In other news below, see:
-- Colorado River, MTBE top news of week in Brown & Caldwell e-newsletters
-- Water balances for power plants addressed at SW Chemistry Workshop
-- Hoover joins MWH as national residuals practice leader
-- San Antonio picks PBS&J for Eastern Basin Project to aid CWA compliance
-- Black & Veatch invited to deliver keynote address at 2005 Stockholm Water Symposium
Brown & Caldwell e-newsletters track water industry news across the nation
WALNUT CREEK, CA, July 29, 2005 -- Among news over the past week from several regional Water News e-newsletters from Calif.-based engineering consultants Brown & Caldwell, the U.S. Department of Energy decided to move ahead with plans to move uranium tailings potentially contaminating the Colorado River. There's also lots of coverage across the regions of Congress negotiating a deal on an MTBE shield to allow passage of energy legislation.
Arizona Water News
Major coverage of the ongoing Colorado River water war as a task force announces a lists of pollutants contaminating our key drinking water resource. The Energy Department has decided to move forward with its plan to relocate nearly 12 million tons of uranium tailings and contaminated soil away from the river banks. The Nevada Bureau of Reclamation held a public meeting this week to discuss the future of the river. Regarding the Central Arizona Project, a new study gets under way by the U.S. on extending the project to Sierra Vista from Tucson. From around the region, a report indicates that California's water needs will jump by 40 percent over the next 25 years, Albuquerque awards a $5 million pipe order for its water project, and the EPA returns to Texas to finish a cleanup that began a decade ago.
Click here for more.
California Water News
At the top of over 35 headlines, Upland receives the biggest federal grant in its history -- $13 million for its drainage basin project. The city of Tracy may revive its groundwater proposal based on Roseville's storage test case. Also, an agreement has been reached on the Moss Landing desalination plant. On the water quality front, uranium in the Colorado River is raising questions over the crops in Yuma, traces of perchlorate are found in Simi Valley's wells, and Burbank and Glendale are turning to new disinfectants to treat water...
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Southeast Water News
A shift on MTBE may clear the way for the first overhaul of a national energy policy in more than a decade. Public hearings are on tap for a draft strategy to clean up the Great Lakes. And Chesapeake Bay, the nation's largest estuary, is on pace to have one of its most unhealthy summers ever. In other news, a little nudge from the United Nations has opened up a whole new world for poor countries, which are learning to better manage their water resources through isotope hydrology. Modesto, Calif., isn't fairing as well, however, as a dozen city wells have been shut down due to low-level uranium contamination, and Taiwan may have weathered a recent typhoon, but torrential rains have polluted water supplies...
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Great Lakes Water News
Pinch us; we must be dreaming. A Great Lakes wish list to Washington would clean and restore the freshwater basin to pristine condition within 15 years. But this is more than a pipe dream¿ Plus, an unprecedented lawsuit over water rights, a $4 billion cleanup tab for MTBE, and a 4-billion-year drought on Mars...
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Northeast Water News
Interesting water security news this week as the EPA partners with the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructures to work together to secure water supply systems in the U.S. and Israel. See the details on the planned joint projects inside. Also making international headlines, a class action suit has been filed against the U.S. over the ongoing dispute over water rights along the California-Mexico border. Plus, lots of coverage on the MTBE debate. Twenty-one senators have asked the EPA for more info. on a report indicating that MTBE is linked to cancer; the latest energy bill from the Bush administration may include a provision for companies to pay up to $4 billion to clean up polluted water: and House Republicans propose the creation of a multibillion-dollar fund to help pay for clean ups...
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For more information, see the Brown & Caldwell website: www.brownandcaldwell.com.
