Hydro Leader January 2022 by Water Strategies

Leader ydro H VOLUME 3 ISSUE 1

Cody Desautel: How the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Balance Hydropower and Natural Resource Protection

january 2022

Rugged Trash Rakes and Trash Racks

Keep water intake free from debris and hassles.

Gene Power

, Paper & Steel Mills | Munic ration | Pulp ipal W ater I nt

Rugged trash racks and rakers keep water intakes free from debris and hassle. Our innovative debris capture solutions were developed at our own hydroelectric facilities. So, we mean it when we say... ”we use what we sell, every day.” Our trash racks and trash rakes are easy to install, operate and maintain. Our HDPE trash racks are practically maintenance free, designed to resist rust, corrosion, mussels and other marine life. Our patented electro-mechanical rakers have no hydraulics to maintain so they provide years of flawless performance. *Electro-mechanical Trash Raker U.S. Patent No. 7,815,811 & 9,539,528

akes | Wastew at e

ti o ns r Treatment Plants | Flood Control Pump Sta

For inquiries, please contact Shane Scott at 360.601.2391 or at shane@sscottandassociates.com

NC man dies after boat gets sucked into raging flow of dam floodgate June 4, 2018 (Also: July 2019*, May 2020, November 2020)

Public Safety Around Dams - Let’s Get Started “a licensee must install, operate, and maintain any signs, lights, sirens, barriers, or other safety devices that may reasonably be necessary or desirable to warn the public of fluctuations in

Worthington Public Safety Solutions Call

1.800.899.2977

Click

flow from the project or otherwise to protect the public in the use of the project lands and waters” Section 10c, Part 12 of the Federal Power Act

See what happens when a boat gets too close to an open floodgate.

tuffboom.com

Cody Desautel: How the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Balance Hydropower and Natural Resource Protection

Contents

January 2022 Volume 3, Issue 1 5 S ustainability and Specialization By Kris Polly 8 Cody Desautel: How the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Balance Hydropower and Natural Resource Protection 14 Denver Water Takes a Deep Dive at Gross Dam 18 G lobal Diving & Salvage Deploys Saturation Divers at Gross Dam

22 L asalle|NHC’s Specialized Hydraulics and Water Resources Consulting Services 26 G omez and Sullivan Engineering: A Multigenerational Hydropower Engineering and Environmental Science Consulting Firm 32 A n Industry Homecoming at the Inaugural Clean Currents Conference and Trade Show 38 JOB LISTINGS

Hydro Leader Hydro Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for July/August and November/December by

an American company established in 2009.

STAFF: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief Joshua Dill, Managing Editor Elaine Robbins, Copyeditor Tyler Young, Writer Stephanie Biddle, Graphic Designer Eliza Moreno, Web Designer Caroline Polly, Production Assistant and Social Media Coordinator Tom Wacker, Advertising Coordinator Cassandra Leonard, Staff Assistant Milo Schmitt, Media Intern Amanda Schultz, Media Intern SUBMISSIONS: Hydro Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions. However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved. Submissions are returned only upon request. For more information, please contact our office at (202) 698-0690 or hydro.leader@waterstrategies.com. ADVERTISING: Hydro Leader accepts half-page and full-page ads. For more information on rates and placement, please contact Kris Polly at (703) 517-3962 or kris.polly@waterstrategies.com or Tom Wacker at tom.wacker@waterstrategies.com. CIRCULATION: Hydro Leader is distributed to all hydroelectric facility owners in the United States, to hydrorelated businesses, and to every member of Congress and governor’s office. For address corrections or additions, or if you would prefer to receive Hydro Leader in electronic form, please contact us at admin@waterstrategies.com. hydroleadermag

Copyright © 2019 Water Strategies LLC. Hydro Leader relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Hydro Leader magazine, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Hydro Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Hydro Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised.

4 | HYDRO LEADER | January 2022

/company/water-strategies-llc hydro.leader

hydroleadermagazine.com

COVER PHOTO:

Cody Desautel, Natural Resources Director, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. Photo courtesy of the Colville Tribes. Photo of Grand Coulee Dam by the Bureau of Reclamation, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE COLVILLE TRIBES.

Do you have a story idea for an upcoming issue? Contact our editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

hydro_leadr

Sustainability and Specialization

he Colville Indian Reservation, located in central Washington State, is home to two of the nation’s largest hydroelectric stations, Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph Dams, and is just upriver of Wells Dam. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation have a financial stake in these facilities and also depend on the electricity they generate for most of their power needs. In our cover story, Cody Desautel, director of the tribes’ natural resources division, tells us about how the tribes cooperate with local public utility districts and about the importance of balancing hydropower with the preservation of healthy land, water, and wildlife. Denver Water recently replaced a trash rack at Gross Dam, located 270 feet below the surface. To carry out the work, it contracted with Global Diving and Salvage, which employed a team of saturation divers—specialized professionals who lived inside a pressurized environment for the duration of the project. We get multiple viewpoints on this fascinating project in our interviews with Douglas Raitt, the dam safety engineering manager of Denver Water, and Michael Rawlings, a senior project manager at Global Diving. We also speak with professionals from two specialized consulting firms. Lasalle|NHC is a Montréal-based consulting firm offering services in the fields of hydraulics, hydrology, applied fluid mechanics, and water resources. As President Marc Villeneuve tells us, the company has significant expertise in the use of physical hydraulic scale models and computer modeling

By Kris Polly

for the design and construction of hydropower facilities. Gomez and Sullivan Engineers is a hydropower engineering and environmental science consulting firm based in the northeastern United States that provides dam safety services, licensing and compliance services, fish passage design and effectiveness studies, and more. Executive Vice President and Board Chairman Tom Sullivan tells us about the firm’s history and current services and why he recently received the Henwood Award from the National Hydropower Association (NHA). Finally, we hear from NHA President and CEO Malcolm Woolf about the success of the association’s first-ever Clean Currents conference and trade show, which was held in October 2021, and its plans for next year. The highly specialized work of natural resources and hydropower professionals is helping us reach renewable energy goals while preserving the safety of our communities and the ecosystems on which we rely. I hope you find their stories in this issue of Hydro Leader inspiring. H Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Hydro Leader magazine and the president and CEO of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

Your next hydro project is yet another balancing act of regulation, conservation, and power generation.

Sound Familiar?

At Anchor QEA, we understand the complex intersection of water, environment, and energy challenges, and we know that there are many compliance and permitting requirements necessary to develop hydropower and pumped storage. Our team of scientists, engineers, modelers, and planners is well versed in hydropower development regulations including NEPA, CEQA, FERC, LOPP, and more. We are ready to provide support and design services to get your project permitted, constructed, and generating electricity! www.anchorqea.com

(415) 361-5155 mgabaldon@anchorqea.com

hydroleadermagazine.com

January 2022 | HYDRO LEADER

New Revenue Stream Low Impact

High Energy Output Cost Effective

Unleashing water’s natural power Delivering modular, scalable hydropower without the need for construction

u Tailrace-friendly, hydropower turbine modules that don’t affect your waterflow u Installation is easy - no site work or permits u Modular and scalable power generation 5kW - 1MW u Zero risk - can be installed or removed quickly

Learn more about our technology and how we can help you and your customers in these difficult times. We’re all in this together. Email Sales@Emrgy.com for more information.

www.Emrgy.com

Quality Engineered Steel Penstock Pipe Systems Leading the nation in reliable water transmission solutions since 1966. Northwest Pipe Company is the most experienced manufacturer of engineered water transmission systems in North America. Bar none. With locations across the continent, we’re nearby and ready to support your hydro project through design, specification, installation, and testing.

