Engineering Ethics

In my previous post I chatted about a touchy issue, not only in the field of Civil Engineering but also in society in general. As I sat down to research that topic the information I was looking at all seemed to contradict one another, it always seemed that one believed this and that another believed that. And as I thought about all this contradicting information the idea of ethics came to mind. Are Civil Engineers ethical? What kinds of qualifications or oversights are in place to ensure the ethical nature of not only Civil Engineers but Engineers in general?

First what is required of a Civil Engineer in order to be a Civil Engineer, and what kind of education do they receive? Civil Engineering, like many other professions people go to college for, has a course on ethics as part of the curriculum. As Engineers we are taught to maintain a certain amount of integrity and morals. To do the things that are right, to protect the safety of humanity and the environment which we live in. On top of this, any engineering who wishes to receive licensure and the ability to sign off on projects or start their own business is required to receive endorsement from the State Board of Professional Engineers. A portion of what the board looks at in prospective candidates includes ethics and has the candidate expressed ethics in the work they have already done in the field.

As I said earlier a Civil Engineer takes on the responsibility to design, implement, and oversee projects that are beneficial to human welfare and the environment.  But where does the Civil Engineer draw the line when it comes to either humanity (by which I mean a simpler life) or the environment? Civil Engineers in almost every area of the field have expressed different opinions on whether or not hydrofracking is safe. Talk to a Civil Engineer who is working for Halliburton, they will tell you that there is nothing wrong with drilling and hydrofracking. That it is a completely safe and efficient method of drilling oil wells and that there are no side effects in doing so. Talk to a Civil Engineer working for the EPA and they would say they were unsure of the safety of current drilling practices and that they are currently doing additional research as to the effects on the environment. Which brings us back to the point that drilling techniques need to be tested and approved before wide scale use is implemented. Finally, talk to an engineering firm who has no business or profit to gain from the oil fields would likely say that the effects are harmful to the environment.

Everything I have said can be pretty much summed up with one idea, opinion follows money, especially when it comes to choosing between the environment and energy. If you or your company is going to benefit from the work taking place you are more than likely going to agree with what is going to make you the most money. I would say this is true for almost all fields of engineering, because it would be fairly bold to say it is not. Regardless of how much ethics are stressed in our education and by society, the companies we work for have more of an impact than we would dare to admit. This is not to say that all engineers are unethical or that everybody in the world is unethical, but rather to say that we need to maintain a high standard of ethics in our workplace. Continually striving for better, because sometimes better starts with an ethical issue.

Knowledge of oil deposits in North Dakota is widespread. Concern has been expressed regarding everything from oil drilling to hydrofracking. People have begun to question the safeness and effects.

In 2006, the Bakken oil fields began to see drilling increase. The area covers roughly 14000 sq. miles and is expected to contain an astonishing 300 billion barrels of oil, giving it the potential to be the largest reserve in the continental United States. The drilling has brought life into the once desolate areas of northwestern North Dakota. There is an abundance of jobs available, as well as the wealth that accompanies them. The volume and size of highway traffic has greatly increased – a  traffic count in 2011 indicated that in one 24 hour period, 29,000 vehicles passed through.

As mentioned in a previous post, civil engineers possess expertise and knowledge in the fields of transportation, structures, waters, and the environment. Engineers possess skills in things such as soil mechanics, hydrology, waste management, and highway design. The work they perform is meant to enhance human welfare and the environment.





The first process in drilling for oil involves setting up a derrick for drilling. The derrick is usually drilled a few thousand feet below the surface and is then turned horizontally to drill sideways. This has been the process and way of oil drilling since the beginning. At this point the well is prepared for the fracking process. Steel casings are put into place and set in with cement. The depth of the casings and cement vary with each individual well. The location of the water table and the soils comprising the well site are used in determining factors such as depth. Following this is the fracking process itself. The process requires millions of gallons of water to be trucked to the well site where it is mixed with sand and miscellaneous chemicals. From this point it is pumped into the well and pressurized to cause the shale to break open and release the trapped oil. This process acts much like a miniature earth quake. When hydrofracking, some of the slurry (water, chemical, and sand mixture) comes back out of the well and is pumped into a nearby storage pond. From here it is desirable to use the slurry in the drilling of other wells.



Like many things in life, things can go wrong. The casing can crack in the process of fracking, allowing contamination of groundwater. The slurry mix that returns from the surface can contaminate the soil if mishandled. The abundance of heavy traffic can cause highways to disintegrate and crumble much quicker than what they were designed for. As civil engineers, I feel that we do not have enough say in what actually takes place.

Overall, the effects of oil drilling - more specifically hydrofracking – on the welfare of humans and the environment have not yet been fully determined. The Environmental Protection Agency has scrutinized the practice in the past and has now begun re-examining it again. As a civil engineer it would be my responsibility to protect the welfare of the people and the environment. My response is that fracking requires much more research. I recommend that until things are deemed safe, the practice should not be continued.

