The anticipation of "the year 2000" and the start of the 21st century also brought on a great deal of reflection about the events and achievements of the 20th century. ASCE demonstrated how civil engineers enhanced the quality of life with two special events: the Millennium Challenge in 1999, and the Monuments of the Millennium in 2000.
The Millennium Challenge canvassed ASCE members in late 1999 to determine the 10 civil engineering achievements that had the greatest positive impact on life in the 20th century. Rather than individual projects, they chose to recognize broad categories of achievements. The Monuments of the Millennium are international or national projects that represent many of these achievements. The Monuments, chosen in early 2000 by a distinguished panel of civil engineers, demonstrate a combination of technical engineering achievement, courage and inspiration, and a dramatic influence on the development of the communities in which they're located.
Here are the 10 greatest civil engineering achievements as ranked by ASCE's members in 1999, and the related Monuments of the Millennium as selected in 2000. Click on each of the monument names to learn more in depth about each:
Click the link below to view the Monuments.
The Chicago Monument excerpted below:
From the earliest times through the 19th century, people lived in filth, disposing of garbage and raw sewage by dumping it into streets, alleys and waterways. As a result, they often suffered from such deadly diseases as cholera and typhus.
Until the early 1900s, America's urban wastewater, including industrial waste, was dumped into the nation's waterways. Few municipalities treated wastewater, as it was widely believed that running water purified itself. Ironically, with the implementation of water treatment supply systems, the need for uncontaminated water supplies decreased, and the nation's waterways became more polluted.
As recently as 1968, the city of St. Louis discharged 300 million gallons per day of raw waste into the Mississippi River. By 1972, only one‐third of U.S. waterways remained safe for drinking and fishing. With the advent of wastewater treatment, cities became much more equipped to deal with population influx. Such innovations as activated sludge treatment allow for the maintenance of high levels of water quality.
Wastewater treatment led to an increase in life expectancy, reduction in infant mortality and morbidity, control and prevention of communicable diseases, and improvements to the aquatic environment, enabling the public to enjoy water sports and maintain a healthy ecosystem for marine life.
Seven Wonders of the Modern World, 1955
The reversal of the Chicago River, completed in 1900, enabled Chicago to continue its growth and progress after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Before the reversal, the safety of the Lake Michigan drinking water supply was constantly threatened by untreated sewage flowing directly into the river, which then flowed back into the lake. The Chicago Sanitary District, as it was known then, undertook a monumental task when it built a 28‐mile‐long channel that would connect the Chicago River with the Des Plaines River to reverse the flow of the river away from Lake Michigan. More than 28 million cubic yards of glacial drift and 12.9 million cubic yards of solid rock were removed, using conveyers, steam shovels, horse‐drawn wagons, dynamite and the labor of thousands of immigrants.
Additional Information http://www.chicagoriver.org/
Official website for the Friends of the Chicago River. http://www.earthcam.com/usa/illinois/chicago/field/
This camera offers many views of the Chicago skyline, including the beautiful shore of Lake Michigan.
Ten‐Public‐Works‐Projects‐of‐ the‐Century A chronological history of the reversal of the Chicago River. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_River#Reversing_the_flow
A brief overview of the remarkable feat of reversing the Chicago River's flow.
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