John Duncan Watson (7 March 1860 – 1946) was a British civil engineer. Watson was born in Dundee,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

on 7 March 1860. He specialised in sanitation and was regarded as a pioneer in the development of

sewage treatment Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding e ...

. Watson was engineer to the Birmingham and District Drainage Board and also General Manager to the Birmingham, Tame and Rea District Drainage Board.. At

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

he was responsible for the construction of the first large-scale percolating filter plant, a complete departure from the traditional land treatment in use in the city and elsewhere. Other changes that he introduced, based on his work in Birmingham, were the separation of

sludge Sludge is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. For example, it can be produced as a settled suspension obtained from conventional ...

digestion, the extraction of

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Ea ...

from sewage for use in power generation and the introduction of

flocculation Flocculation, in the field of chemistry, is a process by which colloidal particles come out of suspension to sediment under the form of floc or flake, either spontaneously or due to the addition of a clarifying agent. The action differs from ...

prior to the percolating filter. He drew up plans for sanitation works in the district of

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

which included a pumping station at Denmill, reservoir at the Hill of Ord and water supply to the district of Culter. These plans are now held by the

National Archives of Scotland The National Archives of Scotland (NAS) is the previous name of the National Records of Scotland (NRS), and are the national archives of Scotland, based in Edinburgh. The NAS claims to have one of the most varied collection of archives in Europe ...

. Watson became General Manager of Birmingham Agricultural College by 1920 where he undertook investigations into tuberculosis in cattle. By 1920 he was also a member of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

(ICE) and a fellow of the Royal Sanitary Institute. Watson was elected president of the ICE for the November 1935 to November 1936 session.. In his retirement he joined his son,

David Mowat Watson David Mowat Watson (1891–1972) was a British civil engineer. David was born in Aberdeen in 1891. His father was John Duncan Watson, a civil engineer regarded as a pioneer in the development of sewage treatment. David was the holder of a Bach ...

, who was also a member of the ICE, in his private engineering consultancy practice. Watson died in Birmingham in 1946. His son, David Watson followed in his footsteps in November 1954 by also becoming president of the ICE.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, John Duncan 1860 births 1946 deaths People from Dundee People educated at the High School of Dundee Scottish civil engineers British civil engineers Presidents of the Institution of Civil Engineers