Student Review ArcGIS



ArcGIS Map



In my previous post I chatted some about the different thing Civil Engineers do and the different areas that a Civil Engineers can focus on. Civil Engineers are always looking for most accurate, new, up to date software programs on the market. One such product is the main serving software for Water Resource and Environmental Engineers. ArcGIS or Geographic Information System consists of something similar to Google maps in that it provides a satellite image of a given location, but is so much more than just mapping software. It is an analytical tool that the American Society of Civil Engineers said could perform, “mapping, monitoring, modeling, and maintenance.”



LIDAR



The ArcGIS software has been in the Engineering field for some time now but is only now really picking up. The features the software offers have also been evolving over time. The program now comes with the ability to view spatial data, layer maps, input data, and manipulate data. The programs ability to layer maps truly makes it a Civil Engineer’s favorite mapping tool. Perhaps the most valuable of all these maps is the LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data. The data, much of which can be downloaded at http://www.lidarbasemaps.org/,  is collected in the fall from aircraft that fly grid patterns over the country side. The aircraft are equipped with a laser which scans the ground and the aircraft records the reflection time, much like radar works. The data provides three-dimensional images of the ground to accuracies within a foot. Having this data with ArcGIS would mean being able to layer it with a soil map and calculating potential problem areas for soil erosion. Or to use the LIDAR data as a means to analyze the areas that would be affected by flooding if water in the local river rose a foot or two.

The ArcGIS software does not come with exactly a cheap price tag. One can expect to pay $1500 to get the software on their computer. It is truly only for those who would be using it every day. But overall the ArcGIS software provides Civil Engineers with an effective easy to use tool to perform mapping tasks. Though it maybe be somewhat expensive; the ability to navigate the software easily, share documents through the server, layer maps, and have accurate data makes ArcGIS a highly sought after software.

ArcGIS is easy software to navigate, making it very user friendly. I myself can attest to the simplicity of use. My internship had required me to use some of the program and I found it to be quite simple to learn. Its ribbon toolbar is laid out much the same as current Microsoft Windows products are. One great advantage of the ArcGIS program has a server, allowing it to share data with others easily. This allows for much more efficient and effective communication to be done between co-workers, management, and clients. Surveying work done in the field can easily be plotted on an ArcGIS map, making it quick and simple for surveyor to get the engineer the data they collected.

A few summers back I got a job working at a watershed district doing little odds and ends in the office and out in the field. My job required me to communicate with volunteers who assisted in lake sampling, perform stream samples from drainage ditches and the river, and input data on the computer. After a while I began to ask myself what exactly happens to all the data that I was collecting, who really looked at it and what did the numbers actually say. Through a little looking around and some quick random research I found the answer to the question. Civil Engineers.

Civil Engineers, they apply their knowledge in math, physics, and science to solve problems in areas like transportation, structures/buildings, environment, and water resources. Each of these disciplines is uniquely important to society, but before I go into their importance I feel a quick background is in important. Civil Engineers have long been designing and improving infrastructure across the world for a long time. A lot of interesting history regarding Civil Engineering can be found at http://whatiscivilengineering.csce.ca/. They seek to design safe and effective structures/projects that address concerns over durability, longevity, sustainability, aesthetics, and at a cost that is economical. Safety is the most important consideration to a Civil Engineering while designing a project.



Interstate Highway


Transportation Engineering, a discipline in the field of Civil Engineering that designs safe and efficient roadways, railways, and airfields. Every curve and hill is designed to allow for a safe field of vision and speeds. The soils and pavements used are designed to handle the weight and volumes of traffic along with the weather conditions that affect the area.  



Petronas Towers
Malaysia





Structural Engineers plan structures that consider things such as aerodynamics, earthquake regulations, and seasonal soil changes. Structures designed by Civil Engineers can be found everywhere in our daily lives. Buildings, tunnels, dams, and bridges are all projects designed by engineers. Structural Engineers carefully plan the materials (wood, steel, concrete, etc.) to be used and how to join those materials together to build a safe and visually pleasing structure.



Dam in China

Environmental Engineers work to solve issues in areas that involve the pollution of air, water, or soil. They design and construct hazardous waste management facilities, hazardous waste cleanups, and landfills, along with waste water control and water quality projects. As society has grown, the Environmental Engineering field has too. With every increase in population our impact can be seen in the world we live in. Environmental Engineers look at ways to minimize our impact on the world we live in.



Stream bank erosion


Much like Environmental Engineers work to protect natural resources; Water Resource Engineering works to protect the specific resource of water. They design treatment facilities for drinking water, irrigation systems that water crops, work on reservoirs and dams, analyze water qualities in rivers and lakes, and perform flood control.

Civil Engineers apply their knowledge of soils, waters, materials, and structures to design and build so many things that society uses every day. Civil Engineers interpret the data to design projects that protect both people and the environment. They value safety above all else. Civil Engineering is a field with growing opportunities. It is always seeking to improve upon itself to build safer, more effective, cost efficient structures that will serve society for many years to come.