March 2025 BSCES President's Report
Christopher P. Hersey, Project Executive, Suffolk Construction
A few months ago, I had the fortune to speak with an outstanding group of ASCE Student Chapter leaders from local colleges and universities over a dinner presentation. The energy and ideas from these civil engineering students brought me back to my engineering journey as I reflected with them on how prevalent engineering is in our daily lives even from the minute we wake up. Making the bed in the morning, we stand on a structure designed by a structural engineer with materials that were engineered and tested by a materials engineer. In the bathroom, the toilet and graywater systems is designed by wastewater engineers and utility engineers; while taking a shower is possible because environmental engineers and water resource engineers designed a system for the delivery and discharge water through a labyrinth of pipes, pumps, and distribution facilities. When traveling to work or school, you may go through bus stations, train stations, airports, roads, sidewalks, and bridges designed by transportation engineers and constructed by civil engineers. After arriving at your destination, you enter a school or workplace designed by a structural engineer on a foundation designed by a geotechnical engineer. All aspects of our lives are touched by our chosen, ubiquitous occupation. The number of ways that engineering touches us on a daily basis are innumerable and unless you go through this imaginary exercise you don’t even realize it.
This newsletter’s featured group is the Environmental & Water Resource Institute Boston Chapter and its theme is Water and Environmental Solutions. As I closed my talk with ASCE Student Chapter leaders, I left them with my hopes that they would find new approaches and potential solutions to sustainability and resiliency in Boston and other coastal cities. As referenced in the Greater Boston Priority Climate Action Plan (March 2024) prepared by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, “The region also faces rising sea levels and increased intensity of storm events, leading to higher tides and more frequent coastal flooding. As shown in figure 16, the probability of coastal flooding ranges from 0.1 percent to 2 percent in 2030 and 2 percent to 50 percent and in some cases 100 percent in 2070. The likelihood of coastal flooding is particularly high in Newburyport, greater Boston, and the Marshfield and Plymouth regions.” Flooding and tidal changes impact multiple facets of how we design and build cities in our state.
Specific to heat (See figure 17), “The region is expected to experience increases in extreme heat (days over 90 degrees) and longer duration heat waves (3+ days of consecutive extreme heat), as well as warmer springs and fall seasons. By 2030, the region will experience 12-27 days of extreme heat annually and by 2080, upwards of 80 days over 90 degrees. Average daily temperature in the region will increase by between 2.5-3°F by 2040.”
Specific to precipitation (See figure 15), “The region is expected to experience increases in extreme precipitation events. Over the last decade, rainfall records have been broken worldwide, with one in four records being attributed directly to climate. The northeast region is experiencing the largest increase in the number of extreme precipitation days in the US, and this trend is expected to continue.”
Municipal, city, and state policies are beginning to take these trends into account, which in turn are driving engineering design. For example, Boston is shooting for carbon neutrality by 2050. With building accounting for 71% of carbon emissions, the specialized stretch energy code, Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO), and initiatives such as all electrification, are driving how we design and build.
I have personally been involved with a number of larger developer-driven construction projects where engineering accounts for projected climate changes to 2050 and even through 2070. In addition to the changes we have seen to date, there are inevitably more to come as we adapt to change.
I would like to thank the authors of the following articles included in this month’s newsletter:
- PFAS in Drinking Water Regulations article by Allie Goldberg from Weston & Sampson
- EWRI Boston Chapter featured group article by Emanuel DeAndrade from SGH
- ASCE’s 2025 National Report Card on America’s Infrastructure by Gus O’Leary from Kleinfelder
- Nominate a 2025 BSCES Award Recipient by the April 11 Deadline by Rishabh Iyer from Kleinfelder