QUA NEWS
Happenings Around the Water Team
MARCH 5, 2025 | ISSUE II
GREETING
Welcome to 2025 and our latest edition of CHAqua News. I hope you each had a fun and restful holiday season. Make sure to check out holiday/vacation pics from our team members at the end of the newsletter.
Last month I stressed the importance of our work on public health and the environment driven by record investment in water infrastructure projects. While we continue to focus on our mission, it’s important to keep in mind that we are a business with annual budget metrics, which is why we list our year-to-date actuals against budget in the spirit of full transparency (see 2nd page). Meeting revenue and profitability metrics ensures we have a sustainable model to grow, provide competitive compensation/benefits, and enable professional growth opportunities for staff. Note a few items as you look at 2024 results:
Our year over year revenue growth was extremely strong at over 10%. We fell short of an aggressive budget target, but the growth rate is excellent against industry standards. A key measure of sustainable growth is maintaining a heavy backlog through contract bookings. We had record bookings of almost $55M in 2024!
Thank each of you for your efforts in delivering great results for the Water Resources Business Line.
Thanks to Abby Endsley and Jill Hayth for producing this revised newsletter. Let us know of any suggestion for future editions.
-Tim George Business Line Director
OPEN POSITIONS
• Water/Wastewater Engineer - Winter Springs, FL/Tampa, FL
Engineer I - Albany, NY
• Water/Wastewater Sr Engineer/Project Manager - Coral Springs, FL
• Construction Engineer - Coral Springs, FL
• Water/Wastewater Engineering Designer - Coral Springs, FL
Water/Wastewater Principal Engineer - Wilmington, DE
• Field Crew Assistant - Charlotte, NC
• Senior Wastewater Inspector- Vero Beach, FL
Section Manager - Winter Springs, FL/Tampa, FL
• Water Project Engineer - Buffalo, NY
• Wastewater Subject Matter Expert (SME) - Winter Springs, FL/ Tampa, FL/Winter Haven, FL
• Water/Wastewater Project Manager - Richmond, VA/ Blacksburg, VA/Charlotte, NC
CHA SHOUTOUT
Craig Murray & Team CHAtterers participated in the “Polar Plunge” and raised almost $2,400 for Special Olympics.
Pictured: Craig and his wife, Dana, in the minion outfits. Jamie Lynch is the seagull. Elisabeth Hamscher, Andrew Connor, Amanda Cardona and Jess Deegan also pictured.
John Paul Travis Senior Project Manager
Wilmington, DE
Andrew Bergey Inspector
Wilmington, DE
Tyrell Denson Senior Inspector Client Site, FL
PILLAR OF EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Congratulations to the Tyndall Air Force Base Project Team on your 2024 Project Excellence Award, representing the infrastructure Sector.
The team’s project management and design services met accelerated deadlines and exemplified our collaborative acumen in working with numerous partners to get the project this far. The Tyndall project has also illustrated CHA’s cross-disciplinary solutions delivery, with team members contributing from across our sectors and business lines.
Francisco Vasquez Project Engineer III Miami, FL
Timothy Newcombe Inspector I Client Site
Congratulations to the Pineda Causeway Water Transmission Mains Project Team as the winner of the 2024 Pillar of Excellence Sustainability Award.
This CHA project had sustainability at its very core. The team’s use of techniques, and a thoughtful approach over the course of this project, minimized disturbance to the biologically-diverse Indian River Lagoon and took steps to protect the lagoon’s vital (and ecologically valuable) seagrass. Their work also significantly improved reliability of drinking water supplies to two surrounding communities, collaborating with both towns at once to reduce impact to the environmentally sensitive impacted areas.