A legacy grounded in water.

Questions about a project? Contact us! Northwest & Midwest Region Neal Kelemen nkelemen@nwpipe.com 303-478-8342

Southwest Region Michael LaBroad mlabroad@nwpipe.com 909-839-3978 714-602-6022

Texas Region William Ast wast@nwpipe.com 817-304-8991

Atlantic Region Gary Lewis glewis@nwpipe.com 614-537-7549

NWPIPE.COM

Cody Desautel: How the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Balance Hydropower and Natural Resource Protection

A view of the Grand Coulee Dam pumping plant.

resources director, I am responsible for the oversight of all natural resources programs, many of which are affected by the operation of the hydropower projects. The two that are most affected are fisheries and cultural resources. In addition, I am designated to work with Douglas Public Utility Department (Douglas PUD) in the marketing and sale of Colville’s allocation of power from the Wells Dam Project.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

Cody Desautel: Colville is a confederacy of 12 tribes that range from northeast Oregon (the Chief Joseph band of Nez Perce) through much of eastern Washington and well into Canada (the Arrow Lakes and Okanogan Tribes). These tribes have a diverse set of cultures and speak languages from three distinct language groups. Those tribes exist today on the 1.4 million acres that remain of the 2.9‑million-acre reservation that was established in

Cody Desautel: I am the natural resources division director for the Colville Tribes. I have a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and a master’s degree in Indian law. Most of my early career was spent in forestry. I’ve been in the natural resources director position since 2014. As the natural

8 | HYDRO LEADER | January 2022

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about the Colville Tribes.

hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTO BY THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION, LICENSED UNDER CC BY-SA 2.0.

he Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation depend on hydropower for energy and revenue through their stake in the Grand Coulee Dam and Wells Dam hydropower projects. How do they balance that dependency with the importance of healthy land, water, and wildlife? In this interview, Cody Desautel, director of the tribe’s natural resources division, speaks with Hydro Leader about the tribes’ work with its partners, including local public utility districts, to mitigate the dams’ effects on natural and cultural resources.

ADVERTISEMENT 1872. Timber revenue has been a considerable part of tribes’ revenue stream throughout the entirety of their history. Of those 1.4 million acres, about 920,000 are forested. There are two dams on the reservation: Chief Joseph Dam, operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Grand Coulee Dam, operated by the Bureau of Reclamation. The power produced by both is sold by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The Wells Dam Project, operated by the Douglas PUD, is downriver of the reservation, but the Wells Pool that it creates inundated portions of the reservation. Hydro Leader: Please tell us about the natural resources division’s program and staff. Cody Desautel: The natural resources division includes 15 programs and has 500–600 staff, depending on seasonal appointments. This includes all of what you would consider natural resources programs, such our as forestry, fire, fish and wildlife, history and archeology, and parks and recreation programs and our real estate services branch. We also have an ag component for which we contract the management, so we have a pretty diverse group of programs.

The Colville Tribes and local PUDs collaborate on salmon management. Here, brood collection activities are being carried out.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE COLVILLE TRIBES.

Hydro Leader: Do you have a tribal utility company? Cody Desautel: Currently, five different utilities service the reservation, with a variety of rates and services that depend on location. It is in the interest of the council to establish a tribal utility that takes control of that infrastructure to ensure that we have reliability, both from a cost and a service perspective. A feasibility study was carried out 7–8 years ago to evaluate the idea of establishing a tribal utility. The recommendation of the report that study produced was a phased approach that expanded service areas through time. Over the past year, we’ve been looking at how to implement phase 1, which would include servicing high-density tribal loads. However, starting small utilities is difficult. We looked at accessing power from the BPA, but its rates are high right now, particularly for tier 1. There have been several changes in the utility world over the last 4 or 5 years that have sent us back to the drawing board to reevaluate our next steps. To date, we have contracted with the BPA to complete an interconnection feasibility study to determine how we would connect to the BPA transmission system. We also looked at other available power purchasing options. That evaluation included our 5½ percent allocation of the Wells Dam production, which works out to about 25 megawatts— more than what we currently need to service the first phase of the tribal utility. At this point, the Wells allocation is still sold on the open market, so there is still a fair bit of work to be done. Hydro Leader: What does having a stake in federal facilities do for you? hydroleadermagazine.com

Work in a hatchery is carried out as part of the Colville Tribes’ salmon management activities.

Cody Desautel: Essentially, it means we get an annual check from the BPA for its revenues from the energy produced at Grand Coulee Dam. The payment amount is calculated based on power sales per the terms of a settlement agreement. I have heard that the Grand Coulee settlement includes Chief Joseph Dam, too, but I’ve never really seen that in the legislation. January 2022 | HYDRO LEADER

ADVERTISEMENT Hydro Leader: To what extent does the reservation rely on hydropower? Cody Desautel: We get power from five separate utilities, but from what I know of their portfolios, the vast majority of that power is hydropower. A considerable component of the power needs of Okanogan PUD and Nespelem Valley Electric are provided by hydro. That power is purchased primarily from the BPA and Douglas PUD. Those two utilities service much of the eastern half of the reservation. Ferry County PUD primarily uses hydropower purchased from the BPA as well. The Town of Coulee Dam does not have any public information available about the source of its power, but my understanding is that its power is purchased from the BPA. Avista, which is a for-profit utility, services the eastern side of the reservation. It operates several hydro facilities on the Spokane River and has at least one thermal generating plant.

other wildlife. The operations of the utilities and federal agencies change flow and reservoir levels based on power production, flood control, and irrigation considerations. Those operations affect wildlife’s ability to use the reservoirs as a water source, inundate existing habitat, and affect both anadromous and resident fish species. Hydro Leader: What are you working on with Chelan PUD and others? Cody Desautel: In general, the PUDs have habitat conservation plans (HCPs) that they’re charged with implementing to mitigate effects on natural resources, particularly anadromous fish in the river. They are required to mitigate any mortality that’s caused by their facilities, and they provide funding to do so consistent with their HCPs. The mitigation efforts can include hatchery supplementation, habitat improvements, and upgrades to their facilities. We use that funding to help increase anadromous species stocks and improve habitat. We also work closely with the hydro facility managers on signage and interpretation that reflects the history and culture of the area. Whenever there is construction or land-disturbing events, we coordinate with them to ensure that we’ve done cultural resources surveys to avoid detrimental effects. We have had a good working relationship. They always reach out early when they plan activities to ensure that they are aware of any concerns the tribes have. If there are issues of concern, we meet regularly to address them. Hydro Leader: What is the best way to balance natural and cultural resource management and hydropower production?

Grand Coulee Dam in the wintertime.

Hydro Leader: How do you mitigate the federal projects’ effects on natural resources?

10 | HYDRO LEADER | January 2022

Hydro Leader: What are your thoughts about the dams on the Snake River? Cody Desautel: We recognize that the dams on the lower Snake have been a focus in the region. However, because Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph Dams are on the reservation and their reservoirs cover roughly half the reservation boundary, they have been the tribes’ priority. Any changes to river operations or other obligations—whether related to power production, flow management, or flood control—that are moved from one area to another could have unintended or unknown consequences. We don’t know what the implications of changes to lower Snake River facilities or operations are. hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTO BY DALE HENRIKSEN / BUREAU OF RECLAMATION, LICENSED UNDER CC BY 2.0.

