We are looking for a qualified and highly motivated Civil / Environmental Engineer with 4-7 years’ experience in water and/or wastewater engineering to address the needs of a growing firm. The selected candidate will support a variety of civil engineering design projects including pipelines, pump stations, and water treatment. The successful candidate will take the lead in project execution, project cost estimates and schedules, project work plans, keeping projects on schedule and within budget, and coordinating/participating in the preparation of plans and specifications, technical reports documenting project activities, findings, and recommendations, with limited supervision. The candidate must be a self-starter with a solid understanding of the consulting engineering industry. Familiarity with Deltek Vision project management system a plus.
Requirements:
Minimum of 4 years of experience in the consulting engineering industry involving the design of municipal water and/or wastewater systems.
Registered Professional Civil Engineer in the State of Connecticut or the ability to obtain within one year.
Candidate must have strong technical skills and history of successful projects.
Strong written and verbal communication, organizational and interpersonal skills.
Candidate must be able to work well independently and in teams and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
Please note that Tata & Howard does not sponsor applicants for work visas.
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!
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!
We are constantly growing, and are thrilled to welcome several new hires as well as some summer interns. Interested in working with us? Visit our careers page for more info!
Our Connecticut office welcomes Natalia Close and Tatiana Prevalla to the team. Natalia has joined the firm as an Engineer after graduating from University of Connecticut this past May with a B.S. degree in Environmental Engineering. Tatiana is interning this summer and just finished up her sophomore year at University of Connecticut where she is majoring in Civil Engineering.
Stan Welch, P.E., has joined our Vermont office as a Project Engineer. Stan earned his B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of New Hampshire and has over nine years of engineering experience.
Our corporate office in Marlborough, Massachusetts is excited to welcome five new hires! Brian Biagini graduated in May with a B.S. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass) and has joined the firm as an Engineer. Ethan Peterson is majoring in Finance at UMass and is interning with the T&H finance department this summer. Jenna O’Connell graduated in May with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and has joined the firm as an Engineer. Jack Garrett just finished up his junior year at UMass and is working toward a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He will be interning this summer. And finally, Justin Waters is currently studying Environmental Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and has just finished up his junior year. He will also be interning this summer.
New England is one of the oldest and most historically rich areas of the nation. Famous events such as the pilgrims founding Plimouth Plantation and Paul Revere’s midnight ride took place in Massachusetts. New Hampshire planted the first potato in America, Maine introduced the nation’s first sawmill, and Vermont produced the nation’s first gummed postage stamp. Connecticut has the most “firsts” of any state in the nation including the first newspaper, submarine, and hamburger, while tiny but mighty Rhode Island was the first colony in the nation to declare independence from Britain. New England also boasts another first: it is home to the nation’s first water distribution systems.
A Brief History
Boston, Massachusetts became home to the nation’s first waterworks in 1652. Distribution pipes at that time were made of wood, constructed from bored-out logs from the area’s plentiful hemlock and elm trees and attached together with pitch, tar, or iron hoops. While this rudimentary distribution system did supply some of the area’s residents, it was mainly used for fire protection as homes during that time — constructed of wood and heated with fireplaces —were particularly prone to fire.
It was over a century before other New England cities began installing wooden distribution pipes. Providence, Rhode Island, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Worcester, Massachusetts all laid wooden pipes during the late 1700s, and several other cities followed suit in the early 1800s. Contrary to some urban myths, wooden pipes are not still in use in any areas of New England today. The high pressure from modern water systems would instantly split any existing wooden pipes. Wooden pipes that are occasionally unearthed during some construction projects were disconnected years ago.
Wooden pipes were problematic for many reasons including warping and sagging, insect infestation, rotting, taste issues, and splitting. As iron became increasingly available during the early 1800s, cities began installing iron pipes. The first iron pipes in New England were installed in Portland, Maine in 1812, followed by Montpelier, Vermont in 1820, and in both instances the pipes were lead. Many other cities followed suit throughout the 19th century, utilizing wrought iron, cast iron, and lead pipe. In the 1950s, ductile iron piping was introduced and boasted the longevity of cast iron with the addition of increased strength, flexibility, and safety. It became widely used in the 1970s and it is still the material of choice throughout New England today.
