Category: Newsworthy

Drinking Water Week 2021

Water professionals are “There When You Need It” during Drinking Water Week and every week

Taking place this week from May 2-8, Drinking Water Week offers consumers an opportunity to recognize the hardworking people performing various roles to ensure that clean and safe drinking water is “There When You Need It.”

Tata & Howard, Inc. and partners throughout North America are observing Drinking Water Week by recognizing the vital role water plays in daily life, the infrastructure that is required to carry it to and from homes and businesses, and the important work of water professionals behind the scenes.

Whether it’s a water engineer designing a water treatment facility, an operator ensuring the safety and quality of drinking water, or a member of a pipe crew maintaining the infrastructure in our community, water professionals work around the clock to ensure water is there when you need it.

“Providing clean, safe, and reliable drinking water is a critical role that water professionals dedicate their lives to,’ said Tata & Howard’s Co-President Karen Gracey. “Day in and day out, even when faced with a pandemic and added challenges, water professionals do their best to be prepared and ensure the water reaching everyone in the community is there when needed.”

The work they are performing throughout the pandemic, often sacrificing time with their family, is nothing short of heroic. I am proud to be associated with them,” said American Water Works Association CEO David LaFrance.

To commemorate the week, water utilities, water organizations, government entities, environmental advocates, schools, and others throughout North America and beyond are encouraging consumers to learn more about the importance of water and water infrastructure, especially in times of crisis.

To learn more about the work that Tata & Howard performs to ensure safe drinking water, visit our website at http://www.tataandhoward.com.

About Drinking Water Week
For several decades, AWWA and its members have celebrated Drinking Water Week, a unique opportunity for both water professionals and the communities they serve to join together in recognizing the vital role water plays in daily lives. Free materials for download and additional information about Drinking Water Week are available on the Drinking Water Week webpage.

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Founded in 1992, Tata & Howard, Inc. is a 100% employee-owned water, wastewater, and stormwater consulting engineering firm dedicated to consistently delivering innovative, cost-effective solutions in the water environment. Tata & Howard has gained a solid reputation as an industry leader in the Northeast by bringing knowledge, integrity, and dedicated service to all-sized markets, both public and private. The firm has offices in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Arizona. For more information, visit http://www.tataandhoward.com.

View press release here.

Employee Spotlight: Robert Sims

Employee Spotlight #4: We are delighted to shine our employee spotlight on Robert Sims. Southerner by birth, Robert was born in Kentucky and raised in Austin, TX before relocating to Massachusetts 35 years ago. Having a long line of engineers/surveyors in his family, including an ancestor who performed the survey of record for the Common in Cambridge, MA in the 17th century, he knew from a young age that he wanted a career in the field.

He attended the University of Texas at Austin with initial sights on Electrical Engineering, but quickly changed to Civil Engineering after hearing a presentation from the Dean of the UT Cockrell School of Engineering.

With more than thirty years of design and construction project management experience under his belt, Robert joined Tata & Howard in 2018 as a PM. He has most enjoyed working on two water quality studies for the towns of South Deerfield and Mattapoisett, as he was able to form a great working relationship with his team and clients, and produced solid reports with PF’s above 3.

Around the office, Robert is known for his friendly personality, fascinating hobbies, and amusing stories. He enjoys woodworking, beekeeping, fantasy football, and gardening. To stay active, he participates in stair climb races for the American Lung Association, the Scottish Highland Games, and the occasional 5k race.

Robert is passionate about his Scottish heritage and can often be seen wearing his kilt. In fact, he sat in the X-wing fighter from Star Wars…while wearing a kilt, and flew in a WWII vintage P-51 fighter…while wearing a kilt.

Thanks for all you do, Robert!

NEWWA Spring Learnapalooza 2021

Tata & Howard is pleased to participate in New England Water Works Association’s (NEWWA) 2021 Spring Learnapalooza from March 29-April 1.

