WWE has long been an advocate of utilizing risk assessment in the course of developing potential solutions for our clients’ problems. This fundamentally relates to sustainability. For projects to be sustainable, they have to be adaptable and based on a sound understanding of risk, as opposed to relying exclusively on a single, fixed design standard.

Natural Hazard Assessments

WWE has experience with assessing, managing, and mitigating a wide range of natural hazards, including rock fall, slope stability, debris flows, alluvial fans, flooding, landslides, collapsing and swelling soils, and others. WWE has been a strong supporter of the Colorado Geological Survey—the governmental entity in Colorado charged with handling risks of this kind. Fundamental to the practice of sound engineering is to inform our clients and members of the public of potential risks, and to help them plan for and mitigate such risks economically and in compliance with all applicable regulations.

Public Safety at Stormwater Management Facilities

WWE stresses protection of public safety, which is fundamental to sustainability, in many facets of our practice. WWE CEO Jon Jones coordinated a committee of approximately 75 engineers, land planners, landscape architects, and other professionals to prepare Guidance for Protection of Public Safety at Urban Stormwater Management Facilities, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers and cosponsored by six other leading engineering, planning, and landscape architecture professional organizations.

Extreme Flood Events

WWE recognizes that in some locations it is necessary to plan for extreme flood events to protect public safety. One practical example of this is WWE’s repeated admonition to our clients that there is nothing magical about the 100-year flood, and that larger floods can and do routinely occur. We point out that it may be feasible, at little additional cost, to design for larger floods. There are some circumstances in which catastrophic flood risk is a real concern, and we discuss the implications of this with our clients and help them plan.

Low-Head Dams

Low-head dams are called “drowning machines” because they often have a submerged hydraulic jump at some flow velocities. A submerged hydraulic jump is an energy dissipating underwater jet that can often maintain enough kinetic energy to cause a current to travel downstream and then rise to the surface as a "boil," with a portion of the water flowing back to the dam. This is known as the reverse roller effect. Hydraulic engineering analyses can define the approximate location of the boil and the likely velocity of the reverse flow. Reverse flow can carry a victim back to the base of the low-head dam, where he or she can become trapped in the boil and drown.

Low-head dams across the United States, from New Jersey to Oregon, continue to needlessly take lives as victims recreate in the seemingly placid water. WWE has analyzed numerous submerged hydraulic jumps and resulting reverse rollers across the United States and designed various types of dam retrofits. WWE engineers serve as experts for evaluations and testimony in depositions and court hearings. Our work has included scientific analyses of currents, hydraulics, and hazards.