Infrastructure is a significant part of society’s existence. At nearly any given time, we are surrounded by pipes, wires, roads, and all of the other pieces of substructure that guide our world today. For something that is such a huge part of our lives, it is incredible how little most people know about what goes into it. In the book On The Grid by Scott Huler, the author sets out to learn more about the mysterious infrastructure systems. His journey begins in his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina and takes the readers along as he goes into storm drains, sewers, power plants, and all the other roots of the topics of focus. He follows the planners and operators of these systems, interviews them, and investigates them himself. In this book,
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There is a lot of planning that goes into where water can be drained; this includes knowing how much water different surfaces are able to absorb in order to put drainages in the most efficient locations. He begins by exploring the city’s watersheds. “The goal [of the storm water system],” says Huler, “is to take something that’s spread out, like rain, and get it out of the way without concentrating it any more than you absolutely must” (Huler 34) The author goes on to describe the ways that his own city of Raleigh, North Carolina handles storm water runoff and drainage; in the past, the city attempted to turn the creeks into tunnels. They built a mall on top of it, and the mall often floods because it was not thought out well enough. Many mistakes like this one have been made, and the way that runoff is handled has changed as well. The author explains that, instead of getting the water to flow elsewhere, engineers work to keep the water at a set location—an example would be a bioretention area. Huler writes, “From a simple mechanical process of nuisance removal—get out of here and forget about it—the storm water infrastructure has become a biological process of resource management” (Huler 43). In this chapter, we learn the importance of the hydrological cycle. Huler does a terrific job explaining the processes gone through to find the most efficient methods to deal with water, and, in doing this, shows the readers how much there truly is to learn about this category of
There is a lot of planning that goes into where water can be drained; this includes knowing how much water different surfaces are able to absorb in order to put drainages in the most efficient locations. He begins by exploring the city’s watersheds. “The goal [of the storm water system],” says Huler, “is to take something that’s spread out, like rain, and get it out of the way without concentrating it any more than you absolutely must” (Huler 34) The author goes on to describe the ways that his own city of Raleigh, North Carolina handles storm water runoff and drainage; in the past, the city attempted to turn the creeks into tunnels. They built a mall on top of it, and the mall often floods because it was not thought out well enough. Many mistakes like this one have been made, and the way that runoff is handled has changed as well. The author explains that, instead of getting the water to flow elsewhere, engineers work to keep the water at a set location—an example would be a bioretention area. Huler writes, “From a simple mechanical process of nuisance removal—get out of here and forget about it—the storm water infrastructure has become a biological process of resource management” (Huler 43). In this chapter, we learn the importance of the hydrological cycle. Huler does a terrific job explaining the processes gone through to find the most efficient methods to deal with water, and, in doing this, shows the readers how much there truly is to learn about this category of