Distribution Systems Today
New England can be considered a pioneer of our nation’s water infrastructure. After all, distribution systems have grown from a few wooden pipes in Boston to the intricate, complicated underground infrastructure that we enjoy today. However, because much of the area’s infrastructure was laid so long ago, it has reached the end of its useful life. Water main breaks occur daily and are not only inconvenient to customers, they can also be dangerous, as evidenced by the November 2016 water main break in Boston, Massachusetts that caused manhole fires and forced evacuation of the area. Maintaining and updating our distribution systems is critical to the health and safety of our nation, its people, and the economy. But with limited budgets and resources, where do we start?
Strategically prioritizing improvements is imperative to today’s water systems, as the rehabilitation and replacement of our nation’s buried infrastructure is an ongoing task. Asset management provides a roadmap for utilities, allowing them to maximize their limited infrastructure dollars by planning for the replacement of critical infrastructure over time. Tata & Howard’s Capital Efficiency Plan™ (CEP) methodology takes it one step further by combining the concepts of asset management, hydraulic modeling, and system criticality into a single comprehensive report. The final report provides utilities with a database and Geographic Information System (GIS) representation for each pipe segment within their underground piping system, prioritizes water distribution system piping improvements, and provides estimated costs for water main replacement and rehabilitation.
Since the firm’s inception in 1992, Tata & Howard has remained a niche firm with deep experience and expertise in the water environment, and has provided CEP and hydraulic modeling services for countless municipalities throughout New England. Tata & Howard has one of the largest pipe asset management databases of any consulting engineering firm in New England. In fact, we have data on over 5,000 miles of New England pipe, providing utilities with critical information about their systems such as condition and probability of failure of certain pipe cohorts.
In Conclusion
Water distribution systems have come a long way since the days of hollowed out logs providing fire protection to colonial Bostonians. The underground network of distribution pipes has grown astronomically and now incorporates safer, stronger, and more cost-effective materials. As distribution systems are updated and expanded, it is critical that accurate, up-to-date information is available to water systems so that they may invest their limited capital wisely.
Roald Haestad, Inc. staff join the Tata & Howard team
Tata & Howard enhances its water, wastewater, and stormwater consulting engineering services and adds dam engineering services by acquiring the assets of Connecticut-based consulting firm Roald Haestad, Inc.
WATERBURY, CT, August 27, 2014 –Tata & Howard, Inc., a leading innovator in water, wastewater, stormwater, and hazardous waste engineering solutions, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Roald Haestad, Inc., (RHI) a civil engineering consulting firm located in Waterbury, CT. Founded in 1971, RHI is a full service civil engineering firm providing services in water supply, stormwater, water distribution systems, and wastewater collection systems, with targeted expertise in safe yields and dam engineering. Throughout its 43-year history, RHI has built a solid reputation for providing superior design and engineering services along with exceptional client relations. Additional services include roadways, permitting, funding assistance, GIS, and surveying, including GPS, floodplain mapping, and bathymetric surveys.
“Our acquisition of RHI complements our existing engineering consultant offerings by allowing us to provide additional civil engineering services, including dam engineering, surveying, and streamflow release analysis,” noted Donald J. Tata, P.E., co-founder and President of Tata & Howard, Inc. “We intend to provide the same high-level service to the clients of RHI, and are excited about the wide variety of options we can now offer to our existing and new clients,” explains Tata.
To provide the best possible transition for current RHI clients, Tata & Howard will continue operations from Haestad’s Waterbury location, along with existing RHI employees. “The acquisition significantly adds to our talent base and also expands our geographic presence in New England,” Tata commented. “RHI employees bring decades of solid engineering experience to the table, and we are enthusiastic to have them on the Tata & Howard team.”
Ronald G. Litke, P.E., President of RHI, will be retiring and remain available on a limited basis, He commented, “In looking to the future, our key concerns were our clients and our employees” he commented. “By joining Tata & Howard, we have ensured seamless transition and exceptional service for our clients, along with a stable and bright future for our employees. It’s a win-win situation.”
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