September 2008

CALENDARS ARE IN
“Currents” readers will soon be receiving a 2009 Machu Picchu Sacred Center calendar in the mail. The calendar is a celebration of the native technology of the Andes.
Please let Deana at our front desk know if you would like more than one!

MARBLE WATER DESIGN
The Marble Water Company has retained WWE to design a water main extension to supply new houses being constructed in the Town of Marble. The water company manager, Charley Parker, is coordinating the work with WWE.
The water pressure zones were part of the water master planning process performed by WWE several years ago. WWE designed the water storage tank and pump station constructed in 2003.
Charley Parker says, “The water main extension project needs to be done before the snow flies, and I can rely on WWE to get it done.”

ACWWA REUSE
WWE has been working with staff at ACWWA to develop (and eventually adopt) policies and standards for their wastewater reuse system. ACWWA has been in the wastewater reuse business for many years. They are now in the process of expanding the reuse system to other large irrigation customers in their service area.
The expansion is following a plan originally developed by WWE several years ago. Specific reuse policies being addressed include public education and retrofitting of systems currently utilizing potable water for landscape irrigation.
WWE was awarded two large nonpotable irrigation main pipeline designs that will connect large institutional irrigation customers to ACWWA’s expanding water reuse system. Wayne Lorenz and David Foss are working with ACWWA’s Gary Atkin, Arnie Reil, Martin Stegmiller, and Mike Keefover.

TOWN OF BASALT LIBRARY
A new library and community center is being constructed in the Town of Basalt. On behalf of the Basalt Sanitation District, Wayne Lorenz is reviewing the sewer design for the new public amenity. Several unique engineering and policy aspects of this project have made it challenging for the Town and the District.
Wayne is working with Yancy Nickel of Sopris Engineering and Denise Diers of the District on the details of this eleven-million-dollar facility.

STORMCON 2008
WWE’s Jennifer Keyes attended the annual North American Surface Water Quality Conference & Exposition (StormCon) in Orlando, Florida the first week of August. On August 7th, Jennifer gave a presentation entitled “Stormwater Management Using Pervious Pavements and Infiltration-Based Best Management Practices (BMPs) in Colorado” to approximately forty attendees.
The presentation was based on recent policies regarding pervious pavements in the Front Range, as well as a pervious pavement site in Aurora, Colorado that WWE has been monitoring for the past three years.

CRAIG NO. 2 DAM
WWE’s Jeff Nelson is submitting construction plans to the state engineer on repair of the Craig No. 2 Dam (Big Creek Dam) near Gateway, Colorado. The dam is 43 feet high and nearly 600 feet long with a reservoir holding 620 acre-feet of water.
WWE is pleased with Jeff’s efficient and expedient handling of the dam repair.

ROCKIES GAME
WWE staffers and their families attended a Rockies versus the San Diego Padres game as a company event in August. The game was delayed almost an hour due to heavy downpours, but the Rockies managed to get back on the field and win it 6 to 3. “I would rather sit in the rain and watch the Rockies win than sit in the sun and watch them lose” said the fans.

EVANS RESIDENCE DRAINAGE
Both Patricia Flood and Ken Wright were deposed in August regarding a construction claim involving inadequate residential grading and drainage. The residence is in Evans, Colorado. WWE appreciates the assignment from attorney Pat Groom of Greeley who represents the builder. However, opposing attorney Mark Herber, who represents the plaintiff, will also use Ken as an expert for his case.

CITY OF YUMA BIDS
The Hamrick and Koenig well facilities for the City of Yuma, Colorado are now out to bid for construction. Construction documents based on WWE’s design were available in August, with bids due September 16. The work involves pumps and controls for the wells, construction of two valve and chlorination buildings, and multiple pipelines for delivery of treated water from the Ogallala Aquifer.
WWE engineers David Foss and Shannon Buehner have enjoyed working with Doug Sanderson, Bill Eastin, and Claude Strait of the City of Yuma.

