CHARIE BUTTON

I lost a professional colleague this week. His name was Charles Button. I first met Charlie when I was an Engineer with the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and he was the Chief Engineer of the Boston Water and Sewer Commission. Our careers crossed paths later when I was made Chief Engineer for the Boston Harbor Project for EPA and he the Chief Engineer for the Mass. Water Resources Authority, the agency responsible for construction of the massive treatment plant you now see on Deer Island.

He called me one day and asked if I would like to take a train ride. “Sure, where are we going.”It turned out he was going to make an inspection of the tunnel boring machine that was currently gouging out a 24 foot diameter tunnel that would eventually discharge wastewater out into Mass. Bay. The machine was down for maintenance and he wanted to take a look at the progress in the tunnel. After getting instructions on how to use the portable oxygen tanks we would be carrying we descended by elevator 400 feet in the bowels of the earth. There we boarded a narrow gauge train normally used to transport workers to the site. We clicked and clacked our way out 8 miles to the machine. We crawled inside this massive structure and visually inspected the grinding wheels. The operator explained how he maintained alignment by focusing on a laser target always shining on crosshairs immediately in front of him. It was an experience I have never forgotten.

Later Charlie and I crossed paths again. I was and still am a volunteer for an Organization called the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC). Charlie was one of the Commissioners appointed by the Governor to serve on the Commission. Although we were acquainted primarily by our professionals careers, I like to believe we became close friends as well. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.