BSCES Environmental and Water Resources Group

by Edward Whatley, PE, VHB/Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., and BSCES Environmental & Water Resources Group Chair

 

The Environmental and Water Resources Group brings together members from both the public and private sectors to discuss and promote a wide range of engineering aspects that the group is involved in. These topics include hydraulics, drinking water supply, wastewater, hazardous waste, hydrology, and stormwater. Topics relevant to our group meetings are diverse and the breadth of experience of our members always provides valuable discussion.

 

The Environmental and Water Resources Group recently sponsored a lecture on the Massachusetts Water Infrastructure Finance Commission, a state legislative initiative led by Senator Jamie Eldridge. The Water Infrastructure Finance Commission was created in 2009 with the goal of insuring that future generations in Massachusetts have access to clean drinking water and safe collection and treatment of sanitary sewage. The Commission set out to understand the issues facing municipal utility providers and conducted a lengthy series of internal meetings and public hearings in all regions of the state. The Commission developed a thorough understanding of the broad array of increasingly complex and interrelated technical and regulatory issues that utility providers and design engineers are facing. The final recommendations can be found on Senator Eldridge’s website (www.senatoreldridge.com). Senator Eldridge and the Commission are continuing to work on bringing attention to water, wastewater and stormwater funding shortfalls in order to gain support for raising funding levels to provide sustainable infrastructure.

 

Our group is very excited about our next major event, MassDOT’s Impaired Waters Program Implementation and Status taking place on Thursday, March 8, 2012. We will have Alex Murray, MassDOT’s Impaired Waters Program coordinator and project managers Caroline Hampton (AECOM), Theresa McGovern (VHB), and Joe Freeman (Tetra Tech), each of who lead teams that are implementing stormwater retrofit designs across the state. The Program is focused on achieving compliance with MassDOT’s NPDES MS4 permit, which includes the requirements for reducing pollutant contributions from runoff to designated impaired water bodies. MassDOT has completed the first year of the program which has included preliminary office/data assessments followed by field assessments to evaluate their existing discharges to impaired water bodies, and to prioritize locations where new or improved Best Management Practices (BMPs) could be provided. Construction of new and improved BMPs has been completed in multiple locations. This presentation will share the results of the first year of program implementation including a description of the successes as well as the challenges for design and construction of stormwater management practices for highway applications. This event promises to be an exciting and informative evening.

 

Our group is also organizing a lecture on Dam Removal, Resource Restoration and Fish Passage that will be presented by Michael Chelminski, PE, Senior Associate at Stantec. This lecture will be held in May 2012 and details will follow.

 

We are currently evaluating six applications for the Jonathan B. Golden Scholarship Fund, established in 2002 through donations to honor the memory of Jon Golden, a dedicated wastewater engineer who made significant contributions to the environmental engineering profession. The $5000 scholarship will be awarded to a graduate student who is pursuing a career in environmental engineering.

 

The Environmental and Water Resources Group meets on a bi-monthly basis to discuss industry related topics and coordinate events that may be of interest to the engineering community. We look forward to meeting anyone who is interested in joining our group. Please call me at 617/924-1770 or email me at ewhatley@vhb.com for information on upcoming meetings or if you have any subjects or events that you think the group should become involved in.