Wright-Pierce Expands Portland and Providence Offices; Established Engineers Join Water and Wastewater Groups

Wright-Pierce announces the arrival of two well-established environmental engineers to the company. Bryan Weiner, P.E. has joined the Providence, RI office, where he will lead project teams in the Water and Wastewater Practice Groups. Donald Song, P.E. recently joined the Wastewater Practice Group at the firm's Portland, ME office.

 

Weiner has extensive experience in the planning, design, permitting,and construction management of municipal and institutional water and wastewater infrastructure projects. He has worked with clients in both the public and private sectors and will play an instrumental role in developing and managing the firm's southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island work. Song has more than 15 years experience in the planning, design, permitting, and construction of industrial and municipal wastewater infrastructure projects.

 

Wright-Pierce is an engineering firm specializing in water, wastewater, and infrastructure services. Wright-Pierce has LEED Accredited Professionals in architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, and stormwater management and is a member of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). Founded in 1947, Wright-Pierce is employee-owned and has a staff of approximately 160 engineers and support professionals located in nine offices throughout New England.

Orange County Engineers Receive International Engineering Award for Groundwater Replenishment System

A team of engineers affiliated with Orange County, California’s Groundwater Replenishment (GWR) System, the world’s largest water recycling facility of its kind, were honored with the 2009 Säid Khoury Award for Engineering Construction Excellence. The international award was presented in Kuwait at the General Assembly of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations.

The award recognizes an engineer or team of engineers for their noteworthy contribution to the development, planning, construction, and implementation of drinking water, water management, water storage, or water treatment infrastructure. Honored were Orange County Water District (OCWD) Director Denis Bilodeau, P.E.; OCWD General Manager Mike Markus; Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) Director of Engineering Jim Herberg; and Richard Corneille, P.E., from the engineering firm CDM. The team was nominated by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

“Over a decade in development, the elected leaders of OCWD and OCSD were visionary in their pursuit of the project and their understanding of water reuse and its potential as a new water resource,” stated George Tchobanoglous, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Davis. “The System has had a worldwide impact technically and socially in making indirect potable reuse a reality as a reliable, environmentally friendly and cost-effective supplemental source of water.”

The GWR System, a joint project of OCWD and OCSD, is a state-of-the-art water recycling facility that became fully operational in January 2008. The GWR System is the world’s largest advanced water purification facility of its kind, serving as a model for global water recycling projects. It takes highly treated sewer water and purifies it through a three-step process that includes microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light (UV) with hydrogen peroxide, resulting in near-distilled quality water. The facility produces enough new water to meet the needs of 500,000 people.

“The GWR System is truly groundbreaking in its uniqueness, and is the world’s largest water purification reuse project,” said Robert Bein, P.E., chairman emeritus of RBF Consulting and president emeritus of the American Society of Civil Engineers. “The unprecedented system has already gained worldwide notoriety for its creative use of state-of-the-art technology to help solve the critical water needs of Southern California.”

Among its awards, the GWR System has been honored with the prestigious Stockholm Industry Water Award and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award.

For more information about the Groundwater Replenishment System, visit www.gwrsystem.com.

    Orange County Water District (OCWD) manages the large groundwater basin that underlies north-central Orange County that provides most of the water for more than 2.3 million citizens. OCWD is a special district established by the California State Legislature in 1933 and governed by a 10-member board of directors. Separate from the County of Orange, OCWD supplies water to residents in the cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine,La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster and Yorba Linda. Go to www.ocwd.com for information.

   The Orange County Sanitation District is a public agency responsible for safely collecting and treating wastewater (sewage) for 2.5 million people. OCSD beneficially reuses and recycles the treated wastewater and other resources resulting from the treatment process. It is a special district established by the California State Legislature and governed by a 25-member board of directors. The directors are comprised of elected representatives for each of the sewer agencies or cities within OCSD’s 471-square mile service area. Go to www.ocsd.com for information.

Village of Itasca Breaks Ground on New Wastewater Treatment Plant

The Village of Itasca, Illinois recently broke ground on a new wastewater treatment plant. Designed by Baxter & Woodman, Inc., Consulting Engineers and constructed by Williams Brothers Construction, this project will boost the local economy, create hundreds of new jobs, and take approximately two years to complete.

Once completed, the plant will increase the Village’s wastewater treatment capacity from 2.65 to 4.0 million gallons per day.  This $35 million dollar project includes construction of a completely new treatment plant and demolition of the existing treatment plant. The improvements are needed to accommodate residential, commercial, and industrial growth in the village.

Baxter & Woodman worked closely with the village to identify the funding necessary for these improvements. The project is funded in part by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Water Pollution Control Loan Program, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Program, and the issuance of bonds under the Buy American Program. The village will borrow $20 million from the IEPA programs but will pay back only $15 million.  Under the ARRA program, $5 million of the $20 million debt will be forgiven.  This means Itasca will pay back just $15 million at 0% over the next 20 years.

Strategic planning and a common goal to improve and protect local water quality allowed this project to come to fruition.  Baxter & Woodman worked with village officials and staff to gain consensus from various stakeholders including the Conservation Foundation, Sierra Club, Prairie Rivers Network, Salt Creek Watershed Network, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

Baxter & Woodman is an employee-owned design firm that provides planning, design, construction, and technology services for water, wastewater, stormwater, and transportation facilities for municipalities, counties, and state agencies. Environmental, geographic information systems (GIS), water and wastewater operations, and advanced technology needs complement the firm’s civil engineering expertise. Clients are served from nine regional offices in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

Barr Engineering Company Named 2009 “Best Environmental Services Firm to Work for” in the Nation

Environmental Business Journal and CE News have named Minneapolis-based Barr Engineering Company the top environmental services firm to work for in the United States. In the same competition, Barr was ranked 13th among civil engineering firms to work for by CE News. Barr also placed second in the “large firms” category for civil engineering companies with more than 400 employees.