T&H will be sponsoring Technical Session 6, ‘Emergency Preparedness’, on Tuesday, March 30, with a brief presentation on Emergency Response and Continuity of Operations Plans.

If you missed the technical session sponsor video, don’t worry, you can watch below!

 

 

 

 

ATCAVE 2021

Tata & Howard is pleased to be a sponsor of Connecticut’s premier water supply event, the Connecticut Section AWWA Annual Technical Conference and Vendor Exposition (ATCAVE). ATCAVE celebrates 25 years on Tuesday, February 23-Thursday, February 25, 2021!

 

 

 

Employee Spotlight: Christine Beliveau

Employee Spotlight #3: We are excited to shine this week’s employee spotlight on Chrissie Beliveau. Chrissie has been with Tata & Howard for more than ten years and serves as the company’s Marketing Coordinator. Wearing many hats, Chrissie assists in all request for proposals/qualifications, and a variety of marketing tasks, including tradeshow planning, collateral design, advertising, and more.

In her free time she enjoys mountain biking, hiking, traveling, and spending time with her two grandchildren, Max and Luna, and her soon-to-be-born twin grandchildren. In addition, Chrissie has started experimenting with stained glass, and is looking forward to taking classes to further expand her knowledge in the art.

Her most memorable travel experience was a family trip she took to Italy, where she traveled from Milan to Rome. Exploring her true Italian roots from her father who was born and raised in the mountains of Parma (where parmesan cheese was created) – the trip provided a special opportunity to visit relatives and view pieces of her natural heritage.

Chrissie’s favorite part about working for Tata & Howard is having the opportunity to work with each team member. She truly loves being a part of the team and enjoys working with all levels and personalities, while learning more about engineering in the water industry.

Thanks for all you do, Chrissie!

Employee Spotlight: Peter Goodwin

Employee Spotlight #2: Today we are shining our employee spotlight on Peter Goodwin. Peter joined Tata & Howard as an Associate in the fall of 2019 and has enjoyed his time thus far helping clients to solve problems successfully.

With Civil Engineering degrees from the University of Maine – Orono and Northeastern University, Peter’s passion for infrastructure planning, design, construction, and system operation/maintenance has spanned across nearly four decades and four firms/organizations. Peter is Past-President of the New Hampshire Water Pollution Control Association along with being State Director for the Maine Water Environment Association (2012-2015).  He is involved in several NEWEA, NHWWA, NHWPCA, MWUA, and MEWEA committees and has developed many professional relationships through the experience.

Since joining T&H, Peter’s favorite project has been the construction of the New Hampton Road Water Main Improvements for the City of Franklin, NH. While challenges presented themselves in the face of a pandemic, it was great to see the project completed under budget with two miles of additional roadway reconstruction negotiated with the general contractor and NHDES SRF Program.

When he’s not completing water, sewer, stormwater, and environmental consulting projects, Peter enjoys golfing, playing hockey, skiing and traveling. Some of his favorite trips include a post college cross-country trek in a conversion van with his best friend that allowed for visiting family and touring National Parks, as well as skiing in Austria, and exploring Italy.

Thank you for all you do, Peter!

Pandemic Strategy

A rise in COVID-19 cases across the United States has forced some utilities to reconsider staffing plans and to reevaluate past preparedness strategies in order to continue to provide clean, safe drinking water and sanitary services to the customers.  While utilities may be more prepared now than at the start of the pandemic, additional work is needed on documenting plans and procedures.  By preparing written plans, a utility can be stronger and more prepared for any emergency.

  • When should a staggered workforce be implemented?
  • Does the utility have the proper written protocols in place?
  • Has the utility defined all critical positions?
  • Have back-ups been identified for each critical position?
  • How do we keep staff safe?

By answering these and other questions, a plan can be developed and easily followed by all staff members.  A well thought out plan leaves little room for interpretation and clearly defines the roles and responsibilities as well as the hierarchy of authority.  Development of a pandemic response plan can be incorporated into the overall emergency response plan required by EPA for all public water systems serving more than 3,300 people.