Cody Desautel: We mitigate effects on natural resources such as fish and wildlife as well as effects on cultural resources in a number of forums. Let’s specifically look at Lake Roosevelt: There is a five-party agreement among the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Reclamation, the National Park Service, and the Spokane and Colville Tribes. We discuss operations and their effects on the tribes and all the other interested agencies. We meet quarterly to discuss issues and talk about operations, including river operations, and their effects on recreation and tribal rights; the effects of fluctuations of the reservoir; and how those effects can be minimized. Particularly from a cultural resources perspective, we see the sloughing of the banks, which exposes cultural resources and human remains. We also work with both the public utilities in the mid-Columbia River and the federal hydro managers to mitigate effects on fish species and

Cody Desautel: The dams were constructed some time ago—the newest facilities were built in the 1970s. Their effects already exist and are for the most part detrimental to fish, wildlife, and cultural resources. We also understand there’s a need for power, particularly from renewable sources. Since the dams already exist, how do we work together to mitigate their effects? The working groups we currently have to address those effects function well. We meet regularly to identify concerns, to stay ahead of any potential issues, and to come up with mitigations.

ADVERTISEMENT That’s not something we’ve taken a stance on, and we will not do so without considerably more data. Hydro Leader: If dams farther downriver were removed, would there be requirements that Grand Coulee store more water? Cody Desautel: Potentially. The lower Snake River dams can provide flow flexibility at certain times of year, which could be used to push juvenile salmonids downriver or to ensure adequate river levels to facilitate barge transportation. Then there’s the power production component. If any of the current power production changes or is diminished, the Federal Columbia River Power System will have to account for it. What does that mean if the four lower Snake River dams go offline? We don’t know. I have reviewed the information from a salmon perspective, but not from a power production, flood control, navigation, or irrigation perspective. Hydro Leader: Would you tell us about your fisheries work? Are you seeing any populations recover? Cody Desautel: We’ve had great success with the fish habitat work we have conducted with our PUD and federal partners. Most notable is the work that’s been done in the Okanagan basin, which focused primarily on sockeye salmon recovery. We’ve seen massive sockeye runs over the last 5–10 years, which is a huge improvement. A lot of habitat improvement work and removal of blockages improved access to the Canadian stretch of the Okanagan River basin. Endangered spring chinook have also been reintroduced in both the U.S. and Canadian stretches of that basin. Overall, the abundance of fish has increased pretty significantly in the upper Columbia because of that work. Along with the habitat work, the other big component is an agreement under our accord with the BPA for the construction of the Chief Joseph hatchery. The Chief Joseph hatchery is an anadromous fish hatchery that’s designed to provide 2.9 million spring and summer chinook. Fall chinook were also designed into the program, but we don’t have a broad stock source for them yet. There have been huge improvements in overall salmonid numbers in the upper basin because of all that work.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE COLVILLE TRIBES.

Hydro Leader: Are there any other issues regarding hydropower dams and river systems that you would like to talk about? Cody Desautel: The fishery effects are the most notable. We’ve put a ton of work into reintroduction into the blocked areas above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams over the last half-dozen years. With climate change, we see poor ocean conditions, which are contributing to decreases in fish numbers throughout the basin. There are a lot of warm-water systems in the basin, and with climate change, the survivability of anadromous runs in those basins is in hydroleadermagazine.com

question. The upper Colombia above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams holds a lot of cold-water habitat that we would like to restore to improve resilience to climate change. We put a lot of effort into trying to reestablish anadromous fish above that blockage. We did a phase 1 feasibility study that looked at risk to resident fish species; donor stock assessments, to determine what donor stocks would best fit in the upper Columbia to reestablish those runs; and a habitat assessment, to see what habitat is available to inform the decision to reintroduce fish into those blocked areas. We have moved into what we call the phase 2 implementation plan, which includes a series of studies in which we tag adults and juveniles and study their behavior and migration through the system. This will allow us to see where we’ve got migration issues, to tell whether any particular hydro facility has disproportionate effects, and to identify other forms of mortality. Then we will try to figure out if it makes sense to reintroduce those fish. Hydro Leader: Have new fish passage structures been added at any of the dams in your area? Cody Desautel: Not in my area. The tribes have released live adult summer chinook over the last 2 years: We’ve trapped adults that went up the ladder at the Wells hatchery and reintroduced them into Rufus Woods Lake above Chief Joseph Dam and Lake Roosevelt above Grand Coulee Dam. Those fish were tagged to track their migration. We know that some of the salmon that were introduced above Grand Coulee migrated up to Canada. For the last 2 years, we have also released adult summer Chinook in the Sanpoil River, which forms a pretty large subbasin on Lake Roosevelt, and had successful reproduction. Those salmon stayed in the river and spawned, and we caught juveniles going out last spring. We expect the released adults to successfully spawn again this year. Hydro Leader: What is your vision for the future of the tribes, for the natural resources division, and for your relationship to hydropower? Cody Desautel: We want to ensure that we protect the integrity of the ecosystem. We want to ensure that fish and wildlife are here to perpetuate the tribes’ culture and subsistence needs. For culturally important migratory species like salmon, we want to work with our neighboring agencies. It is a tribal priority to ensure that those fish resources are available on the landscape for the tribal membership. H Cody Desautel is the natural resources division director for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. He can be contacted at cody.desautel@colvilletribes.com.

January 2022 | HYDRO LEADER

| 11

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE APRIL APRIL 11-14, 11-14, 2022 2022

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF DAMS AND LEVEES

The 2022 USSD Annual Conference will be held in beautiful San Diego at the newly renovated Town and Country Resort (towncountry.com). As industry knowledge and awareness of the resulting human,

WORKSHOPS

environmental, and social impacts from dam and levee infrastructure

Concurrent workshops will be held on Thursday, April 14

decisions of decades ago are more understood, it has become increasingly important to recognize and consider these long-term impacts from current investment decisions. The conference will be a forum for sharing technical expertise and fostering a healthy dialogue to promote improved decision-making, planning, design, construction, and management of

USSD MISSION:

dams and levees today in order to meet the needs of future generations

Empower professionals to advance the sustainable benefits of dams and levees for society

without compromising our natural systems. With its complex nexus of relationships between coastal and riverine systems, low-lying and mountainous typologies, urban density and suburban sprawl, and rich wildlife and habitat history, San Diego is a great place for dam and levee practitioners to come together and discuss topics related to the conference theme. Up the Interstate-5 freeway in Carlsbad, CA is the famous LEGOLAND theme park, home to the Legos we assembled as kids and perhaps reminding us of our childhood inspiration

USSD VISION: A world where all dams and levees are safe and valued by the communities they serve

to become engineers and scientists. Next year’s conference theme is also an opportunity to think about the future generation of dam and levee professionals and how we can set them up for success.

2022Conference@ussdams.org | 303-792-8753 | ussdams.org

HYDRO TURBINE TECHNOLOGY

kaplan | francis | pelton | micro w w w. m ave l . co m

Denver Water Takes a Deep Dive at Gross Dam

A view of Gross Dam and Reservoir as night falls, with the illuminated saturation diving barges visible on the surface of the water.

hen your workers live and work 270 feet underwater for weeks on end, safety first becomes more than just a slogan. Denver Water’s Dam Safety Engineering Manager Douglas Raitt spoke with Hydro Leader about the unique challenges involved in a recent project to replace an underwater trash rack. He also talked about how his organization prioritizes maintenance projects to keep dams— and workers—safe. Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

14 | HYDRO LEADER | January 2022

Douglas Raitt: Denver Water is a municipal enterprise that is independent of the City and County of Denver. It has its own board of water commissioners and has been a separate entity since the early 1900s. Our principal business is to supply water to our approximately 1½ million customers in the city and county of Denver and in some of the surrounding areas. Our collection system covers roughly 4,000 square miles across the state of Colorado, on both sides of the Continental Divide. About half our water comes from the western slope of the Continental Divide over to the eastern side through various canals, diversions, and tunnels. It is a large system with quite a few reservoirs—some large, some very small. There are four treatment plants, a big recycling system, and a large distribution system that extends throughout the area surrounding Denver. The Denver metro area is growing quickly, but our watershed is fixed. Therefore, we have been emphasizing conservation and making sure our system is maintained. That’s quite a challenge with a system that has many components that are over 100 years old. hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DENVER WATER.