The journals based their rankings on the determinations of a panel of independent judges and the results of employee surveys. The judges and employees evaluated the firm’s management, reputation, work climate, professional development opportunities, and compensation and benefits package. One of this year’s judges said he rated Barr first because of “its longevity and proven track record of success, higher sharing of profits with all employees, and the highest percentage of revenues spent on training and development.”

Management consulting and research firm ZweigWhite, in collaboration with publisher Stagnito Media, runs the competition.

Barr Engineering Company is a consulting firm providing engineering and environmental services to public and private clients who develop, manage, and restore natural resources. Barr has a staff of more than 450 with offices in Minneapolis, Duluth, and Hibbing, Minnesota; Bismarck, North Dakota; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Jefferson City, Missouri.

RETTEW Welcomes Senior Transportation Engineer

RETTEW, a design firm providing engineering, transportation, environmental consulting, planning, and surveying services, recently welcomed Jason Snyder, PE, as senior engineer in the firm’s transportation group. “Jason’s breadth of experience in highway improvement projects broadens RETTEW’s ability to provide PennDOT and the Turnpike with services that support improving Pennsylvania’s critical transportation infrastructure,” says Mark Lauriello, PE, president, RETTEW. 

 

As senior transportation engineer, Snyder manages projects within the firm’s highway group, developing and managing project scopes, budgets, and schedules and ensuring exceptional project delivery and client satisfaction. He is also involved in business development and identifying growth opportunities relating to the firm’s  transportation engineering services.

 

With 15 years of experience designing highway and transportation facilities, Snyder has worked on numerous transportation studies and highway improvement projects for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, including the Dauphin Bypass (U.S. Route 22/322) project in Dauphin County and the Lewistown Bypass (U.S. Route 22/522) project in Mifflin County. His experience also includes civil/municipal engineering; he has worked with municipalities, the United States Department of Defense. and private-sector businesses.

 

Snyder has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Lafayette College and is a licensed professional engineer in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Additionally, he is Level II certified in highway design from the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET) and a certified sewage enforcement operator in Pennsylvania.

 

RETTEW provides engineering, transportation, environmental consulting, planning, surveying, and related consulting services to a broad range of clients in the mid-Atlantic region. Beginning in 1969 as a single-person office, today RETTEW has more than 200 employees. Offices are located in Bethlehem, Camp Hill, Chambersburg, Lancaster, and Schuylkill Haven, PA and Liberty and Margaretville, NY. For more information on any of RETTEW’s services, call 800-RETTEW-5 or e-mail rettew@rettew.com.

JJG Strengthens its North Carolina Capabilities With New Triangle Area Office

The 475-person engineering, planning, and consulting services firm of Jordan, Jones & Goulding (JJG) recently opened a second office in North Carolina to provide the Triangle area and all of eastern NC with access to the company’s water, land, and transportation services.

JJG’s comprehensive service offerings provide communities with an established and multifaceted set of resources to address client needs spanning water, water resources, stormwater, and infrastructure concerns to transportation, parks, trails, and community planning. “Our new Cary office is an important component of our strategic regional expansion to better serve the needs of area clients and communities,” says Don Allen, president and CEO of JJG.

JJG has experienced continued success and growth in North Carolina and currently services clients from the company’s office in Charlotte. The second office allows JJG to provide additional resources and capabilities to government and industry entities seeking wide-ranging, single-source services.

The firm recently hired senior professional engineer John Maynard, Jr., P.E. to lead the office and further support JJG’s presence in the region. Maynard joins Howard Kimbrell and another recent senior hire F. Ross Stroud, P.E. Together, they will guide the Cary office staff in leveraging the full-service resources of JJG.

As office manager, Mr. Maynard brings more than 36 years of industry experience, almost exclusively with public and private sector clients in the state of North Carolina. In his new position he will be responsible for overall client and project management activities, business development, regional client relationship management and the tactical operations of the office.

Mr. Maynard offers extensive experience in the planning, design, and project administration for major surface and subsurface water supply, treatment, and distribution systems including elevated storage tanks, wastewater collection and treatment facilities, and large capacity water and wastewater pumping stations.

F. Ross Stroud, recently appointed senior process engineer for the new office, will assist in organizing processes and teams, oversee the planning and execution of client projects and serve as a senior subject matter expert. Stroud’s experience includes more than 30 years in the management, evaluation, planning, design, and construction of major wastewater projects including advanced tertiary treatment facilities involving biological nutrient removal, collection systems and pumping stations.

The new JJG office is located in the Centre Green office park located just off of Weston Parkway and a short distance from the Raleigh-Durham International Airport. For more information or to contact the JJG Cary office please call 919-678-8032.

    Headquartered in Norcross, Georgia, JJG provides solutions for water, land, and transportation through 18 offices across the U.S. For more information visit www.jjg.com or call 770‐455‐8555.

Reavely Engineers + Associates Receives National Recognition

At the 17^th Annual Conference of the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations held in Scottsdale, Arizona, Reaveley Engineers + Associates was recognized for the structural design of the Utah State Capitol Seismic Upgrade and Renovation.  The Capitol project was named as a finalist in the Other Structures category.  This award program recognizes projects from all across the country for creative achievement and innovation in structural engineering.  Reaveley Engineers + Associates is a full service structural engineering firm based in Salt Lake City, Utah and has over 37 years of experience providing structural engineering for many of the region’s most prestigious and significant structures.