BASALT WASTEWATER TREATMENT
In 1997, WWE designed the Basalt Wastewater Treatment Facility. The facility was constructed in phases between 1998 and 2001. The treatment performance data for the facility were compiled and evaluated by WWE this summer. The results show that the Basalt Wastewater Treatment Facility has been providing excellent and reliable treatment performance for the last seven years.
On average, BOD has been reduced to less than 8 mg/L and fecal coliform has been reduced to 30 counts per 100 ml. The plant was designed with advance biological treatment to remove ammonia to low levels and a portion of the nitrate. The resulting treatment performance for ammonia has been an average of less than 1 mg/L and nitrate has been significantly reduced.
Treatment plant operator Kelly Gessele says, “This is the best treatment plant in the Roaring Fork Valley.”

LOW IMPACT DEVELOPMENT
Jane Clary, John O’Brien, and Jon Jones report that there will be a substantial increase in funding for the International BMP Database (www.bmpdatabase.org) over the next year. Funding will be sufficient to support the integration of Low Impact Development (LID) technologies into the database. This has been a request that database users have frequently made to WWE and our co-principal database developer, Geosyntec Consultants (Eric Strecker and Marcus Quigley).
WWE and Geosyntec will be receiving advice from the top LID experts in the U.S.

ELK LAKE DAM REPAIR
Adjunct scientist Darell Zimbelman and design engineer Ken Wright met with Division 6 dam safety engineer John Blair to discuss WWE plans for repair of Elk Lake Dam. The dam is northeast of Craig, Colorado.
The dam, owned by Dr. Kirk Shiner, is 24 feet high with two ancillary dikes. Repairs will be made to all three of the embankments and the spillway, along with adding crest width to the dam.
The Office of the State Engineer is responsible for monitoring the safety of all regulated dams in Colorado. The helpfulness of Mr. Blair in reviewing our preliminary plans is much appreciated.

NEW HONORS IN PERU
The Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (UNI) Dean of Engineering Dr. Jorge Alva, notified Ken and Ruth Wright about the need to return to Lima in the fall to receive additional awards.
The civil engineering faculty at UNI requested its board of governors to give each of the Wrights awards. Ruth will be named Professor Honoraria and Ken will receive a doctorate for their groundbreaking hydrologic research on the ancient Inca and their contributions to Peru’s cultural patrimony.

NEWS FROM HOUGHTALEN
WWE staffers were pleased to hear from Professor Robert Houghtalen of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Dr. Houghtalen, an expert in hydraulics, spent a year’s sabbatical with WWE in 1995 and is serving as a peer reviewer on the BMP monitoring manual update.
Dr. Houghtalen has finished another sabbatical in the Sudan, a year working for a Sudanese humanitarian organization. He worked on a bio-sand water filter program, testing treatment effectiveness.

SALINA, KANSAS
At the request of an organization known as “The Friends of the River,” Jon Jones traveled to Salina, Kansas, to initially evaluate the engineering feasibility of restoring the historic river channel of the Smokey Hill River through downtown Salina. On this project, WWE will be working closely with Don Brandes, founder and president of Design Studios West and nationally recognized authority on river/stream restoration.
Jon was delighted to have two days of meetings with elected officials, community leaders, city and county staff, interested citizens and others. WWE has been privileged to have many assignments in Kansas over the years, and we are very excited about this project.

PIPE ABRASION
The often overlooked matter of culvert and storm sewer abrasion is the subject of expert services by Patricia Flood and Ken Wright on a Douglas County storm piping system.
Abrasive forces on the pipe are caused by high velocity flow carrying sand, gravel, and rocks. In this case, the bottom of a steel pipe eroded through, causing the loss of pipe strength, and ultimately pipe collapse from the top down. WWE thanks Troy Olsen of Rothgerber Lyons & Johnson in Colorado Springs for the interesting assignment.

NINETEEN INTENSE HOURS
For recreational purposes, Jon Jones, Ian Paton, Derek Rapp, and four friends marked mid-August with an arduous adventure. The gang of men, ages 29 through 50, met at midnight in Boulder. They rode their bicycles to the base of Longs Peak, hiked to the summit and back (joined by others, including Jon’s wife Karen), and rode back to Boulder, arriving home around 7 pm. This represents about 94 miles biked, 16 miles hiked, and an aggregate vertical elevation gain of 11,000 feet.
Around the office we have the utmost admiration for the fitness level of our conquering heroes. Just in case, we are also keeping the Advil handy!

IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE
Thanks to the U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (USCID), WWE will have a presence at their annual meeting in Portland, Oregon. Ken will be a luncheon speaker on “Climate Change: The Collapse of Ancient Empires” on September 19.
Ruth Wright will be the dinner speaker on Machu Picchu: A Civil Engineering Marvel” on September 18. Ken and Ruth are long-time members of USCID, which will present them with awards for “Service to the Profession.”

COAL BED METHANE WASTEWATER
Coal bed methane wells have a wastewater byproduct called produced water. Typically, produced water is disposed of by deep-well injection. WWE has studied produced water treatment alternatives for beneficial reuse for many years.
On behalf of Gunnison Energy Corporation, WWE performed a new analysis of produced water treatment alternatives this summer. David Foss and Wayne Lorenz thank Gunnison Energy’s Brad Robinson for this assignment.

ARKANSAS DRAINAGE MANUAL
Working closely with Tom Hopper and Steven Beam of Crafton Tull Sparks, WWE is assisting with the preparation of the storm drainage criteria manual for Rogers, Arkansas. This effort is being managed for the City by Steve Glass.
This summer we have been pleased to interact with Mr. Glass regarding calculation of the 80th and 90th percentile annual precipitation amounts for Rogers, to provide the basis for the sizing of water quality BMPs.

TIPON COLLECTOR’S ITEM
While in Peru last month, Ken and Ruth Wright were presented with a beautiful ceramic decanter and cups commemorating the archaeological site of Tipon by the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria. The items are special and unique and Ken and Ruth will treasure them always!

BROWN BAGS CONTINUE
In the interest of continuing education, WWE regularly hosts guest speakers for staff development during lunches. In August we heard from Jet Tech and Misco Intermountain on sequencing batch reactors for wastewater treatment, Contech on stormwater construction products, Denver Industrial Pumps and Pioneer Pump on centrifugal pumps, and Wayne Lorenz and Philip Wolfram on their summer Barbegal research.

STATE ENGINEER DICK WOLFE
Best wishes go out to our colleague Dick Wolfe, who has succeeded Hal Simpson as Colorado’s state engineer. He has his hands full, with issues like the Republican River compact and Colorado River shortages on the horizon.
We have worked with Mr. Wolfe often over the years in his capacity as assistant state engineer, and we know him to be a dedicated and wise steward of Colorado’s water resources.

WATER BUFFALOES
WWE was pleased and honored on August 14 when the Water Section of the Colorado Bar Association inducted two of our long-time staff members, Ken Wright and Bill Lorah, into the Ancient and Honorable Order of the Water Buffalo.
Also inducted at the Steamboat Springs ceremony were Rebecca Kourlis, former Colorado Supreme Court Justice, and Hal Simpson, former State Engineer (and former WWE employee!).

MARYLAND CREEK RANCH
Many staff at WWE have been busy working on various aspects of the proposed Maryland Creek Ranch Development in Silverthorne, Colorado, over the past couple of months. The owner of this development, Tom Everist, has been a long-term client of WWE’s. Mr. Everist is an outstanding engineer in his own right, and oversees a nationally prominent rock products business, based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Recent areas of focus for WWE have included slope stability and projecting water surface elevations in various recreational lakes, so that adjoining development can be suitably planned and designed. WWE appreciates the opportunity to work for Mr. Everist, along with Don Hunt of the Antero Company, Don Brandes of DSW, Jim Lenzotti of Tetra Tech and other members of the Everist team.

MISSOURI WATER CONFERENCE
Jon Jones is honored to serve as lunchtime speaker for a regional conference on water resources management, to be held in September in Joplin, Missouri. Community leaders and water resources managers in southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas have developed this conference, which will focus on assuring safe and reliable long-term water supplies for widely varied uses.
Jon will be addressing interstate water conflicts—a topic on which WWE has considerable experience. Jon looks forward to seeing his close friends at this meeting, including Tim Smith, Todd Wagner, Loring Bullard, Dr. Marty Matlock, Dr. Robert Morgan, and others.

ALEX McLEAN
We are pleased to have hired civil engineer Alex McLean this summer. Alex is from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terra Haute, Indiana, where he studied under our colleague Bob Houghtalen.
Dr. Houghtalen recommended Alex to us and us to Alex when he learned of Alex’s love of the mountains and hiking, camping, and skiing.

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