Tata & Howard is offering multiple levels of assistance with pandemic preparedness.  Whether it is a 4-hour virtual workshop with key staff (3.5 TCH offered) or a 2-hour virtual discussion to outline the framework for a pandemic response plan.  Our emergency preparedness experts are available to assist your utility navigate these uncertain times.

For more information, or to schedule your virtual meeting, please contact Karen Gracey, P.E. at 508.219.4021 or kgracey@tataandhoward.com.

To email, print, or share the Tabletop Exercise flyer, please click here to download.

T&H Awarded ACEC/MA Engineering Excellence Award

ACEC/MA Announces Tata & Howard, Inc. as a winner of Bronze Engineering Excellence Award for their work on the Home Farm Water Treatment Plant

The American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts (ACEC/MA) has named Tata & Howard, Inc. as a winner of their 2020 Bronze Engineering Excellence Award for their work on the new Home Farm Water Treatment Plant in Shrewsbury, MA.

The 2020 Engineering Excellence Awards were recently announced and will be celebrated at the 2021 ACEC/MA Engineering Excellence and Awards Gala. The awards celebrate innovation, ingenuity, and excellence in engineering achievement.

Tata & Howard, Inc. provided lead engineering services for the design and construction administration of the new 7.0 mgd Home Farm Water Treatment Plant in Shrewsbury, MA. The new plant, which replaced an aging facility built in 1989, provides the Town with the ability to treat more water, remove elevated levels of manganese, and produce stable water quality. The project reached Substantial Completion on schedule and was completed within budget. The plant is the largest biological pressure filtration facility in the northeast United States.

Founded in 1992, Tata & Howard, Inc. is a 100% employee-owned water, wastewater, and stormwater consulting engineering firm dedicated to consistently delivering innovative, cost-effective solutions in the water environment. Tata & Howard has gained a solid reputation as an industry leader in the Northeast by bringing knowledge, integrity, and dedicated service to all-sized markets, both public and private. The firm has offices in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Arizona. For more information, visit http://www.tataandhoward.com.

“The Engineering Excellence Awards program recognizes engineering firms for projects that demonstrate a high degree of achievement, value and ingenuity,” said Jenn Howe, President of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts and Principal and Vice President at SMMA, Symmes Maini & McKee Associates. “Entrants are rated by an independent panel of judges from the architectural community, the construction industry, academia, the media, and the public sector on the basis of uniqueness and originality; future value to the profession and perception by the public; social, economic and sustainable development considerations; complexity; and successful fulfillment of the client/owner’s need, including schedule and budget. We congratulate them and thank them for their contributions to improving the quality of our everyday lives.”

About ACEC/MA
The American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts (ACEC/MA) is the business association of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island engineering industry, representing over 120 independent engineering companies engaged in the development of transportation, environmental, industrial, and other infrastructure. Founded in 1960 and headquartered in Boston, MA, ACEC/MA is a member organization of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) based in Washington, DC.  ACEC is a national federation of 51 state and regional organizations. For more information on ACEC/MA, visit their website at www.acecma.org. ACEC/MA is undertaking an awareness campaign to educate the public on the many contributions engineers make (or the engineering innovations) in everyday life through their hash tag #EngineeringGoFigure. To Follow us on Twitter:  @ACECMA

T&H Receives Engineering Excellence Award

Tata & Howard, Inc. is pleased announce the Shrewsbury, MA Home Farm Water Treatment Plant as a Bronze winner for the 2020 American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts’ (ACEC/MA) 2020 Engineering Excellence Award.

