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The Geographical Review April 1998, Vol. 88 (2), pp. 199-218 INDUSTRIAL TOPOGRAPHY, GROUNDWATER, AND THE CONTOURS OF ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE CRAIG E. COLTEN ABSTRACT: Civil engineers have played a central role in reshaping thephysical environment during the past two centuries. Their accomplishmentswere in no small measure made possible by an ability to assesslocal hydrologic conditions and design structures to withstandthe forces of water. Recent assertions that engineers had littlecomprehension of groundwater processes until the 1970s promptedan analysis of the engineering literature to reconstruct the stateof knowledge up to the 1950s. Texts and manuals demonstrated thatknowledge developed in transportation construction, in drainingcities and farms, in creating sewers, dams, canals, and lagoons,and in erecting manufacturing facilities contributed to designwith groundwater in mind. In practice, this knowledge was availableand drawn upon, but the success of its application was inconsistent. Keywords: engineering, hydrology, transportation DR. COLTEN is an associate professor of geography at the Center for Environmental Geography and Hazards Research, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas 78666.