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Iowa State wins Metcalf & Eddy 2004-05 design competition
WAKEFIELD, MA, July 22, 2005 -- Metcalf & Eddy (M&E) is pleased to announce that a team of engineering students from Iowa State University has won the 2004-2005 Metcalf & Eddy Academic Design Competition, beating out seven other entries from colleges and universities across the US. The Iowa State team of Tom Bruton, Iris Caldwell, and Stephanie Peters, advised by Professor Say Kee Ong, presented the winning solution to M&E's environmental design challenge, which was to develop a biological treatment process for cost effectively achieving low nitrogen effluents from domestic wastewater treatment anaerobic sludge digestion centrate/filtrate.
For their efforts, the Iowa State team members received a $2,500 cash award and each member received a copy of M&E's textbook Wastewater Engineering - Treatment and Reuse, Fourth Edition, published by McGraw-Hill. Other participants in the design competition included two teams from the University of Notre Dame, one team from Washington University in St. Louis, and four teams from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
One of the Notre Dame teams was a very close second to Iowa State and was presented with an honorable mention and a $1,000 cash award. Members of the Notre Dame team are: Margaret Martin, Manuel Caldera, Maryanne McElwee, Nick Shultz, and Derek Ray. Their advisor is Professor Robert Nerenberg.
The panel of experts that evaluated the teams' solutions included Thomas Dickmann, Greg Bowden, Bo Bodniewicz, and Sara Urbanczyk from M&E, and Dave Johnson, Vice President of McGraw-Hill Publications.
M&E established this design competition in 2003 under the direction of its Chief Engineer, Jim Anderson, to give engineering students nationwide a unique opportunity to supplement their classroom experience by working in a team on a specific design project that relates to real-world challenges currently being addressed by M& in its award winning nutrient removal research program.
This is the second year of the design competition, and the number of entries has increased over the first year. "I have had the immense pleasure to interact closely with these future engineers and their faculty advisors," said M&E's Kartik Chandran, Ph.D., the national director for the competition. M&E's Design Competition is open to colleges and universities across the nation.
Metcalf & Eddy Inc. (www.m-e-aecom.com) provides planning, design, construction and operations services for water, water resources, wastewater, wet weather and hazardous waste management facilities and programs. As an AECOM company, M&E is part of a diversified professional technical services organization with over 19,000 employees worldwide. AECOM is a global leader in the transportation, environmental and facilities markets with projects in more than 60 countries. Named to Forbes magazine's list of the Top 500 Private Companies, AECOM is a $2 billion corporation.
In other company news, see: "New vice president to lead Metcalf & Eddy design/build business"
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Water balances for power plants addressed at SW Chemistry Workshop
DENVER, CO, July 19, 2005 -- Management consulting and engineering firm R.W. Beck will be presenting at the upcoming Fourteenth Annual Southwest Chemistry Workshop.
Robert Schafish, consultant with R.W. Beck in Denver, will present "Water Balances for Combined Cycle Power Plants," during which he will discuss the significant number of new combined cycle power plants constructed in the last 10 years, trends in sources of water, treatment technology used and the amount of water that is needed for the operation of the power plants.
The diverse audience for the workshop includes power plant chemists, engineers and managers along with other vendors and equipment suppliers. The workshop will be held July 25-28 the Four Seasons Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. More information is available at www.morrismeetings.com/reg/swcw2005.
Founded more than 60 years ago, R.W. Beck (www.rwbeck.com) is a technically based management consulting and engineering firm providing services to both public and private sectors in the areas of energy and water/waste resources.
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With 35 years' experience, Hoover joins MWH as national residuals practice leader
BROOMFIELD, CO, July 18, 2005 -- MWH, a global consulting firm, announces that Michael Hoover, P.E., has joined its Pasadena office as National Leader of Residuals Practice. Hoover brings over 35 years of water and wastewater engineering experience. In his new role, Hoover will manage a national effort to assess, monitor, and market new and existing technologies for effective management of residual solids and compounds removed from water and wastewater. He is currently serving as Program Manager for one of the largest biosolids projects in U.S. for the Inland Empire Regional Composting Facility in Southern California. MWH Technical Director, Dr. Joe Jacangelo says, "Mike is a proven leader in the biosolids area, and will enhance MWH's position as a proven innovator in residuals management."
