|
|
Local
Engineers Return From Slovenia
|
Engineers from Armentrout
Roebuck Matheny Consulting Group, P.C., an Athens
based engineering and architectural group, recently returned from
a ten-day visit to the Republic of Slovenia. The trip was part of
a project to evaluate the wastewater and solid waste sectors of
the City of Celje in the central eastern part of the country.
|
|
|
|
View of Celje
from Sv. Josef Monastery |
|
For this trip the firm assembled a team of
engineers who met several times with government officials from the
municipality of Celje and from the Republic of Slovenia along with
local industry representatives.
|
|
The purpose of the meetings was to gather as
much information as possible regarding the City's existing systems
and their plans for improvements to both the wastewater and solid
waste systems. The project is an integral part of Slovenia's
planned accession to the European Union. As part of this accession
the entire environmental sector in Slovenia must undergo
significant and rapid improvements. Slovenia's status as a
candidate member for joining the EU is dependent upon real
progress being made in the environmental sector. The city of Celje
is one of the first municipalities to actively address needed
improvements in the wastewater and solid waste areas. Armentrout
Roebuck Matheny Consulting Group, P.C.'s tasks
include a complete evaluation of the existing systems and proposed
improvements. After this evaluation, the firm will prepare
recommendations and alternatives to the planned approach. The firm
will focus on new technology for process treatment and disposal
and will advise the Slovenes on the optimal use of the technology
in their facilities.
The project is being funded through a grant from the United States
Trade and Development Agency in Rosslyn, Virginia. This agency is
part of the United States government and is responsible for
promoting American technology and expertise mainly in the areas of
infrastructure development around the world. Armentrout
Roebuck Matheny Consulting Group, P.C. was
selected from a total of five US firms by a commission of Celje
engineers working in the wastewater and solid waste area. The
firm's project manager Mr. David M. Roebuck, P.E., C.C.M. said,
"We feel very honored to have been selected for this project.
It is a testament to our qualifications and expertise that these
Slovenian engineers and government officials were willing to trust
us with their "once-in-a-lifetime" project. They have a
lot riding on this both from an environmental as well as from a
political perspective because of the EU."
"As one of the first U.S. firms involved in the EU accession
process, we feel a significant responsibility to represent our
country's expertise and abilities well," stated Mr. Charles
S. Armentrout, the project's senior environmental engineer.
|
|
The firm's second visit coincided with the
arrival of President Clinton in the Slovenian capital of Ljubjiana.
Mr. Roebuck indicated that this raised the awareness of many
Americans to the existence of Slovenia and its importance to the
United States both from a strategic and an economic standpoint.
|
|
This latest trip is the second for Mr. Roebuck.
During the first trip to Slovenia, the war in Kosovo was still
underway. According to Roebuck, "We could hear the NATO war
planes flying across Slovenia from the northeastern Italian
airbase at Aviano. Although we were approximately 500 kilometers
from the actual war site, it gave you an eerie feeling. The locals
would joke that it was NATO's afternoon shift."
Slovenia was a member of the former Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, but declared its independence on June 25, 1991. The
remnants of the Federation sent the Yugoslav National Army into
Slovenia shortly after the declaration. The Slovenes won that war
in twelve days by a well-organized public uprising, mostly
nonviolent, against the occupying Yugoslav Army. "In fact the
joke that the Slovenians told us was that the reason Clinton came
to Ljubjiana was to meet with the Slovenian President, Milan Kusan,
and find out how he was able to defeat the Yugoslav army and
Milosevic in less than two weeks when it took NATO several
months," David Roebuck said.
|
|
|
|
Sv. Josef
Monastery |
|
Engineers from the firm resided in a renovated
600-year-old monastery on a hill overlooking the city. "It
was such a beautiful place to work that it was
almost like a vacation that I don't want that to get back to my
wife or the office," Roebuck said.
|
|
Charlie Armentrout, "The Slovene people are
well educated and are extremely friendly to Americans. We were
treated like royalty for the entire visit. Sometimes it was hard
to get all of our work done because our hosts always wanted us to
go to an event or a celebration of some sort. Although we couldn't
understand much of the language during these events, a good time
was definitely had by all. One of the events was a production of
Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night's Dream" at the
castle called Stari Grad overlooking the city.
|
|
|
Stari Grad
Castle |
We were honored guests of the mayor. It was a
great experience", Armentrout said.
The firm's engineers were also given a tour of a 2000 year old
Roman aqueduct adjacent to the Savinja River.
|
|
|
2000-year old
Roman Aqueduct |
Armentrout
Roebuck Matheny Consulting Group, P.C.
representatives will be going back to Slovenia later in the year
to present their findings to city officials. The firm intends to
be involved in the implementation of the two projects that carry
an estimated price tag of almost $40,000,000 US.
Armentrout Roebuck Matheny
Consulting Group, P.C. has invited Celje's project
team, as well as the Mayor to visit the US sometime in the fall of
this year. "We intend to take a tour of several projects in
the states and show them first-hand how the various technologies
work under different conditions. We also intend to show them some
good southern hospitality," Roebuck said.
|
|
