Engineering Inc - July/August 2018 - 31

2018-2019 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
have an active role
in the development
of design programs,
their use and
implementation."
Some deceptively
simple new technology could also
pose a threat to the
industry, Sullivan
adds. "An untrained,
unqualified person
could try to leverage
these new technoloGayle Roberts
gies to deliver an
engineering product.
How do we protect against unqualified companies or individuals using these tools without the expertise or the knowledge?" he
says.
It's not enough to rely on others for expertise. For example,
AI, which garners both excitement and concern in the industry,
has the potential to revolutionize project design. If firms outsource all of their AI know-how, they could lose their competitive edge and their market share. It comes down to integration
and utilization.
"Where are we going to be when AI can design a bridge better
than we can?" says Barrett. Engineers will have to learn what a
community wants and use AI to design a product that addresses
those wants and needs while at the same time maximizing the
savings that AI will bring to a project, Barrett says.
INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS

In some areas, it's not the latest technology but the everyday needs
that face the biggest hurdles. U.S. infrastructure remains in dire
straits, with about $150 billion annually needed to repair highways and bridges, $100 billion for airports, $25 billion for public
transit and $25 billion for water and
Stephanie Hachem
wastewater, according to Kothari.
Vice Chair Keith
Jackson believes
water will be a
particular area of
opportunity, both
in the need to repair
infrastructure related
to water and wastewater, but also getting water to where it
is needed.
"In Texas, for
instance, we have lots
of water. It is just in
the wrong part of the
state, and others do
not want to share it,"

says Jackson, who is also a senior vice president at HNTB Corp.,
Austin, Texas. "You also have Flint, Michigan, and their water
problems. Puerto Rico is suffering still without water, and California just signed an $11-billion plan for a new pipeline system to
get water to Los Angeles."
In California and other parts of the West, Vice Chair Keith
London, president and CEO of Kennedy/Jenks Consultants,
Murrieta, California, also sees parched communities working on
ways to treat all types of water as one water resource. "Planned
potable reuse projects, where wastewater undergoes advance purification before being reintroduced to the environment to indirectly
supplement drinking water supplies, are
being explored in parts of the U.S. where
water is scarce," says London.
"We are currently leading the planning,
design and implementation of what will
be the next wave of indirect potable reuse
projects in California; supplementing
groundwater and surface water supplies
to meet increasingly stringent discharge
compliance requirements, or to offset
expensive imported water supplies," he
says. "This is an exciting time, where
the regulations, public acceptance and
technology are all aligning to allow cities
and water agencies to develop local, sustainable supplies."
But funding remains a thorny issue,
with the federal government proposing that
more money come from states and private
partnerships. "There have been states passing infrastructure bonds, which is a good
thing, but as far as federal funds, unless they
really have a new revenue source it is going to
be very difficult to fund any added increases,"
says Vice Chair Charles Gozdziewski, executive chairman at Hardesty & Hanover, New
York City.
Despite the Trump administration's talk
of infrastructure funding, there is still no
Keith London
clear funding source for these projects.
"However, it does feel like the pulse is
stronger than it has been in a long time for infrastructure funding," Hachem says. "The focus is shifting a bit from just a case
for helping move goods and people to an issue of economic
health, especially when giant online retailers increasingly look
to infrastructure to build massive distribution centers and need
healthy roads and bridges to deliver goods to customers."
DOSE OF REALITY

There is no shortage of other threats to the industry, according to
Kothari. Fear of over-regulation, looming trade wars, the perpetual shortage of qualified engineers and China's plan to invest $4
trillion in global infrastructure are just a few of the "what ifs" that
keep some engineering firm leaders up at night. And that doesn't
include the major impact that a sudden economic downturn
JULY / AUGUST 2018

ENGINEERING INC.

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