Douglas Raitt: I am the engineering manager in the dam safety section of Denver Water. I have been with Denver Water for about 12 years and have more than 35 years of experience in heavy civil construction, working on a variety of large projects in transportation and water resources. For the past 5 or 6 years, I have concentrated on collection systems such as dams, canals, and outlet works. That’s my primary area of interest. Water is the most important resource on earth, and the one most important to the city and county of Denver, so it’s easy to be passionate about this work.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about Denver Water.

The large saturation barge on the left held the saturation diving bell, pressurized living quarters, galley, and support equipment; the smaller material barge on the right was used to transport supplies and trash rack equipment.

Hydro Leader: How many of the dams produce hydropower? Do you market the power yourself, or do you sell it to another entity? Douglas Raitt: We’ve got seven hydro locations, including dams and transmission tunnels with hydro units. Most of them are small facilities that supply power to the global grid. We generate more electricity than we use. Because our system is supplied from the mountains, most of our distribution system is gravity powered. We have several pump stations in the distribution system, but we rely on gravity to power our transmission conduits and some of the distribution systems. Because topography is in our favor, our energy usage is relatively small compared to that of other systems. Hydro Leader: What is Denver Water’s overall approach to dam safety? Douglas Raitt: Within the engineering department of Denver Water, which has about 175 people, there is a dam safety section that monitors all our facilities to make sure they comply with current state and federal regulations. Several of our facilities are licensed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Also, the Colorado State Engineer’s Office regulates all the dams in our system and subjects them hydroleadermagazine.com

to a regular inspection program. We also carry out continuing maintenance operations and work closely with the operations folks to make sure that maintenance projects are prioritized. Anything we find during inspections that requires attention gets put into our maintenance program, perhaps even as a distinct project if the work is substantial enough to require an engineered design. We work with regulators to make sure that all those projects meet requirements and fit into our capital expenditure program. This ensures that they are funded and executed not only to our satisfaction but to the satisfaction of the regulators. Hydro Leader: Please tell us about the Gross Dam expansion project. Douglas Raitt: Gross Dam was put in service in 1954. Many of the systems that were put in place in the 1950s worked fine then, but over the years they have aged, and the regulations and requirements for these types of facilities have evolved. Over the years, there have also been some modifications to Gross Dam. Our latest projects were maintenance oriented and aimed to bring us into compliance with current regulations. An upstream control slide gate was added to the primary outlet works intake in 2003, and a 7.6‑megawatt hydroelectric powerhouse was added to January 2022 | HYDRO LEADER

| 15

ADVERTISEMENT the system in 2007. Last winter, we replaced a section of penstock pipe that was in the original configuration, with the inlet control downstream of the dam. Our recent trash rack project was necessary to comply with the current seismic regulations, which have changed since the 1950s. We had a 70‑year-old structure that worked fine as a trash rack, but like the outlet works, it was not in compliance with current regulations, specifically seismic requirements. As we were studying the dam for a future dam-raise project, we identified the immediate need to bring the trash rack into regulatory compliance. Hydro Leader: Absent changing regulations, would you still need to replace the trash rack after a certain number of years?

look at the sediment. We had last inspected it 18 years ago, in 2003, when we installed a gate on the outlet works and made some modifications to the trash rack for the slide gate for upstream control. The design team had a good amount of information to start with. The team created a new design for the trash rack. We put a lot of thought into the design to make it simple to install. When you’re working with divers at that depth, simplicity is important. We had one of the qualified contractors involved in a constructability review during the design process and got good input on how to arrange the connections and allow for existing concrete surface irregularities. We worked with our regulators, FERC and the Colorado State Engineers’ Office, to get through the design process. We put proposals out to a small number of contractors that we trust for this kind of work. Once we got proposals back, we made decisions based primarily on the qualifications of the team and its planned approach. The last criterion was cost. Both candidates were competitive—both teams had a good understanding of the work and the pricing was fair. We ended up choosing Global Diving & Salvage. Hydro Leader: Have you worked with Global on previous projects?

The new penstock Denver Water installed downstream of the trash rack in the Gross Dam primary outlet works system.

Douglas Raitt: Gross Reservoir has a relatively small upstream watershed of about 80 square miles. Sediment is an issue for dams and intakes, but runoff from our 80‑square-mile watershed has a limited sediment load and has not caused excessive sediment accumulation. There was some sediment around the trash rack, but no appreciable effect on operations. With the flows into the outlet works, it was, to some extent, self-scouring. Although the structure itself was a concrete frame with steel grating and no corrosion control, it was holding up quite well because it was in a noncorrosive environment. Really, there was nothing operationally wrong with the trash rack. The need to comply with current seismic requirements is what drove us to design a replacement, take out the old trash rack, and replace it with a new and compliant structure.

Douglas Raitt: AECOM was the principal designer for this feature. It teamed up with Stantec on the site for various other improvement projects. The design team looked at the existing structure as it was designed in the 1950s. We used a remotely operated vehicle to inspect the structure and

16 | HYDRO LEADER | January 2022

Hydro Leader: Would you talk more about the logistics of what the divers did during this project? Douglas Raitt: With conventional air diving, once you get down to 100 feet, your work time is only about a half an hour due to the decompression time required for coming back to the surface. This work required the divers to work continuously for many weeks at a depth of 270 feet. The only way to accomplish this was with saturation diving. Saturation diving is like going to space. Global put four divers into a pressurized environment in which they were constantly breathing a special combination of helium and oxygen called heliox. They worked, ate, slept, and showered down there. They have chambers that allow them to bring in fresh food from the contractor’s floating galley, but to some extent, the life of a saturation diver is like that of an astronaut. Two divers work a double shift while the other two rest. The two divers who are working go down in a diving bell to the work zone with all their tools. The first works half a shift with the underwater chainsaw, chisels, drills, and the other tools it takes to disassemble a reinforced concrete frame structure. A crane supporting the underwater work is positioned on the barge and hoists all the heavy loads in and hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DENVER WATER.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about the process of that replacement.

Douglas Raitt: I have not personally worked with Global, but the company was on our shortlist because of its previous work with Denver Water on some other facilities. The company actually installed the gate on the Gross Dam primary outlet works intake in 2003, so the staff had experience at this location. That gave them a leg up when it came to their understanding and ability to describe a work plan.

