Page 36 - Water and wastewater engineering

THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION PROCESSES 1-7

The client’s view of the project is most closely matched by the Fiduciary model, where the
client has more authority and responsibility in decision making than in the Paternal model. The
client must exercise judgement and offer or withhold consent in the decision making process.
In the Fiduciary model, the client depends on the professional for much of the information they
need to give or withhold their consent. The term consents (the client consents) rather than decides
(the client decides) indicates that it is the professional’s role to propose courses of action. It is
not the conception of two people contributing equally to the formulation of plans, whether or not
dealing at arm’s length. Rather, the professional supplies the ideas and information, and the client
agrees or not. For the process to work, the client must trust the professional to analyze accurately
the problem, canvass the feasible alternatives and associated costs, know as well as one can their
likely consequences, fully convey this information to the client, perhaps make a recommenda-
tion, and work honestly and loyally for the client to effectuate the chosen alternative. In short,
the client must rely on the professional to use his or her knowledge and ability in the client’s
interests. Because the client cannot check most of the work of the professional or the information
supplied, the professional has special obligations to the client to ensure that the trust and reliance
are justified.
This is not to suggest that the professional simply presents an overall recommendation for
the client’s acceptance or rejection. Rather, a client’s interests can be affected by various aspects
of a professional’s work, so the client should be consulted at various times (Bayles, 1991).
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without com-
promising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (WECD, 1987) If we look
beyond the simple idea of providing water and controlling pollution to the larger idea of sustain-
ing our environment and protecting the public health, we see that there are better solutions for our
pollution problems. For example:
• Pollution prevention by the minimization of waste production.

• Life cycle analysis of our production techniques to include built-in features for extraction
and reuse of materials.
• Selection of materials and methods that have a long life.

• Manufacturing methods and equipment that minimize energy and water consumption.

Second Canon
Engineers are smart, confident people. With experience, we gain wisdom. The flaw of our nature
is to overextend our wisdom to areas not included in our experience. Great care must be taken to
limit engineering services to areas of competence. Jobs may be too large, too complicated, require
technology or techniques that are not within our experience. Competence gained by education
or by supervised on-the-job training sets the boundaries on the areas in which we can provide
service. Others more qualified must be called upon to provide service beyond these experiences.
Engineers are creative. We pride ourselves in developing innovative solutions. We believe
that civilization advances with advances in technology. Someone has to build the first pyramid,
the first iron bridge, the first sand filter. Many times “the first” design fails (Petroski, 1985).
Thus, there may be a conflict between creativity and service in an area of competence. The con-
flict must be resolved very carefully. Although safety factors, bench and pilot scale experiments,
and computer simulations may be used, the client and professional must, in a very explicit way,