Hoover's professional expertise includes proven success interfacing with regulatory agencies, as well as consensus building between agencies for the joint implementation of major water reclamation and reuse projects. Previously, he directed the planning, design and construction of two major water supply projects in California, the Los Angeles Aqueduct Water Filtration Plant and the West and Central Basin Water Reclamation Programs. For those efforts, Hoover received the Outstanding Service Award for private sector work in recognition of his contribution to water reclamation development in California.
MWH has experienced significant growth in Southern California as utilities and local governments expand their infrastructure to support increases in population and related demand. MWH Regional Manager, Roger Austin, commented, "We are thrilled that Mr. Hoover has joined MWH to lead the residuals practice. He has demonstrated an effective approach to meet client needs in his long career and we look forward to calling on his expertise with our growing client base in Southern California."
MWH (www.mwhglobal.com) is a private, employee-owned consulting firm with over 6,000 employees worldwide. The firm provides engineering design and remediation, construction, procurement, program management, and technology solutions for the environmental, land, water, wastewater, energy and power markets of the Americas, Europe, Middle East, India, Asia and the Pacific Rim.
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San Antonio picks PBS&J for Eastern Basin Project to aid CWA compliance
SAN ANTONIO, TX, July 14, 2005 -- The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) will conduct a comprehensive collection system assessment for the Eastern Basin Wastewater Collection System, which serves the eastern portion of the City of San Antonio, in an area generally coincident with the Salado Creek Watershed. "This project will allow SAWS to develop and implement a program to bring their wastewater collection system into compliance with the Clean Water Act, which prohibits the discharge of untreated or partially treated wastewater," said PBS&J Project Manager Keith Pyron, P.E. This is the second comprehensive collection system assessment study and fourth overall project SAWS has awarded PBS&J in the last 18 months. Earlier this year, PBS&J completed the comprehensive collection system assessment for the Central Basin.
The purposes and tasks of the upcoming assessment include:
-- Perform a hydraulic analysis of pipes 12 inch and larger within the Eastern Watershed Collection System to identify system capacity inadequacies due to rainfall-derived inflow and infiltration (RDII).
-- Develop system improvements to mitigate sanitary sewer overflows (SSO) caused by RDII.
-- Collect and review the existing sanitary sewer evaluation and survey (SSES) field investigation studies and establish condition assessment criteria for future collection and migration of SSES data.
-- Create a geographic information system (GIS) database of the entire Eastern Watershed Wastewater Collection System including 8 inch and greater diameter pipes.
SAWS currently serves approximately 300,000 separate customers in the urbanized part of Bexar County including the City of San Antonio, the eighth largest city in the United States. These assessments are the first steps in a carefully planned program to replace and upgrade undersized wastewater lines in the San Antonio area.
This year, PBS&J (www.pbsj.com) celebrates its 45th year of continuous growth and success in meeting the challenging planning, environmental, engineering, architecture, construction management, and program management needs of its clients. Over the past decades, PBS&J has expanded from a small Southeast-based engineering firm to a nationwide leader in civil, construction, environmental, and transportation markets. The employee-owned firm is ranked by Engineering News-Record as 21st among the nation's top consulting firms. PBS&J has 3,700 employees and 70 offices located throughout the U.S. and abroad.
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Malcom-Pirnie's Dee elected vice president of AAEE
WHITE PLAINS, NY, July 13, 2005 -- Malcolm Pirnie's President and CEO, William P. Dee, has been elected vice president of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers (AAEE), a specialty certification board and professional society for environmental engineers that is dedicated to improving the quality of environmental engineering practice.
President of Malcolm Pirnie (www.pirnie.com) since 1999, Dee has over three decades of experience in the planning and execution of environmental engineering projects, including numerous major wastewater treatment projects and an array of water supply, solid and industrial waste management and hazardous waste remediation efforts. Having worked for Malcolm Pirnie since 1970, he currently is responsible for the overall direction and performance of the firm. A licensed Professional Engineer in six states, he's a diplomate of AAEE, chairman of the AAEE National Excellence in Environmental Engineering Awards Committee, and a board member of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME).
