Thomas Kierans
| Thomas William Kierans | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 13, 1913 Montreal, Canada |
| Died | November 22, 2013 St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Education | McGill University |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Mining engineering |
| Institutions | Professor of Engineering Memorial University of Newfoundland |
| Projects | Great Recycling and Northern Development CanalNorthumberland Strait Crossing Project |
Thomas William Kierans, FCSCE, P. Eng. (February 13, 1913 – November 22, 2013) was a visionary engineer and innovator. He was the originator and principal proponent of the Great Recycling and Northern Development Canal or GRAND Canal.
Kierans was born in Montreal in 1913. In 1939, he graduated in mining engineering from McGill University. As a student he prospected by canoe and bush aircraft across Canada’s northlands. From graduation to 1967, he lived in Sudbury, Ontario, working for eighteen years at Inco mines, smelters and refineries and specializing in industrial safety and rock mechanics. From 1957 to 1967, he was aa mining and water resources consulting engineer and visited most mines in Canada twice each year. That experience led him to decide that his eventual home would be in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Kierans recognized the increasing "greenhouse effects" since the 1930s “dust bowl” were a clear indication that fast-growing Canadian and United States populations would require a new, large, controllable, environment-friendly source of fresh water to stabilize shared Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River water levels and flows and to end widespread and worsening water deficits and flooding in both countries. To meet this need, Kierans used proven Dutch and Californian experience to design his Great Recycling and Northern Development Canal concept in the 1950s. This would recycle (not divert) some of the now huge and harmful run-off to Canada’s Hudson Bay to the Great Lakes from a new sea-level freshwater dike-enclosure in James Bay. This should substantially increase Canada’s freshwater supply and improve Hudson Bay and east coast environments, fisheries and shipping. However, despite Quebec’s past Premier Bourassa’s and prominent engineering groups’ endorsement of detailed study of his concept, as well as an invitation to outline it to the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2001, some Canadian authorities unfortunately fail to understand basic differences between run-off recycling as opposed to potentially harmful headwater diversions or simply fear any joint water management with the US.
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