Water Simulation Packages (WSP)

According to the New York Sun “New York City’s water supply could be the target of contamination if a water system map made its way into the wrong hands…”

New York City’s water supply could be the target of contamination if a water system map made its way into the wrong hands, an environmentalist said.

The threat has arisen since someone broke into a vehicle belonging to a Department of Environmental Protection maintenance supervisor and stole an agency laptop containing a map of the water system. If the map was detailed enough,”there could be the opportunity to pose a threat,” the executive director for the Center for Environmental Information, Cindy Stachowski, said. Even without a map, Ms. Stachowski added, someone pouring biological, chemical, or radiological contaminants into a fresh water source could adulterate the water system.

Source: The New York Sun

From the Chicago Public Library Digital Collection:

Beneath our feet lies a vast labyrinth of pipes and tunnels. These passageways, the sewer system, are central to the health of our community. Today most Chicagoans take the existence of the sewer system for granted. Yet for most of the City’s first seven decades the defining struggle for Chicago’s continued existence was not the Great Fire of 1871, but its battle with sewage. In the process, streets were raised; channels were dug; an industrial empire launched; tunnels bored miles beneath Lake Michigan; and new technologies invented.

In 1900, Chicago took the astonishing step of reversing the Chicago River, making it the first river to flow away from its mouth. The feat was called one of the seven engineering marvels of the world. In 1922, the flow of a second river, the Calumet, would also be reversed.

To the present day Chicago remains a leader in the technology of urban infrastructure, just beneath our feet and down the drain.

For the full tour of Chicago’s sewer system, past to present, click here.

“Since ancient times poets have revered the power of the seas. Now energy companies and coastal cities like New York and San Francisco are aiming to tap ocean waves and tidal currents as abundant sources of electricity.”

“Whether captured by big buoys bobbing on sea swells or by submerged turbines spinning with the ebb and flow of the tides, the energy potential of moving water, or marine power, is beginning to turn heads in the energy world.”

See the full story at cnn.com