Tata & Howard evaluated various treatment options for design and construction of a water treatment facility based on loading rates, removal efficiencies, and estimated costs for removal of manganese. Manganese levels of the Home Farm Wells in Shrewsbury, MA had exceeded MassDEP’s Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level (SMCL) of 0.05 mg/L and the Office of Research and Standards Guidelines (ORSG) Lifetime Health Advisory limit of 0.3 mg/l. Based on the result of pilot testing, Tata & Howard, Inc. recommended biological pressure filtration for removal of iron and manganese.

Tata & Howard, Inc. provided lead engineering services for the design, permitting, funding assistance, bidding, award, construction administration, and resident project representation of a new 7.0 million gallons per day (mgd) Home Farm Water Treatment Plant to replace the existing treatment facility, which did not have processes to remove manganese.

The Water Treatment Plant focuses around biological pressure filtration processes for manganese removal using naturally occurring groundwater microorganisms with minimal chemical addition. Biological pressure filtration offers higher loading rates than conventional catalytic media for iron and manganese removal.

The Home Farm Water Treatment Plant is the largest biological pressure filtration facility in the northeast United States. The Home Farm Water Treatment Plant cost $14,900,000 inclusive of engineering and contingencies, of which approximately $1.2 million was for the biological filters.

Winning ACEC Engineering Excellence Award projects exemplify ingenuity and professionalism and represent the breadth of engineering’s contributions to our everyday lives. Projects display outstanding examples of how engineers connect communities, provide safe and reliable water and energy, and make buildings safe and efficient.

Draft National Water Reuse Action Plan

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a draft National Water Reuse Action Plan that identifies priority actions supporting the reuse of water for human consumption, agriculture, business, industry, recreation and healthy ecosystems. Items proposed in the draft will require the collaboration between governmental and nongovernmental organizations to implement the actions.

What is Water Reuse?

Water reuse is an innovative and dynamic strategy that can dramatically change the future of water availability in the U.S. Water reuse can be used to meet water demands and mitigate the risks posed by droughts. Recycled water can be used for a wide variety of applications, including agriculture, potable water supplies, groundwater replenishment, industrial processes and environmental restoration. The water reuse process can stem from sources such as industrial process water, agricultural return flows, municipal wastewater, oil and gas produced water, and stormwater.

Why Implement a Water Reuse Action Plan?

The draft National Water Reuse Action Plan is the first initiative of its kind to be coordinated across the water sector. According to EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Water, David Ross, forty states anticipate shortages of fresh water within their borders over the next decade. Water reuse has the potential to ensure the viability of our water economy and provide safe and reliable drinking water for years to come.

After extensive research and outreach, it was determined that meaningful advancement of water reuse would best be accomplished by working cooperatively with all water sector stakeholders including federal, state, tribal, and local water perspectives. The EPA hopes to issue a final plan that will include clear commitments and milestones for actions that will increase the sustainability, security and resilience of the nation’s water resources.

What Does the Plan Entail?

The draft National Water Reuse Action Plan identifies 46 proposed actions across ten strategic objectives.

  1. Enable consideration of water reuse with integrated and collaborative action at the watershed scale.
  2. Coordinate and integrate federal, state, tribal, and local water reuse programs and policies.
  3. Compile and refine fit-for-purpose specifications.
  4. Promote technology development, deployment, and validation.
  5. Improve availability of water information.
  6. Facilitate financial support of water reuse.
  7. Integrate and coordinate research on water reuse.
  8. Improve outreach and communication on water reuse.
  9. Support a talented and dynamic workforce.
  10. Develop water reuse metrics that support goals and measure progress.

What Next?

The EPA is soliciting public input through a 90-day public comment period. This period will seek to:

  • Identify the most important actions to be taken in the near term.
  • Identify and describe the specific attributes and characteristics of the actions that will achieve success.
  • Secure specific commitments to lead/partner/collaborate on implementation of actions.

Comments close on December 16, 2019.

For more information, including opportunities to engage with EPA on this effort, visit https://www.epa.gov/waterreuse/water-reuse-action-plan.

For a quick snapshot of how water reuse works, check out this infographic created by World Bank.