The Master Planning and Modeling Community of Practice (MPM CoP) had a productive year in 2024! We would like to thank the following presenters for their presentations:
1. Katelyn Casper and Shirely Manning: Introduction to Fire Flow Analysis (1/30/2024).
2. Amy Marroquin (Blacoh): Surge Vessel Design Considerations (2/19/2024).
3. Jim Garvey, Katelyn Casper, Mohammed Al-Farsi: Case Study – Columbus Stormwater Pump Station (3/28/2024).
4. Youssef Al-Fahham and Michael Kane (Autodesk): Fundamentals of Water Hammer Analysis (4/23/2024).
5. Ahmet Tahaoglu: Introduction to Vacuum Sewer Design (7/24/2024).
6. Michael Kane (Autodesk): Introduction to Cloud Computing Access (9/25/2024).
7. Weston Haggen and Emily Williamson: Independent Review of Condition Assessment Technologies (10/30/2024).
8. Ed Talton and Samantha Majumder: Hydraulic Troubleshooting (11/7/2024).
The MPM CoP also coordinated the following virtual trainings for CHA staff with Bentely in 2024. These training have been wellreceived internally and are aimed to enhance the technical capabilities of CHA hydraulic modeleres.
1. Water Distribution Design and Modeling Advance Training (Completed).
2. Stormwater Fundamentals (Ongoing).
3. Transient Analysis and Design (Ongoing).
The MPM CoP had a head start in January 2025 by establishing a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Modeling Task Force led by Joan Giner and Samantha Majumder. The purpose of this Task Force is to build CFD modeling capability by training staff and learning applicable techniques using CFD software. Task Force members will demonstrate applications of CFD modeling to project managers, helping to identify potential opportunities for incorporating CFD into scope and fee developments. The Task Force will focus on Water/Wastewater applications, with a long-term objective of expanding into other sectors. A key benefit of this effort is reducing reliance on subconsultants by developing in-house CFD expertise, which has the potential to significantly lower costs for CHA. We thank Joan and Samantha for pioneering this effort in CHA!
In another great start to 2025, CHA experts Ed Talton and Allen Dethloff took the stage during the FSAWWA Master Planning and Modeling Committee Seminar on 1/31/25 in Tampa, Florida. Allen moderated this whole-day seminar of 10 presenters with over 60 participants. Ed’s presentation “Re-Imagining Potable Water Networks for Large Utilities through Optimally Re-sizing the Entire System” was well received among the master planning and modeling community. We would like to thank Abigail Endsley and Ian Grabo for their valuable efforts to prepare the seminar venue!
We are delighted to announce that the MPM CoP members will have a significant stage presence at the Florida Water Resources Conference (FWRC) in May of this year! The following CHA subject matter experts will be speaking:
1. Parsa Pezeshk: Pump Curve Validation Using SCADA Data for Hydraulic Model Validation.
2. Weston Haggen: Water Conservation through a Stormwater Augmentation Program.
3. Boya Wang: High Performance Design and Retrofits for Nutrient Reduction at a WRF.
4. Shima Ghoochani: Studying Lead (Pb) Release from Plastic Potable Water Pipes
5. Leann Wishah: Beyond the Inventory – Phase II LCRR/LCRI Compliance Programs for Seven Utilities
6. Chandra Mysore: Exploring Options for Managing the New Drinking Water Regulations for PFAS
7. Allen Dethloff: Integrated Water Supply Planning – Not your Father’s Master Plan
HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS!
Trip to the slopes at Holiday Valley Ski Resort over Christmas break with my family. - Muffet Mauche George
Just a quick shot before heading to Christmas Church service. Me and the misses (Mandy) - James Robinson
Holiday vacation pictures, at
The Watson boys ringing in the New Year! - Seth Watson
the Mayan ruins in Yucatan, Mexico - Tim George
A Christmas Moment of Joy with Loved Ones-Hayth Clan
CHA holiday party pics with our Winter Springs & Tampa folks
A few photos from our Thanksgiving trip to the beach as well as one of our Christmas morning hearth. - Andy Scales
family Christmas with his son (Theodore) and wife (Tara). - Jacob Montague
is the farm I rent after an ice event. - Mike
Montague
Brisco
Gusty “Gus” Gustoffurson enjoying a “Happy Holidays” nap - Violet Vanatta
