Underground Construction - January 2022 - 31

started working closely with the city of Chattanooga. Finally,
when the city's water and sewer director was at the state offi ces
one day, he pulled Kurz aside.
" Look, George, " Kurz recalls him saying. " Why don't you just
come down and do this darned thing for me? Th at way, we'll know
we've got it right, and the state will have some trust in us, too.' "
Between Kurz's state pay and the prospect of tackling a brandnew
program, it was an easy sell. He moved to Chattanooga, where
he increasingly worked with the collection system and, as a result,
with the head of Maintenance.
" I have to tell you, the fi rst time he took me out to show me an
SSO (sanitary sewer overfl ow), I thought, 'Gee, that's kind of a
problem,' " Kurz said, describing another key juncture. " I'm embarrassed
to admit that it really didn't hit me a lot at the time. But it
stayed in my mind, and we tried to work more on what to do about
it. And that's really kind of the beginning of the rest of my career. "
The fi nal turn
In the mid-1980s, federal regulators knew they had a problem.
After a decade of attempted policy initiatives for pretreatment,
I/I control and overfl ows, their processes weren't working. Many
problems boiled down to the simple fact that the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) couldn't eff ectively issue orders for compliance
when they didn't know exactly what needed to be fi xed.
Th eir solution was called the National Municipal Compliance
Plan, which involved sending everybody with wastewater treatment
facilities a thick questionnaire, so they could detail all the problems
themselves and the EPA could send out the orders to fi x them.
" Th ey dumped it down to the states, and the states dumped it
down to the cities, and then my boss dumped it on my desk, " Kurz
said, and the next chapter in his career unfolded before his eyes.
" When I fi rst got the survey, I kind of fl ipped through the pages
and I thought, 'Oh, yeah, we do that,' and then the next page, 'We
do that, so that's okay,' " Kurz recalled. " But then, when I sat down
and actually started trying to fi ll it out and document it, I thought:
'Oh, good grief, are we in trouble!' "
Chattanooga's problems were mostly around I/I, leakage and the
general condition of the sewer system. He decided they needed to
get started as fast as possible and try to avoid a monstrous order.
Th e city coughed up about $1 million in its next budget to start
with some equipment and repair contracts, a fraction of what
would be needed, but a start. It was 1986, and Kurz was designing
his fi rst sewer rehab project.
Stellar career
Kurz continued to serve as sewer system engineer for the
Interceptor Sewer System in Chattanooga until 1990, eventually
managing 34 people in the sewer maintenance and industrial
wastes divisions and a combined annual budget of $2.25 million.
He also initiated the I/I monitoring and sewer rehabilitation
programs and designed the fi rst fl ow monitoring network of
21 permanent meters. He oversaw procurement of design for
the fi rst CSO control project at Ross's Landing, and designed
1.5 miles of 15-, 24- and 54-inch sewer trunk lining.
Beginning in 1991, he worked for CTA as part of the
Nashville Overflow Abatement Program (OAP) as a project
manager and project engineer. Kurz established the standards
for hydraulic and I/I flow analysis for the OAP and performed
George Kurz inspects a sewer.
the before-after analyses for 27 project areas, which showed an
aggregate I/I reduction of 50 percent annually.
In 2012, Kurz wrote a " Green Paper " to provoke action by the
Tennessee Division of Water Resources to revise its sewer design
criteria to handle I/I more eff ectively statewide and to become
proactive for I/I reduction. Th e Division responded by creating
a taskforce to update the design criteria, which Kurz co-chaired.
He has continued to assist the Division with training on his
municipal I/I & RDI/I spreadsheet.
Above and beyond
A strong believer in industry education, Kurz is a frequent
presenter in the educational program at UCT and has also
presented pre-show workshops on sewer rehabilitation strategies.
He was also an early and enthusiastic supporter of the RehabZone
program at UCT and still participates as an industry expert -
answering questions, explaining technology and providing general
information to the audience.
Underground Construction Editor-in-Chief Robert Carpenter
noted that it is not unusual to fi nd Kurz in the RehabZone with
a crowd gathered around him as he shares technical information,
anecdotal stories and relevant research information.
Kurz is also a published author, contributing articles for a
variety of publications, including Underground Construction.
" Th roughout his career, George has been relentless in the pursuit
of a better way to evaluate sewer systems and eff ectively battle
I&I, " Carpenter said upon Kurz's selection as MVP. " His work in
these areas is legendary. "
Kurz's eff orts to educate and improve sewer and water systems
extends into his personal life, as well. Each year, he travels to
Ecuador on a church mission to lend his engineering expertise
and help build infrastructure for struggling communities. He has
initiated and administered development projects for the Episcopal
Diocese of Litoral in Guayaquil since 1996.
" He truly refl ects the type of individual integrity and career accomplishments
that epitomize the MVP award, " Carpenter said. *
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