As vice president of AAEE, Dee will be a member of the Academy's Board of Trustees and plans to focus on increasing AAEE's profile both in the United States and abroad and is spearheading an Academy sponsored international awards program. Following his one year term as Vice President, he'll be AAEE's president elect in 2006 and will assume the role of president in 2007.
In other company news, see: "Pirnie team writes AWWA guide to address distribution system water quality challenges"
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Black & Veatch to deliver keynote address at 2005 Stockholm Water Symposium
KANSAS CITY, MO, July 6, 2005 -- Black & Veatch Corp., a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company, announced today that Julian Sandino, Ph.D., P.E., will be a featured speaker at the 2005 Stockholm Water Symposium/World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, Aug. 21-27, 2005.
Dr. Sandino, a Black & Veatch water reclamation practice leader, was selected to deliver the keynote address to the Technical Solutions track at the symposium. The Technical Solutions track is the forum for presentations pertaining to the technical aspects of providing water supply and sanitation to meet the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals. Dr. Sandino's remarks will focus on technical trends in water and wastewater planning, design, construction, operations and maintenance in both rural and urban settings.
"We're delighted, although not surprised, that Dr. Sandino was selected for this honor," said Dan McCarthy, president and CEO of B&V Water, the water business of Black & Veatch Corporation. "This invitation to participate in such an important international event affirms not only his individual reputation, but also our company's reputation for global technical leadership in the water industry."
The annual World Water Week in Stockholm is the leading global meeting place for the world's diverse water community. The event encompasses the Stockholm Water Symposium, topical plenary sessions, panel debates, scientific workshops, seminars and exhibitions. Participants come from more than 100 countries and represent the business, civil, governmental, inter-governmental, science and water management sectors. The symposium has become an internationally acclaimed forum for water supply and sanitation, water-related development and international policy issues.
As water reclamation practice leader for B&V Water and in previous positions, Dr. Sandino has accrued 20 years of experience in the management of sanitary infrastructure and environmental projects, including process evaluation and design for a wide variety of wastewater treatment facilities. He has been involved in nearly 100 projects in a dozen countries and has authored 43 technical papers and publications.
Dr. Sandino currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the over 40,000-member Water Environment Federation (WEF), as vice chair of the WEF Municipal Wastewater Treatment Design Committee, and on article review panels for WEF's Water Environment and Research and the International Water Association's Water Science and Technology periodicals. He is also the immediate past chair of the WEF International Coordination Committee.
Black & Veatch Corp. (www.bv.com) is a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company specializing in infrastructure development in energy, water, information and government markets. Founded in 1915, Black & Veatch develops tailored infrastructure solutions that meet clients' needs and provide sustainable benefits. Solutions include conceptual and preliminary engineering services, engineering design, procurement, construction, financial management, asset management, information technology, environmental, security design and consulting, and management consulting services. The employee-owned company has more than 90 offices worldwide. Black & Veatch is ranked on the Forbes "500 Largest Private Companies in the United States" listing for 2004.
B&V Water, the water business of Black & Veatch Corp., provides innovative, technology-based solutions to utilities, governments and industries worldwide. Local project teams work in conjunction with a global team of water and wastewater treatment process experts to address site-specific challenges through a broad range of consulting, study, planning, design, design-build and construction management services.
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In earlier newsbriefs, see:
-- "WaterBriefs: Aging U.S. water infrastructure offers financial gains for market" -- Also in this report (July 27, 2005): CDC study of P&G purifier shows household water treatment saves lives in Third World; Beckhoff Automation hires three engineers; LADPW selects Tetra Tech team for L.A. river revitalization; Jones & Stokes picked for Central Valley 'Ag Waiver' contract; Two joint venture water projects worth $64 million unveiled in China; Viking Johnson unit wins first major contract in the United Arab Emirates...
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