The Dilemma of Water in the City - Politics of Urban Runoff: Nature, Technology, and the Sustainable City - page 10

Despite the increasing recognition that the engineered drainage net-
works of the nineteenth century were the primary cause of nonpoint source
pollution, engineers continued to be central actors in stormwater man-
agement. By the late 1960s, sanitary engineers had rebranded themselves
as environmental engineers to refl ect new societal concerns about envi-
ronmental pollution and to expand their constituency. Historian Martin
Melosi writes, “The almost blind faith in science and technology exhibited
in years past was replaced by a more complex, and sometimes schizo-
phrenic, relationship. The nation's triumphs in science and technology
were sometimes blamed for the excesses of the new consumer culture. At
the same time, the advice of scientists and engineers was sought out to help
eradicate pollution and restore a more amenable quality of life.” 47 The
drainage networks designed and constructed by engineers were understood
to be the cause of nonpoint source pollution and their successors were
tasked with fi nding stormwater management solutions. Despite the grow-
ing ambivalence of the public to the increased application of science and
technology, engineers have largely continued to engage in a Promethean
approach to solving water quality problems by expanding and upgrading
existing drainage infrastructure to include treatment facilities. 48 As Dryzek
notes, “Prometheans have unlimited confi dence in the ability of humans
and their technologies to overcome any problems presented to them—
including what can now be styled environmental problems.” 49
The Systemic Nature of Nonpoint Source Pollution
The extent of urban water degradation is not limited to pollutant con-
centrations, the major emphasis of federal regulatory requirements, but
implicates the hydrologic cycle as a whole. 50 From a systems perspective,
processes of urbanization redirect rainfall from infi ltrating into the sub-
surface, creating surface runoff. Activities to redirect rainfall became par-
ticularly pronounced beginning in the early twentieth century, as asphalt
and concrete pavements rapidly became the norm for urban transporta-
tion networks. 51 Durable pavements (as opposed to gravel and macadam
materials) facilitated faster transportation to serve streetcar suburbs and
commercial goods delivery, and created consistent surfaces and grades to
protect subsurface sewer networks. Paving was an important element of
sanitary reform in U.S. cities that also contributed to the conveyance logic
of urban drainage. 52
In the 1950s, local governments began to adopt urban street standards
to accommodate rapid transmission of automobile traffi c and to ensure