of national infrastructure: Alysen Abel (2009-2010 President) and Jennifer Jacka (Director). They discussed the implications of the report card and how the scores were determined. Listen to the podcast.

MODOT's wetland protection - Chris Shulse

Chris described amphibian ecology in Missouri highway-side wetlands. He also talked about the relative success of bullfrog and mosquito fish populations in Missouri. Listen to the podcast.

Lenexa's Stormwater Projects - Mike Beezhold

Mike Beezhold, Lenexa's Watershed Manager, talked on the show about Lenexa, KS's award-winning stormwater projects, Lake Lenexa's artistic dam (below), and then Mike and Deb O'Bannon mixed it up a little on the triple bottom line. And...we had our first promotion with a give-away of tickets to the Riverfront fireworks display for July 4th. Listen to the podcast.

KC Star article on porous concrete

Kansas City's Stream Buffer Ordinance - Patty Noll

Patty Noll shared the history and details of Kansas City's award-winning Stream Buffer Ordinance. The stream buffer defines three zones along a stream: the streamside zone (25 feet from the stream bank), the riparian zone (from streamside zone to the limit of the 100-year flood), and the outer zone (75 feet from the riparian zone limit). She explained the development within the outer zone allows denser development with fewer required parking spaces, so that developers can use the developable area more effectively since they can't build in the streamside nor riparian zones. Listen to the podcast.

Kansas City Waterfront Development part II - Vincent Gauthier

Vincent Gautier, AICP expanded his discussion of events and development on the Missouri River waterfront. Celebrate the 4th of July on the river! Listen to the podcast.

"Green" streambank stabilization - Rick Besancon, P.E.

Rick Besancon, P.E., an engineer with Burns & McDonnell discussed streambank stabilization. He gave a paper recently at the ASCE Environment & Water Resources conference on "green" bank stabilization. Stabilization is needed to protect property (including roads and bridges), prevents erosion and high sediment content in streams. The method he shared uses downed trees to stabilize the bank and allow resedimentation and stabilization. The photos below are before/in construction and after two years. Listen to the podcast.

Kansas City Waterfront Development - part I - Vincent Gauthier

Vincent Gauthier, AICP is the Executive Director of the Port Authority of Kansas City, MO. He described the development of 120 acres along the Missouri River, including Berkeley Riverfront Park and the Riverfront Heritage Trail and some important cleanup of that area. Listen to the podcast.

Unpacking the 100-year flood - Jerry Richardson, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE

Dr. Jerry Richardson from UMKC returns to explain the interpretation of terms such as the 100-year flood or the 500-year earthquake. If you search for "return period," you will find the statistical background that Dr. Richardson and Dr. O'Bannon alluded to. Listen to the podcast.

Measuring river flow - Dr. Jerry Richardson, PE, D.WRE

Dr. Jerry Richardson (UMKC professor) and Dr. O'Bannon discussed how velocity and flow (discharge) are measured in rivers. Dr. Richardson shared his rich experience in investigating rivers and why flow information is important. Dr. Richardson teaches the undergraduate fluid mechanics and hydraulics courses, and teaches open channel flow, sediment transport and river morphology courses at the graduate level. Listen to the podcast.

Dissolved oxygen and coliform bacteria explained - Deb O'Bannon

Dissolved oxygen and coliform bacteria are both important components of water quality assessment. Dr. O'Bannon discussed the testing and data interpretation for these measurements of water quality, and why we should be interested in them. Listen to the podcast.

Linda Hall Library's Rare Books - Bruce Bradley

Bruce Bradley shared the science and engineering resources that are available to the public at the Linda Hall Library. Deb O'Bannon referred to drawings from the rare book collection, particularly drawings of the Panama Canal, and polar explorations. Linda Hall Library is located at 5109 Cherry Street in Kansas City, MO. Listen to the podcast.

UMKC's Award-winning Civil Engineering Program - Tom Kimes & Erich Schmitz

On Thursday, April 30, UMKC, and the civil engineering program specifically, will receive a national award from the national council of examiners for engineering and surveying (NCEES) – the folks who write the exams for our professional licenses. We are one of six engineering programs nationally who are being recognized for our strong relationship with engineering practioners. And UMKC is the only school in the Central Time Zone. The award is titled, "2009 NCEES Engineering Award for Connecting Professional Practice and Education", and was given for the interaction between engineering professionals (Tom Kimes, P.E. of HDR and Erich Schmitz of TranSystems) and the UMKC civil engineering capstone class. UMKC's civil engineering capstone class has partnered with the City of Kansas City's Public Works Department since 2003 in which the students complete the design for small, traffic-bearing bridges that the City needs to replace. Kimes, Schmitz and O'Bannon oversee the students' work and help them develop professional skills. Listen to the podcast.