The really, really big engineering firms are getting ON BOARD.
ARCADIS, CH2M, AECOM
The companies who build bridges, dams and highways all over the world are probably the ones who will be getting in on the huge Government contracts that will hopefully start to make Miami’s waterlogged future more livable.
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In 2009, Netherlands- based Arcadis (a global design, engineering and management company) won a modest $8.8 million contract to help guide The South Florida Water Management District’s (SFWMD) from returning to its naturally swampy state to service bridges and maintain existing canals. Arcadis is a massive company, with almost 30,000 employees worldwide and over $3.9 billion in revenue. It’s seen the revenues from its water business jump 42 percent over the past five years.
Another Dutch firm, Deltares, is providing the water management district with computer models that will help it more accurately predict the flow of water from Lake Okeechobee all the way down to the Keys.
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An even bigger American company, Colorado-based CH2M, got an $8.8 million contract last year to help the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department pump wastewater thousands of feet underground, instead of just putting it into the ocean like they do now.
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And then there’s AECOM, an engineering behemoth with $17.4 billion in revenue and 87,000 employees that won the $91 million dollar contract to fix Miami-Dade County’s rotting sewage systems. AECOM is also working with the City of Miami Beach on its storm water drainage projects and has also helped the City of Key Biscayne on its resiliency planning.
As the effects of climate change on South Florida become harder to ignore, look to these companies to raise bridges, roads, and seawalls. All of these approaches help to deal with the issues associated with the rising waters, but these strategies will not hold back the force of Mother Nature at her worst. We need to take the remedial steps to REDISTRIBUTE and REDIRECT the waters of the planet.