ADVERTISEMENT out. The diver puts shackles together and wrestles with all the rigging at depth. All the while, the diver is in communication with his dive tender, who is up top in the dive shack. A 20‑footlong container contains all the systems required to monitor the health and safety of these divers working at depth. The water is around 40 degrees, so the divers wear special wetsuits with a hose that provides hot water to keep them comfortable. The divers have a breathing gas supply line and a communications link that sends video from their diving helmets to the umbilical connected to the barge. The people up top are with them 100 percent of the time. One person is watching breathing gas and another is watching the operations through the helmet camera. The communication requires an acquired ear, because the heliox mix makes the divers’ voices high pitched, like Donald Duck’s. The divers went into the saturation chamber on September 22, 2021, and got out on October 29. The last 4 days were for decompression. It’s a tough job that requires specialized skills. Hydro Leader: What does Denver Water have to do to ensure that this is all done safely? Douglas Raitt: As a facility owner, we want to make sure that the work is done as safely as possible. To accomplish that, we hire the right people. There are only two companies that we would trust with this work. Everything that can be done to make it a safe operation is done, but it is still risky. Our precautions don’t eliminate the anxiousness, though. If something goes wrong at 270 feet, there are ways to deal with it, but you don’t want to ever have to get there. Hydro Leader: Now that the divers have come out of the saturation chamber, is the project done? Douglas Raitt: The underwater work is done, but the paperwork and demobilization remain. Part of the successful completion of a project like this is gathering all your records. We have video, we have measurements, and we have an accurate quality record of what was constructed that shows that it was done correctly. Now, we are compiling all that and preparing reports for FERC and the state engineer, because we don’t want anyone to have to go back down there for another 70 years. When this project was designed, we were relying on documents from the 1950s. We want to leave an even better record for those who follow us, because every component of this dam system requires maintenance. Hydro Leader: The Gross Dam project ties into a lot of regulations. What is your message to the federal and state governments and to relevant agencies? Douglas Raitt: Dam safety regulations have evolved over time based on things that haven’t gone well, including seismic hydroleadermagazine.com

events, great rainfall events, and occasional dam failures. There have not been many failures in the United States, but it can happen when heavy rain hits a dam that hasn’t been maintained as it should. Dam owners, state regulators, and federal agencies all have the same goal: perfect dam safety. Not many new dams are being built, and the ones that are in place need to be maintained. This trash rack project or the previous outlet works project are all about maintenance. Owners have to be willing to set aside enough budget to maintain these facilities, especially high-hazard dams. That’s our job as dam owners and operators. Requirements must be realistic. Owners and operators provide quite a bit of feedback to the regulators to make sure that the rules make sense and are achievable. We have an excellent relationship with the Colorado State Engineer’s Office and the FERC staff in San Francisco and Washington, DC, who we report to on this project. It’s a good system, and it’s there to protect the public while we’re delivering water. Hydro Leader: What is your vision for the future of Denver Water? Douglas Raitt: We have a storage project in front of us at Gross Reservoir. We’re raising the height of the existing dam to increase its storage capacity. The permitting has been in progress since 2003, and I think we’re going to be able to start work in 2022. We’re going to increase the reservoir’s storage capacity from 42,000 acre-feet to just over 118,000 acre-feet. We want to meet the needs of our growing population and to be prepared for the uncertainty that comes with dry periods, whether you call it climate change, a drought, or a dry spell. Rainfall and snowpack fluctuate, and we need to be prepared for the worst. If you run out of your water supply, you have failed your customers. Increasing storage is one of the flags I like to wave. Raising a dam is a new approach that we can take instead of building an entirely new dam. It’s a way to solve the problem of water storage with fewer environmental consequences. I think we will need more storage in the future, but new storage facilities are getting harder to permit, and it is getting harder to find sites, because all the easy ones have already been taken. Building new facilities is becoming more challenging and more costly. The storage we’re building now is much more costly than it was 50 years ago. That affects rates and customers’ bills, but at the same time, everyone expects water to come out of their faucet when they turn the handle. That’s the challenge going forward. H Douglas Raitt is the engineering manager of the dam safety section of Denver Water. He can be reached at douglas.raitt@denverwater.org. For more information about the Gross Reservoir expansion, visit grossreservoir.org. January 2022 | HYDRO LEADER

| 17

The new trash rack support structure sits on top of Gross Dam prior to installation, with Global Diving’s dive barge and saturation diving system in position over the site.

Global Diving & Salvage Deploys Saturation Divers at Gross Dam

in Long Beach, California, where I received my diving certification. I also had a 100‑ton captain’s license, which is a license required by the U.S. Coast Guard to operate commercial vessels or to take paying passengers on such vessels. With that license and my diving certification, I ran crew boats and rescue boats in the Long Beach area and up and down the West Coast. Eventually, I started my own company, specializing in marina construction for watercraft. I had that business for about 22 years, and ultimately sold it to a large marina construction company. I stayed with them for a couple of years as a project manager. Two years ago, I joined Global as a senior project manager.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background, how you came to be a diver, and what led you to the position you are in today.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about Global.

Michael Rawlings: I started my commercial diving career right after college. I attended a commercial diving school

18 | HYDRO LEADER | January 2022

Michael Rawlings: Global was founded in 1979 as a family-owned company. A few years ago, it was purchased by Moran Environmental Recovery (MER). MER is an integrated supplier of environmental, industrial, mechanical, hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MICHAEL RAWLINGS / GLOBAL DIVING AND SALVAGE.

lobal Diving & Salvage employs world-class, highly skilled divers who perform a wide range of underwater tasks in marine and upland environments, including inspections, salvage operations, marine construction, demolition, and repair. It provides dive systems and teams to work in a wide range of depths, from surface air and mixed gas to saturation diving. Global recently carried out a saturation diving project to replace an underwater trash rack at Denver Water’s Gross Dam. In this interview, Senior Project Manager Michael Rawlings tells us more about the mechanics of saturation diving and how the technique was employed to successfully complete the Gross Dam project.

ADVERTISEMENT and commercial diving services with an unwavering commitment to industry-leading performance. Global is a leader in the marine services industry with decades of experience managing complex, critical, and technical projects in and around the water. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with additional offices in Alaska and California. Global is a wholly owned subsidiary of MER, which is based in Massachusetts and has offices along the East Coast and throughout the northeastern United States. Global provides a wide variety of underwater maintenance, repair, installation, and inspection services. In addition to complete project management, we offer engineering support for complex projects that require technical underwater procedures and tooling. Our extensive experience and resources enable us to adapt quickly while always maintaining the highest level of safety and to successfully complete the most complex, challenging assignments. Hydro Leader: Would you tell us about Gross Dam project that you just completed for Denver Water? Michael Rawlings: Gross Dam was built in the early 1950s, and part of its design consisted of a giant concrete and steel filter, commonly referred to as a trash rack. This component, located at the foot of the lake side of the dam, prevents debris from entering the primary outlet works. While the existing trash rack was still operationally sound, Denver Water was replacing it to ensure that the structure was fully compliant with today’s seismic regulatory requirements, which have changed since the structure was first built. We were brought in to remove the existing concrete and steel structure and to replace it with a new, custom-built steel trash rack. Hydro Leader: How difficult is it to dismantle and reconstruct these elements of the dam? Michael Rawlings: Considering that the work zone is 270 feet below the surface of the lake, this project presented challenges that required us to use saturation diving techniques to get the divers to and from the work site. In addition, the nature of the deep-water environment mandated the use of specialized mechanical methods to remove the existing concrete structure. We had to use a diamond-wire hydraulic saw, among other hydraulic tools, to surgically remove certain sections of the existing trash rack. Some of the existing structure was left behind to be used in conjunction with the new steel structure, but I would say 70 percent of it was removed. Hydro Leader: What does saturation diving entail? Michael Rawlings: For deep-water projects, divers must employ a decompression technique known as saturation diving, which means that the diver’s bloodstream is saturated with helium or another suitable gas at the pressure of the surrounding water. Without this saturation, the amount of hydroleadermagazine.com

Global Diving’s crew prepares to lower a new trash rack component that will be installed by the saturation divers 270 feet below.

