Technical Papers
Dec 9, 2013

Defining a Standard of Care for Urban Stream Restoration Projects

Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 140, Issue 3

Abstract

Design engineers are expected to meet an accepted standard of care, which provides assurance that reasonable care and quality of service have been performed by the professional. Although this expectation exists for engineers in the design of urban stream restoration projects, no guidelines currently exist that provide the design engineer with a reasonable set of expectations. In this paper, a guideline for a standard of care appropriate to urban stream restoration projects is developed based on skills and knowledge needed by the design engineer that have been identified in prior studies. Communication between the design engineer and the funding and permitting agencies is critical to agree upon and acknowledge the standard of care expectations prior to a project start.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Sue Niezgoda for her thoughtful review of this paper that certainly improved the content and readability.

References

ASCE. (2006). Code of ethics, ASCE, Reston, VA, 〈http://www.asce.org/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics〉 (Nov. 13, 2013).
Ashcroft, H. W. (2002). Standard of care in professional liability actions, Terra Insurance, Corte Madera, CA, 〈http://www.terrarrg.com/images/pdfs/StandardofCare.pdf〉 (May 30, 2013).
Bass, E. (2013). The standard of care—A moving target, ASCE, San Francisco, 〈http://www.asce-sf.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=378&Itemid=80〉 (Jun. 13, 2013).
Bernhardt, E. S., et al. (2005). “Synthesizing U.S. river restoration efforts.” Science, 308(5722), 636–637.
Brumback, M. D. (2010). “Construction law in North Carolina. The architect’s and engineer’s ‘standard of care’.” (law note), 〈http://constructionlawnc.com/2010/06/24/standard-of-care/〉 (May 28, 2013).
Cramer, M. L., ed. (2012). Stream habitat restoration guidelines, Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, Natural Resources, Transportation and Ecology, Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, Puget Sound Partnership, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Olympia, WA.
Day, R. W. (1994). “Standard of care in civil litigation.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 145–148.
Galloway, P. D. (2009). “Ethics and standard of care.” CSCE forum on professional practice and career development, St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, Montreal, Canada.
Harris, C. E., Pritchard, M. S., and Rabins, M. J. (2008). Engineering ethics: Concepts and cases, Chapter 2, 4th Ed., Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA.
Hatem, D. J., and Howard, E. A. (2009). “Standard of care and the structural engineer.” Struct. Mag., 30–31.
Hawkins, J. R. (2006). “The standard of care for design professionals.” Proc., ASCE Structures Congress, ASCE, Reston, VA.
Hess, A. J., and Johnson, P. A. (2001). “A systematic analysis of the constraints to urban stream enhancements.” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 37(1), 213–222.
Johnson, P. A. (2002). “Incorporating road crossings into stream and river restoration projects.” Ecol. Restor., 20(4), 270–277.
Johnson, P. A., and Brown, E. R. (2001). “Incorporating uncertainty in the design of stream channel modifications.” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 37(5), 1225–1236.
Johnson, P. A., Tereska, R. L., and Brown, E. R. (2002). “Using technical adaptive management to improve design guidelines for urban in-stream structures.” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 38(4), 1143–1152.
Kardon, J. B. (1999). “The structural engineer's standard of care.” Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science, 〈http://onlineethics.org/cases/kardon.html〉 (Nov. 13, 2013).
Kardon, J. B. (2005). “Concept of ‘care’ in engineering.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil., 256–260.
Kenney, M. A., Wilcock, P. R., Hobbs, B. F., Flores, N. E., and Martinez, D. C. (2012). “Is urban stream restoration worth it?” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 48(3), 603–615.
Konrad, C. P., and Booth, D. B. (2005). “Hydrologic changes in urban streams and their ecological significance” Effects of urbanization on stream ecosystems, L. R. Brown, R. H. Gray, R. M. Hughes, and M. R. Meador, eds., American Fisheries Society, Symposium 47, Bethesda, Maryland, 157–177.
Lavendel, B. (2002). “The business of ecological restoration.” Ecol. Res., 20(3), 173–178.
Malakoff, D. (2004). “The river doctor.” Sci., 305(5686), 937–939.
Miller, D. E., and Skidmore, P. B. (2003). “Establishing a standard of practice for natural channel design using design criteria.” Restoration of Puget Sound rivers, D. R. Montgomery, S. Bolton, D. B. Booth and L. Wall, eds., Univ. of Washington Press, Seattle, 340–360.
National Research Council (NRC). (1992). Restoration of aquatic ecosystems: Science, technology, and public policy, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Niezgoda, S. L., et al. (2014). “Defining a stream restoration body of knowledge as a basis for national certification.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 783–792.
Skidmore, P. B., et al. (2011). “Science base and tools for evaluating stream engineering, management, and restoration proposals.”, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Springfield, VA.
Slate, L. O., Shields, F. D., Schwartz, J. S., Carpenter, D. D., and Freeman, G. E. (2007). “Engineering design standards and liability for stream channel restoration.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 1099–1102.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 140Issue 3July 2014

History

Received: Jul 3, 2013
Accepted: Oct 10, 2013
Published online: Dec 9, 2013
Discussion open until: May 9, 2014
Published in print: Jul 1, 2014

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Authors

Affiliations

Peggy A. Johnson [email protected]
M.ASCE
Head and Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Penn State Univ., University Park, PA 16802. E-mail: [email protected]

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Download citation

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

View Options

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Copy the content Link

Share with email

Email a colleague

Share