Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/27856
BY BRIAN WALDRON Mapping in University Students Help Map City Infrastructure T he land on which Memphis, Tenn., resides first was occupied by Native American Indians. It was ceded by the Chickasaw Indians in 1818, and Memphis was founded the following year by General (and later President) Andrew Jackson, General James Winchester and Judge John Overton. Memphis continued to grow in size and population through the Civil War. Before, during and after the Civil War, Memphians were inflicted with numerous yellow- fever epidemics (1828, 1855, 1867, 1873 and 1879). Due to the high number of yellow-fever deaths and the large number of citizens fleeing the city, Memphis’ char- ter was revoked in 1879, becoming a taxing district. In 1880, the death rate was 4 percent, and Memphis was able to thwart future epidemics owing to the dis- covery of a seemingly endless artesian groundwater supply in 1886. This artesian water supply provided clean drinking water and allowed sanitary waste to be readily removed from the city proper. Construction of the sanitary sewer and stormwater systems also began during the 1880s. 24 G E O W O R L D / M A R C H 2 O 1 1 Memphis regained its charter in 1893, and the population nearly quadrupled by 1902. More than 150 miles of sanitary sewer and stormwater lines were laid, and the death rate had dropped to 1.6 percent. Jumping ahead one and a quarter centuries, Memphis now is one of the 20 largest U.S. cities in terms of population and area. During the last 125 years, the expansion of Memphis’ sanitary sewer and stormwater network resulted in separate systems comprised of nearly 3,600 miles of sanitary sewer and 3,950 miles of stormwater lines. Mapping a Century-Old Infrastructure Mapping these systems and recording the mainte- nance on existing structures historically was accom- plished on paper—45,750 documents to be exact, including a few dating back to the late 1800s that were scribed on linen. “In the past, we relied on the corporate memories of the ‘old hands’ in maintenance, and this worked pretty well,” says Ron Kirby, administrator of Environmental GIS Partnerships