time a diver could spend in the deep-water environment would be extremely limited and the project would take much longer. Using the saturation technique allows the divers to stay at depth for as long as 30 days, or even longer if necessary. Until the project is complete, the divers remain in a pressurized bell or habitat, located on a floating barge. Hydro Leader: In the case of the Gross Dam project, how many divers stayed in the saturated environment? Michael Rawlings: Four divers stayed in the saturated environment throughout the 34‑day project. At any given time, two divers would be working at depth from the diving bell, while the other two rested in the pressurized habitat. January 2022 | HYDRO LEADER

| 19

ADVERTISEMENT Of the two divers in the bell, one worked in the water, while the other remained in the bell for safety and to support the wet diver. Shifts last 12 hours, with each diver spending 5 hours in the wet environment and the 2 remaining hours to prepare, suit up, and travel between the at-pressure habitat and the underwater work site. When transferring between the habitat and the bell and entering the water, the divers must go through locks. Thus, to get to the work site, they transfer through a lock into a wet bell or into a closed bell. The operation runs continuously, 24 hours a day, for the duration of the project. Hydro Leader: In addition to the four divers, who else is working on a project like this?

the assembly is complete. Probably 99 percent of our deck crew are divers as well, so they are absolutely committed to carrying out the project properly. Cross-training is important to me. I don’t like to rely on the same four people to go into saturation all the time. Our approach is to try to pair two seasoned divers with two who may have less experience, so that we can eventually bring the latter two up to the same level. On jobs for which saturation is not required, everybody on the barge gets a dive. Giving everyone this exposure ensures that each person has a stake in the project and a commitment to the safety of their colleagues as well as to their own safety. Hydro Leader: What are the backgrounds of your divers?

Michael Rawlings: We had 32 people on this job. During each shift, 14 people were on deck supporting the 4 saturated divers at all times. The support team included crane operators, deck foremen, winch operators, welders, saturation diving technicians, lifesaving technicians, and people who specialize in the saturation process as diving bell supervisors.

Michael Rawlings: Some of them were in the military. A few came in with other marine construction skills and then learned diving. Most of the work they do involves cutting, fabrication, and construction. They do quite a lot of underwater chipping, grinding, and jackhammering concrete. In the offshore world, there is likely more welding than our division engages in.

Hydro Leader: Where and how was the new structure fabricated?

Hydro Leader: It sounds like both Denver Water and Global are seriously committed to safety. How important is it to your company to have a client with this perspective?

Michael Rawlings: It was built by a steel fabricator in Seattle, Washington. Denver Water provided early design drawings and then Denver Water, the fabricator, and our design team worked together to come up with the final design. We stayed as close to the original design as possible, but we had to modify aspects of it due to certain limitations on what the divers can do underwater. Once we received approval, the fabricator went to work, building it in pieces and coding them so we would know how to piece it all together. Once all the pieces were built, they were shipped from Seattle to Golden, Colorado. At that point, the structure was assembled into larger pieces that were then brought to the site and placed one at a time at the bottom of the lake.

Michael Rawlings: It is complex, and that is why we have well-trained people and appropriate equipment to ensure that every element of the work happens in a safe and successful manner. In addition to the people, we use cranes, sonar, and remotely operated vehicles to lower the infrastructure into position. Once it’s positioned as close to the installation point as possible, we put the diver back in the water to instruct the dive supervisors and crane operators on how to lift, rotate, spin, or slide the infrastructure into final position. The diver then bolts it in place and repeats the process for the next section until

20 | HYDRO LEADER | January 2022

Hydro Leader: What is your organization’s vision for the future? Michael Rawlings: We want to continue to be a leader in both offshore and inland diving techniques with an absolute commitment to safety and to keeping our crew healthy and happy. We want to continue to grow; to expand our relationships with our current clients; and, of course, to reach out to new clients. My goal as a senior project manager is to identify new opportunities for work and to conduct it in a successful manner, meeting and exceeding clients’ expectations. H

Michael Rawlings is a senior project manager at Global Diving & Salvage. He can be contacted at mrawlings@gdiving.com.

hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL RAWLINGS / GLOBAL DIVING AND SALVAGE.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us more about the actual work process.

Michael Rawlings: It’s critically important. It makes for a good working relationship. Denver Water understands the limitations to what we can do underwater. We augmented and adapted the work plan to make safety the number 1 goal. We were able to do that because Denver Water shares our commitment to safety.

INNOVATIVE HYDROPOWER EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER

NuTURBINE™

Modular & scalable Kaplan turbine. Optimized for your sites performance.

NuTECH Controller™

Patented turbine intelligence control system add on. Increase efficiency by up to 20%

NuCONTAINER™

Replacing the classic powerhouse. A modular, prefabricated, standard shipping container powerhouse.

Questions? Contact Us! Info@NuSTREEM.com 860-724-2868

NUSTREEM.COM

Lasalle|NHC’s Specialized Hydraulics and Water Resources Consulting Services

A scale model of a dam structure.

art of Northwest Hydraulic Consultants (NHC), Lasalle|NHC is a Montréal-based consulting firm offering services in the fields of hydraulics, applied fluid mechanics, and water resources. It has significant expertise in the use of physical hydraulic scale models and computer modeling, including for the design and construction of hydropower facilities. In this interview, Lasalle|NHC President Marc Villeneuve tells us about the company’s experience and specialization and its work securing and managing water supplies now and into the future. Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

22 | HYDRO LEADER | January 2022

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about Lasalle|NHC. Marc Villeneuve: Founded in 1956, our company is now part of NHC, which employs more than 200 water resource specialists in offices located across the United States, Canada, Asia, and Brazil. Initially known as the LaSalle Hydraulic Laboratory and part of the French Consulting firm Sogreah (now Artelia), the company became independent and employee owned in the mid-1970s. Our merger with NHC in 2014 created one of the largest networks of water resource specialists in North America. NHC will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2022. The combination of these two companies represents considerable hydrotechnical experience. Our mission was and still is to provide advanced expertise and modeling services in hydraulics, hydrology, and fluid mechanics. With the sustained development of hydropower in Québec over the last 60 years, Lasalle|NHC’s emphasis was previously more on hydro projects and hydraulic structures. The merger with NHC has really widened our scope of services, and we are now very active in other areas, such as urban hydrology, floodplain studies, and environmental hydraulics. hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LASALLE|NHC.

Marc Villeneuve: I initially learned about Lasalle|NHC through a lab visit I made as a McGill University student in the late 1980s. I approached the company after completing my graduate studies and was hired for a short-term contract. It turns out that more than 30 years later, I’m still with the company. I was fortunate enough to be directly involved in the hydraulic optimization of most of the projects developed by Hydro‑Québec, from phase 2 of the James Bay Complex to the more recent Romaine projects. I’ve also worked extensively in recent years with BC Hydro on the Site C clean energy project and Ontario Power Generation on the Lower Mattagami River project. What started as a short-

term contract turned out to be more than 30 years of active work not only in the hydro industry but also in hydraulic structures and water resources more generally.

