By Margaret M. Mitchell
Happy New Year! This year Civil Engineering will be covering a number of topics, from engineering for outer space to technology in the transportation sector. This issue turns its focus to water: how to manage it, how to keep it clean, how to recover from far too much of it, and how it played a pivotal role in a city’s transformation.
In “Hydraulic Memory,” Robert L. Reid presents what civil engineers, urban planners, and water experts have done to manage stormwater on New York’s Staten Island. The Bluebelt program combines natural systems, such as creeks, wetlands, and ponds, with “gray” infrastructure, such as weirs and pipes, to reduce the risks of flooding and improve water quality. Reid writes, “The Bluebelt system has proved to be an ingenious, adaptable, and sustainable solution that works with nature — even in an urban setting — to keep water flowing in the right direction.”
The next stop is Anaheim, California. When the city discovered that its groundwater was contaminated by low levels of PFAS, it sprang into action with the Anaheim Groundwater Treatment Plants Design-Build Project, detailed in “Tackling PFAS in Groundwater.” The $150 million fast-track effort included construction of PFAS treatment plants that would allow Anaheim Public Utilities to “remove the PFAS contaminants below the detection limit, reduce the cost of providing drinking water to APU customers, and reduce the utility’s reliance on treated water from the Metropolitan Water District,” according to authors Leonel Ivan Almanzar, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE, DBIA, F.SEI, F.ASCE, Jacob Hester, P.E., Evelyn Chang, P.E., and Daniel Tsuchiyama, EIT.
Following on the heels of water purification is “Restoring Local Access” by Johann Zimmermann, P.E., M.ASCE, and Joe Hochstetler, P.E., M.ASCE — engineers who focus on serving rural communities primarily in North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. The authors recount the work they do — along with a host of trained volunteers and a few relief organizations — to repair small, privately owned bridges damaged or destroyed by floods. Their efforts help to restore residents’ sense of normalcy and access to work, social services, and more. Per the authors, “The collaboration with the contractors and volunteers has been and continues to be an exciting and rewarding endeavor.”
Concluding our water-related coverage is “Shoreline Success.” Author Audrey Swain writes about the seven-year reimagination of Seattle’s downtown. Completed in 2025, the metropolis’s new “front porch” is 20 acres of urban park that “redefines the city’s connection to its iconic waterfront, blending robust civil works, habitat-forward design, and people-focused places.” The city chose a “programmatic construction management approach,” says Swain, ensuring “consistent leadership, technical expertise, and integration” of all aspects of the Waterfront Seattle program.
In 2027, ASCE will host a new event that will bring together its nine institutes and the Center for Technical Advancement all under one roof. The extravaganza will allow attendees to “connect with top minds, explore future-focused innovations, and sharpen (their) expertise through deep dives into cutting-edge practices and tech,” according to the event website. Dubbed ASCE2027: The Infrastructure and Engineering Experience, it will take place March 1-5 in Philadelphia.
In anticipation of ASCE2027, Civil Engineering will run articles throughout the year that either feature a project in Philadelphia or are related to the key trends attendees will learn about, such as future materials and construction methods, artificial intelligence-driven design, cyber resilience, and autonomous and smart technology, among others.
For our ASCE2027 coverage in this issue, we’re highlighting the renovation of Philadelphia’s Benjamin Rush Garden, the new home of the six-ton Bicentennial Bell, in the article “From England with Love” by Mike Thomas, P.E., M.ASCE. Queen Elizabeth II gifted the bell — which actually rings, unlike the Liberty Bell — to the United States in July 1976. The renovation project “highlights and explores the connections between engineering, design, history, and the evolving needs of urban spaces,” Thomas writes.
Stay tuned for more content that focuses on the innovations, technologies, and design advances in the world of civil engineering.
Margaret M. Mitchell is the editor in chief of Civil Engineering.
This article first appeared in the January/February 2026 issue of Civil Engineering.
