Tribute to David H. Marshall, Winner of This Year’s Stephen D. Bechtel Pipeline Engineering Award

The editors and staff of ASCE’s Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice offer a hearty congratulations to David H. Marshall, winner of this year’s Stephen D. Bechtel Pipeline Engineering Award. The ASCE announcement noted the selection was based on Marshall’s reputation as a career professional known for “continually expanding the limits of pipeline knowledge and responsibly applying the lessons learned (ASCE 2014).” As Director of Engineering Services for the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, Marshall has been diligent in providing his district with excellent and innovative service. The award announcement credited Marshall with leading a historical first in coordinating ‘Texas water supply projects,’ namely a 150-mile Integrated Pipeline Project that provides water from eastern reservoirs to a drought-prone area north and west of the Dallas–Fort Worth area. The project will lead to an additional supply of raw water to approximately two million end users (ASCE 2014).

Marshall (Fig. 1) is well known for insisting on cost-effective management that includes life-cycle consideration and sustainable best-value maintenance practices. With these values in mind, he developed the vision and direction that the project has followed. He was a major contributor to the research, planning, and design of this project. As Director of Engineering Services, he guided the scope for design based on lessons learned from other projects, and he focused research on areas of the project that have not been explored well. He directed the use of a geographic information system (GIS) through the project to capture information as it was developed, including geophysics to categorize the subsurface geology of the entire route.

Marshall believes in condition-based preventive maintenance for transmission pipelines, and he avoids future problems by promoting cathodic protection and regular pipeline inspections. Marshall uses failure investigations to develop mitigation strategies for the TRWD’s existing system and has incorporated those strategies into the Integrated Pipeline Project to avoid future problems. He serves on the American Water Works Association (AWWA) Standards Committee for Concrete Pressure Pipe, adding his experience to the continued improvement of the standards and manuals of practice.

Marshall began his work for TRWD in 1988 as their Western Division Quality Manager and then was promoted to Engineering Services Manager in 1990. He now serves as Engineering Services Director, working with the primary wholesale customers (Arlington, Fort Worth, Mansfield, and the Trinity River Authority) to develop a coordinated water system operation. This is no small task with a population served that grows by approximately 40,000 people per year. Marshall oversees the engineering and operations planning in a water district that ultimately serves 70 cities in an 11-county service area.

Marshall is a registered professional engineer in Texas with more than 35 years’ experience. Although the last 25 years have been devoted to TRWD, he started his career in science working for the U.S. Forest Service, where he worked 5 years researching biological control of insect pests after receiving a bachelor’s degree in forest science at Penn State University. He then worked with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for five years while he was a graduate student at the University of New Mexico, completing his master’s degree in civil engineering. He served in the USGS as a hydrologic technician and advanced to be a hydrologist, allowing him to develop a detailed knowledge of surface-water measurement and water-quality techniques. The field experience provided him better insight on how natural water systems act and change. He continued his education at the University of Texas at Arlington, completing another 21 credit hours in environmental engineering. Prior to starting with the TRWD, he spent five years with the consulting firm Alan Plummer and Associates, Inc., where he was involved in many different types of water and environmental projects.

A true environmentalist, Marshall has engaged in subsistence farming as a hobby and has had some fun sharpening his skills in the art of winemaking at Grayson County College. He currently resides in Granbury, Texas, with his wife Janie. They have a daughter who inherited the math gene and is a civil engineer. His plans for the future include continuing to work at the TRWD, taking breaks for hiking trips in the United States and Europe to add to his birding list, and making some great wine.

The Journal is always pleased to honor engineers who have significantly raised the level of pipeline technologies and methodologies. Marshall certainly deserves recognition as a pioneer in sustainability for pipeline construction, operation, and maintenance.