ADVERTISEMENT Hydro Leader: What was the impetus to merge the two companies? Marc Villeneuve: First, physical hydraulic modeling is a rather specialized field, with a cyclic and variable market, and both companies were often competing for the same projects. It was clear that it would make more sense to collaborate both technically and corporately to develop a more efficient entity. The other benefit was also to allow both parties to diversify geographically and to be present on both sides of the continent. Hydro Leader: What does it mean that NHC is employee owned? Marc Villeneuve: The organization is entirely owned by about one-third of its more than 200 employees. This broad base of ownership ensures strong employee engagement in the company’s future and communicates to all technical staff that ownership is an achievable goal. Importantly, this broad ownership also promotes the succession of the company’s management team, which is often problematic in small and mid-size consulting firms. Hydro Leader: Are most of NHC’s 200 employees engineers? Marc Villeneuve: Yes, most are engineers who specialize in various areas of water resources, but they also include many geoscientists: geomorphologists, geographers, environmental specialists, and experts in geomatics. We have the whole range of expertise that is required to cover the full spectrum of surface-water-related studies. Hydro Leader: Where is most of your work located? Marc Villeneuve: Our offices in Washington State and California are busy on U.S. projects, while our British Columbia, Alberta, and Québec offices focus more on Canadian work. Our main market remains North America,

but we also have a team of specialists with a strong presence in South Asia, notably in Bangladesh. There, we are involved in flood management, drainage, irrigation, and river training. Currently, our highest-profile work in Bangladesh relates to the construction of the 6‑kilometer bridge across the Padma River. Our office in Brazil has also been growing in recent years. Hydro Leader: Who are your typical clients? Marc Villeneuve: The large hydro and water resources markets in North America are primarily run by public institutions and agencies and various level of government. Companies involved in hydropower production, such as Brookfield and Rio Tinto Alcan, are also important clients for us, as are private developers of mini and small hydro facilities. Because of the specialized nature of our services, we are often hired as subconsultants by larger international multidisciplinary engineering firms for advanced services or modeling in hydrology and hydraulics. Hydro Leader: Does your work typically involve designing new structures or redesigning and rehabilitating existing ones? Marc Villeneuve: We do both. In Canada for example, the last few decades have seen the development of multiple large new hydropower projects. But we expect projects in the near future to focus on the refurbishment and upgrade of existing hydro installations, both in the United States and Canada. The scope of our services does vary between our various offices and markets. In Québec, for example, Lasalle|NHC still mainly concentrates on hydraulic and hydrologic modeling work, while at our U.S. offices, the actual design and construction of hydraulic structures makes up a clearly increasing share of work. Hydro Leader: Would you tell us more about your numeric and physical modeling work and how the two relate to each other? Marc Villeneuve: With the current state of the art in hydraulic modeling, the two approaches should be fully

A scale model of Long Lake Dam, located near Spokane, Washington.

hydroleadermagazine.com

January 2022 | HYDRO LEADER

| 23

A scale model of a spillway.

24 | HYDRO LEADER | January 2022

younger generation, have lost the sense of the advantages still offered by the work that is done in a hydraulic laboratory. When I started my career in the late 1980s, having done graduate studies in numerical modeling, I was fast to predict the rapid demise of physical modeling. Thirty years later, it is clear that both approaches should still be part of the hydraulic design process. The progress made in CFD modeling is truly amazing, but there is still a need for a physical model in many instances. Companies like Lasalle|NHC have the benefit of being able to offer the modeling approaches, numerical or physical, that are best suited to the nature of the problems being studied and the needs of their clients. Hydro Leader: Would you tell us about the labs you use for physical modeling? Marc Villeneuve: The term lab can be misleading, because people think of a chemical, research, or medical lab. All the NHC labs (in Montréal, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Seattle) are warehouses with floor areas of 10,000 square feet or more. The scale and size of the physical models constructed within these spaces usually make them look more like small hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LASALLE|NHC.

complementary. Physical modeling should not be used to systematically repeat all the advanced numerical computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) modeling that has already been performed in previous phases of a project; ideally, it should be used to further investigate issues and problems for which the results of numerical modeling still raise uncertainties, which may include cavitation, energy dissipation, detailed rating curves for spillways, vortices at power intakes, and high headgate vibration. An important problem in hydraulic modeling is the lack of knowledge of what a numerical model can really predict with accuracy and minimal risks. In our digital age, many clients, and unfortunately many consultants, see no limit to the types of problems that a numerical model can tackle. Unfortunately, in spite of the ongoing progress in computing speed and software development, there are still challenging issues in the numerical modeling of complex flow phenomena. The physical modeling approach obviously also has drawbacks, but the much longer experience we have with model-prototype correlations often provides a level of confidence that can be difficult to achieve even with the most advanced numerical models. It’s unfortunate that many engineers, especially in the

ADVERTISEMENT construction projects than typical laboratory installations. The models have to be large enough to minimize so-called scale effects, which are linked with the viscosity and surface tension of the water and can lead to inaccuracies in the modeling results and their transposition to the prototype (that is, the actual, full-scale structure being studied). Physical hydraulic modeling as we know it today has its origins in the mid-nineteenth century. Nevertheless, the way we construct and operate these models is constantly evolving. For example, the use of 3‑D printers and the constant development of new flow sensors and data acquisition systems have completely changed the way we perform physical model studies. Hydro Leader: How do your work and expertise differ from those of your competitors, and why are there so few firms specializing in this area? Marc Villeneuve: We live in an age in which the trend for engineering companies is to merge, consolidate, and become bigger and more multidisciplinary. For more than 50 years, NHC and Lasalle|NHC have been concentrating on hydraulics and specialized water resources issues. While large engineering firms may have substantial hydraulics or water resources departments, that is generally not the same as having a team of 200 people fully devoted to these areas. We are a specialized, niche company in a world of consolidated, multidisciplinary companies. That gives us a clear edge in many types of studies and projects. The other big difference is the in-depth hydraulic experience gained by our specialists on physical models and experimental work. I think it gives us a perspective that would be difficult to develop if we had only been focusing on numerical modeling. In a sense, we treat both modeling approaches in a similar way: as specialized disciplines that must rely on experience, not as a commodity service that simply requires a set of modeling tools. Hydro Leader: What is the public perception of hydropower? Marc Villeneuve: Over the decades since the start of my career, the perception of hydropower has gone through turbulent times. When I was in university, hydro was still considered an almost-perfect renewable source of energy. With time, large hydro projects became better known for their major environmental impacts than for their renewable energy. In a course I taught on hydraulic structures at McGill University, some students almost felt guilty as they entered the field of hydraulic engineering. More recently, this perception has improved slightly, probably because of the increased awareness of climate change linked with the use of fossil fuels. Especially in the case of megaprojects, hydropower has certainly not regained the status it had in the 1960s and 1970s, but I think there is still an interesting shift. To me, the recent signing of a 25‑year hydroleadermagazine.com

contract between Hydro‑Québec and the State of New York for the distribution of hydro energy is a sign of that shift. Hydro Leader: How do the changes in water supply caused by climate change affect your work? Marc Villeneuve: The effect of climate change on the safety and sustainability of water supplies is already a central service area of all the NHC offices, especially those in California. Right now, a lot of the studies being performed in this area deal directly with the basic hydrological cycle: the change in weather patterns, the occurrence of increased or reduced rainfall and runoff, and so on. In the hydro sector, we are also seeing projects linked with an increase in the range of operation at existing plants, notably for exceptionally low reservoir levels. It is interesting to note that Lasalle|NHC had already performed such studies in the early 1990s, during a period of very low runoff affecting Hydro‑Québec’s reservoirs. Studies like that, aimed at increasing the range of operations of hydro plants, should become more important, not only in the context of climate change but also to save energy and optimize the operations of existing facilities. Other important issues related to climate change, like sea-level rise and the reduced presence of ice in Nordic coastal regions, are already major study areas of our coastal engineering and modeling teams. Hydro Leader: What is your company’s vision for the future? Marc Villeneuve: Our vision for the company is to remain at the forefront of water resources engineering and science by strengthening existing operations and strategically expanding our services. Climate change and its potential threat to public safety and water supply will clearly become a priority not only for our company but also at a much broader, collective level. Population expansion into floodplains, coastal zones, and other vulnerable ecosystems will also raise important issues around the human-water interface. On a more technical level, the future of water resources should also see the further development and application of smart hydraulic infrastructure, into which forecasting and real-time monitoring are fully integrated—something that is already present in the field of hydropower. Such concepts are likely to be extended to smart cities and communities. H Marc Villeneuve is the president of Lasalle|NHC, the Québec subsidiary of Northwest Hydraulic Consultants. He can be contacted at mvilleneuve@lasallenhc.com. For information about NHC’s U.S. operations, please contact Erik R. Rowland, PE, the president of NHC Inc., at erowland@nhcweb.com.

