The problem with
advancement
But even with all these amazing
advancements in technology, the
problem is that, no matter how advanced
we are, we still cannot print water and
energy; something very unlikely to
happen in the future.
There will be some serious challenges
such as what do we do with the surplus
of qualified people whose work has been
taken over by intelligent machines?
How will a road be designed and
constructed by a computer and the same
for large infrastructure such as dams
and other infrastructure, and how will
all this affect the institutional situation
of each country and cross-border
situation? Where will the engineer, the
contractor, the artisan, the labourer and
manufacturer fit in?
The civil engineer of today is
responsible
for
very
important
36
4IR is the future and is a new industrial and technical revolution.
I only got my first computer on my desk a
month before I retired, which is about 28
years ago. Today, no engineer is without
a desktop computer, a laptop and a smart
phone and they can work anywhere – in
a restaurant and even on the beach.
Drawings are all 3D and, you can ‘walk
through’ the building or the civil services
design you are working on in a simulated
environment. Design programs can do
all the calculations and adjust according
to quantities and the specifications. The
question is, will it be able to do even
more?
We often hear the expressions, ‘what
you put in is what you get out’, and
‘rubbish in, rubbish out’ – which both
have to do with work ethic and says a
lot about the efforts of the ‘doer’. Now
there’s talk of ‘artificial intelligence’ –
intelligence that takes over from the
human being and can do a better job and
take over your work?
The office of the future will be
dramatically more advanced in terms of
‘automatic design’ but the construction
will also be dramatically advanced and
artificially intelligently driven. If I can
be so bold as to take a look into the
future, I see smart buildings and related
infrastructure manufactured off site and
assembled on site, or even manufactured
by machines and computers completely
on site. This is already happening with
bridges and other civil infrastructure,
with ‘upfront engineering’ – all in a bid
to do things better, faster and more
economically.
There are already 3D printed houses
constructed on site, the future of these
houses will just be more advanced and
complete with services.
4IR is growing at an exponential rate.
infrastructure
and
life-sustaining
commodities such as water. The problem
is how will we be able to ‘generate’
water and provide it to an ever-growing
population?
Water is already a worldwide problem
and in some countries the work of the
engineer has already been taken over by
people who are not engineers.
Water and sanitation go hand-in-
hand, and you can have the most
advanced technology for the design
and construction of the treatment
plant, but if it is not operated by
competent technicians and maintained
by skilled and competent artisans and
technologists then it will end in disaster
and catastrophe. Not to mention that if
you don’t have water to treat in the first
place, then you are already in trouble.
4IR promises to be an ‘industrial
revolution’, but it seems it will also need
to revolutionise many other things that
go with it, such as:
Water Sewage & Effluent May/June 2019
• Institutional bodies and frameworks
• Standards for design
• Standards for construction
• Standards for education and
training
• Standards for development
• Trade
• Compatibility
• Transport
• Information sharing
• Health and safety
In my opinion, top of the list should be
‘green development’ and reusability.
Electronic engineering will play a
key role in the revolution, and all the
wonderful new products coming from
this wonderful industrial revolution will
also need and depend on electrical
energy with no load shedding!
So, while it seems that the role
and profile of the water engineer will
change, the expertise and skills-set
obtained, as well as the human element
and interaction will still be required in
the future.
www.waterafrica.co.za