🚀 go-pugleaf

David O. Powell (dopowell@alumni.caltech.edu) wrote:
: In article <5dsnk8$13e5@hpbs1500.boi.hp.com>, tmenten@boi.hp.com (tom
: menten) wrote, in part:

: > But Warren,
: > 
: > Your expertise is civil engineering, yes?  Tell us about the long term
: > costs, in updated dollars, for a typical dam you've studied.  I understand
: > that they usually silt in after many decades and then lose their water
: > storage and flood control capacity.  True or myth?  What is the cost to
: > deal with silt?  Do you think the costs are well understood and are 
: > recovered in net benefits?

: I'm not Warren, but I've been registered as a Civil Engineer in California
: for better than forty years, and I spent my whole professional career in
: the water resources field.  

: I frankly find Mr. Menten's question ridiculous.  Siltation of large
: reservoirs in the Sierra Nevada is not a significant problem.  Anyone with
: any understanding of water resources engineering in California would
: realize that.  The fact that he asked the question demonstrates either his
: utter ignorance of the field in which he chose to interject himself or his
: desire to obfuscate.


David, I think your are sharing Warren's difficulty in explaining 
yourself without bestowing your "attitude".

You, and Warren are cross posting your comments to groups other than
engineering groups.  If you would prefer an erudite technical discussion
among the already informed, then do not cross post.

I asked Warren, and now will ask you, if you would be interested in 
influencing my thinking, to do it with explanation rather than attitude.
I have tried to ask this in a civil way; I was not attempting to "be
ridiculous" or to "obfuscate" but instead to lay out a few of the
questions that I have heard raised in the context of flood control and
dam building, and to direct Warren's attention to a topic I presume
he knows something about.

If this was too much to ask, then I would in turn ask you not to 
interject your attitude or even opinions into our newsgroup without a 
willingness to support and explain them.  It might be helpful to 
realize that we may have points of agreement and disagreement on
both factual issues and issues of values.  The factual issues I am
very willing to be informed on, even by individuals that may have
different values.  Thus, I may not agree that developing a flood plain
has a greater value than the environmental destruction it causes, but
I am willing to be informed about the factual issues of how dams work
and just what the economics of the situation are.

In any case, I don't see the need for your attitude, and do not believe
your attitude is going to positively influence people.  I don't believe 
you cast your profession in a good light by responding to questions with
either defensiveness or arrogance.  

Now, if you would like to go out and come in again, I would still be very
willing to hear what you have to say.

Sincerly, and still with good wishes, 

Tom Menten
(Ph.D in Statistics, not civil engineering.)