Richard G. Luthy, Silas H. Palmer Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, will speak to campus about re-inventing urban water infrastructure. Luthy is the Georgia Tech Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering's 2011-12 Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Distinguished Lecturer.

Many U.S. cities, especially in the west, southwest and southeast, face a mounting water crisis arising from climate change, population growth, ecosystem demands and deteriorating infrastructure. This presentation will describe collaborative research to address this crisis through more sustainable solutions to urban water use, reuse and management.

Examples will be shown of a new vision of engineered systems — that provide decreased reliance on centralized facilities by employing distributed treatment systems that embrace energy-neutral wastewater reclamation and nutrient recovery, and of managed natural systems — that enhance our ability to transmit, store, and purify water while simultaneously restoring urban hydrology and aquatic habitat. The presentation will also discuss the promise of recycled water for augmenting water supplies in the West with an understanding of why some proposed water reuse projects are implemented and others are aborted or delayed.

Examples of resource management and institutional issues will illustrate economic factors confronting water innovation programs. The presentation draws examples from the new NSF Engineering Research Center for Re-inventing the nation’s Urban Water Infrastructure [ReNUWIt], a collaboration among UC Berkeley, Colorado School of Mines, New Mexico State University and Stanford University.

Dr. Luthy is the Silas H. Palmer Professor and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. His area of teaching and research is environmental engineering and water quality with application to non-potable water reuse and management of contaminated sediments. His work focuses on persistent and bioaccumulative contaminants like PCBs, pesticides and mercury, and emerging contaminants like perfluorinated compounds. Luthy is a past chair of the National Research Council's Water Science and Technology Board and he served on various NRC committees. He is a former President of the AEESP, a registered professional engineer, a Board Certified Environmental Engineer and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.