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Expansion - more than meets the eye

When a resource or product is in short supply, prices rise. That fundamental law of the market applies even to the ground we stand on. The land in our urban areas has been developed at a furious pace in recent years, creating a boom in buildings that are almost as sky-high as the prices they command. But an equally inexorable process is unfolding under the ground.

Construction is going on under towns and inside mountains. Builders are putting not just tunnels and trams underground, but also water purification plants and power stations.

The advantages are obvious: you don't have to expropriate land, wreck buildings or spoil the environment. Unfortunately, the problems are often just as blatant: Porous or undrillable rock, flooding that hampers construction, archaelogical sites or delicate ecosystems that can be damaged by the perforation of the land.

In this issue we journey into a mountain and take a closer look at underground construction. We also examine delicate ecosystems - albeit manmade - at the Villa d'Este outside Rome and the new Congo Gorilla Forest at the Bronx Zoo. Water plays a key role at both facilities, which fulfil a practical sewage treatment function in addition to their aesthetic appeal. ITT Flygt's submersible pumps are the very dynamos of these operations.

We talk to Kader Asmal, South Africa's minister of education, who has been deeply involved in both dam construction and water supply issues. His efforts have recently earned him the Stockholm Water Prize.

For those of you interested in matters of cost-effectiveness, I heartily recommend the articles on our new N and slurry pumps. We have made a series of modifications permitting the drastic reduction of a pump's total life cycle cost.

Enjoy!

Anders Hallberg,
President, ITT Flygt Group