Engineering

In the summer of 1858, the Great Stink overwhelmed London. The stench of raw sewerage festering in the Thames nearly forced Parliament to abandon Westminster. In the previous decade, tens of thousands of Londoners had died of cholera caused by the contaminated water.

Two men, Dr John Snow and an engineer named Joseph Bazalgette, ended the cholera epidemics with the life-saving discovery that hand-washing with soap prevents the spread of the disease, and by developing an innovative sewerage system that rid the streets of shit. 

The network of sewers built by Bazalgette is still used by Londoners today. Yet 2.5 billion people around the world still don’t have access to basic sanitation, and every day 4000 children under the age of 5 die of diarrhoea.

Continue reading "How our engineers can save the Third World" »

When Al Gore talked about melting ice caps overnight at least he didn’t break out yet more of those risible maps showing what’s going to happen to your neighbourhood once Greenland’s ice melts.

Those animations are like something out of a Jerry Bruckheimer film showing satellite images of icons like London’s Houses of Parliament, lower Manhattan and the Sydney Opera House disappearing slowly under water, as if we’ll all just stand around saying, “I say dear, the harbour is in the front lawn.”

What about dams, sea walls and rock revetments?

Continue reading "Bad news on sea levels. Dam" »