ASCE’s Charleston Branch welcomes you on Friday, November 10th, for an ASCE luncheon
meeting. Presenting this month will be Denise Bunte-Bisnett, P.E., PMP, a Senior
Consultant with Stantec. This presentation will discuss the Santee Cooper Project.
In many parts of the country and the world, water is dangerously scarce. There are many
organizations working to address this including the US Society on Dams and the
International Commission on Large Dams with their focus on dam infrastructure, and the
American Water Works Association working to advance public health. AWWA sponsors
an annual event, “Imagine a Day Without Water” to bring visibility to this important
resource.
“Water is Life” and we need to stop thinking of this precious life-giving substance as
cheap and infinite. Statistic – Sixty-one percent of Americans rely on lakes, rivers, and
streams as their source of drinking water.
“Water is the lifeblood of our economy” and we rely on it for manufacturing, energy
production and to transport materials. Statistic – One-fifth of the US economy would
grind to a halt without a reliable and clean source of fresh water.
In the Charleston region, nearly 100% of the population and industry relies on the Santee
Cooper Project as the primary source of fresh water. The Santee Cooper Project was
placed in service in February 1942 and by 1950 it was recognized as the long-sought
source of plentiful fresh water to fuel growth in the Charleston Region. This was captured
by Herbert Ravenel Sass in his 1951 Saturday Evening Post story, “Ten Billion Gallons a
Day”
In 2023 the Project has been in service for 81 years and received a new 50-year license for
continued operation
We will be meeting in the Riverview Room on The Citadel’s campus this month.
And as a reminder for in-person meetings, we ask you to keep the health and safety of
yourself and others in mind.
COVID-19 Virus Prevention and Protection: Citadel Campus COVID-19 Information: https://today.citadel.edu/covid-19
When: Friday, November 10, 2023
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM – Networking
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM – Presentation
Where: Riverview Room
Cost:
$15 – Public Sector
$25 – Members
$30 – Non-Members
PDH: 1 PDH to be received at the meeting
Presentation Topic: Life As We Know It In The Lowcountry… Would
Not Be Possible Without The Santee Cooper Project
Denise is a Senior Consultant with Stantec
and provides project management and
professional engineering expertise to
ensure regulatory compliance and
adherence to industry best practices for
managing dams and waste impoundments;
utilizes risk-informed decision-making to
identify and prioritize necessary
infrastructure improvements; and, follows
a stewardship approach to project
management.
She received both her B.S. in Civil &
Environmental Engineering and Masters in
Water Resource Engineering from Clarkson
University.