January 2022 | HYDRO LEADER

| 25

Gomez and Sullivan Engineering: A Multigenerational Hydropower Engineering and Environmental Science Consulting Firm

Two Gomez and Sullivan employees conducting an instream flow study on the Salmon Falls River in New Hampshire.

The Gomez and Sullivan habitat restoration project on the Niagara River.

Stetson Dale was eventually bought by Harza Engineering and became Stetson Harza. In 1988, I moved from Utica, New York, to Concord, New Hampshire, and opened a New England regional office for the Stetson Harza water resources group. Jerry ran Stetson Harza’s New York water resources group. At that time, we were working for every investorowned utility in the region as well as several paper companies. In early 1993, Jerry and I decided that it was time for us to spread our wings and set out on our own. We opened Gomez and Sullivan in February 1993. It’s been a wonderful experience for nearly 30 years. A number of our people have been with us since we started, and we have been joined by many talented people over the years.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

Hydro Leader: Is the firm focused on dam safety and FERC licensing today, or is its focus broader?

Tom Sullivan: Jerry Gomez and I founded Gomez and Sullivan Engineers in 1993. I’m currently an executive vice president and the chairman of the board. I trained as an environmental engineer at Pennsylvania State University, and in graduate school, I focused on water resources as a hydrology and hydraulics modeler. While I was in graduate school, Jerry Gomez interviewed me for a job with a firm in upstate New York called Stetson Dale. At the time, Stetson Dale had an emerging dam safety and hydropower practice. I started at Stetson Dale in 1981, doing modeling and FERC licensing work. FERC licensing was a lot different then. The first 4 months I was there, I did 4 FERC licenses.

Tom Sullivan: Those are still two of our core functions, but we do a lot of other things now. In addition to dam safety and FERC licensing, we do FERC license implementation and compliance work. We have implemented licenses at large projects, such as the Niagara Project; we are currently implementing the Conowingo/Muddy Run licenses; and we have implemented licenses at a number of smaller projects as well. Since the mid-1990s, we have also facilitated and mediated settlement agreements associated with FERC licensing. In addition, we do upstream and downstream fish passage design and fish passage effectiveness studies, penstock design and inspections, trash rack replacement and

26 | HYDRO LEADER | October 2021

hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GOMEZ AND SULLIVAN.

omez and Sullivan Engineers is a hydropower engineering and environmental science consulting firm based in the Northeast with nearly 30 years of experience. Beyond its core dam safety and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licensing functions, Gomez and Sullivan also provides penstock inspections and design, FERC license implementation and compliance services, fish passage design and effectiveness studies, and information management services. Beyond the firm’s hydro work, it provides services for transmission line permitting, wetland delineations, dam removal, and stream restoration. In this interview, cofounder and current Executive Vice President and Board Chairman Tom Sullivan tells us about the firm’s history and current services.

Tom Sullivan receiving the 2021 Henwood Award at the Clean Currents conference in Atlanta, Georgia. From left to right: Mark Wamser, Mike Murphy, Tim Sullivan, Tom Sullivan, Jayne Sullivan, John Suloway, and Monica Ortiz-Suloway.

overlay design, and hydropower feasibility studies. We also have diversified into nonhydro fields. We do stream restoration, river dam removal design, transmission line permitting, wetland delineations for transmission lines and solar fields, and information management system work. Hydro Leader: Are your clients primarily privately owned or government owned? Tom Sullivan: A little bit of both. One of our bigger clients has been the New York Power Authority (NYPA). We helped NYPA with licensing for its St. Lawrence, Niagara, and Blenheim Gilboa plants and are currently assisting with licensing the Jarvis, Crescent, and Vischer Ferry plants and working on several dam safety assignments. We’ve also done assignments for the Chelan County Public Utility District in Washington State, the New State Canals Corporation, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. However, the majority of our work has been for private entities. A number of our current clients are owners of merchant hydro plant portfolios. We still have some investorowned utilities in states that haven’t allowed deregulation yet. Hydro Leader: Is the firm active nationwide, or does it have a regional focus? Tom Sullivan: Historically, our bread and butter has been the Northeast, New York and northern New England in particular. However, we also work in the mid-Atlantic, the hydroleadermagazine.com

Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, and the Southeast. We’re interested in doing more work in those places. We’ve also started to work in Canada. Hydro Leader: How does your experience in the various fields you work in transfer to other regions of the country? Tom Sullivan: Our diadromous fish passage experience is primarily on the East Coast, where the species and approaches used are a little different than those in California or the Northwest. However, much of our resident fisheries experience transfers well to the other parts of the country, particularly the Midwest. Dam safety, hydraulic modeling, and information management systems travel well throughout the country. FERC licensing strategy work also travels well. We serve as strategic advisors to people who have licenses throughout the country. Hydro Leader: Please tell us about the award you recently received from the National Hydropower Association (NHA). Tom Sullivan: At NHA’s Clean Currents conference, I received the Henwood Award. The published criteria for this award include dedication to hydropower as an energy technology; persistence in the face of institutional obstacles; appreciation for and understanding of the relationships among project engineering, environment, and economics; strong commitment to fair dealing and plain speaking; and uncommon energy, enthusiasm, and excitement for January 2022 | HYDRO LEADER

| 27

ADVERTISEMENT being a leading force in the industry. I am very proud to have won this award and very thankful to all my colleagues without whose help my receipt of the award would not have been possible. I suspect that I was selected for the award in large part due to the evenhanded manner in which Gomez and Sullivan deals with both its clients and the other stakeholders involved in its projects. We try to listen to people, understand their interests, and come up with solutions that work both for people and for the environment. Hydro Leader: Does the company engage in research into civil engineering design and construction?

ongoing pandemic safely. While the pandemic has clearly been challenging, it has also presented us with opportunities. We have become very good at doing our work virtually. This has allowed us to cut back significantly on travel, saving our clients significant costs and reducing the wear and tear on our staff. The pandemic is also helping to redefine the workplace, and we are striving to find the balance between the productivity benefits of working from home with the esprit de corps and mentoring that in-office work provides. Our other focus is that we’re continuously looking to grow and diversify our business, in terms of both our offerings and our geographic range. The challenge in this is finding the right balance between growth and staying focused on our mission to provide high-quality services in a timely manner. We have a critical mass of good people with a good diversity of skills and are confident in our ability to grow our business while staying true to our values. Hydro Leader: What should the hydro community know about Gomez and Sullivan? Tom Sullivan: We do high-quality work, we pay attention to detail, and we act in an evenhanded manner. Hydro Leader: What is the company’s vision for the future?

The Connecticut River fish ladder project.

Hydro Leader: What are some of the company’s top concerns or areas of focus today? Tom Sullivan: For most of the last 2 years, like everyone else, we have placed tremendous focus on navigating the

28 | HYDRO LEADER | January 2022

Tom Sullivan is an executive vice president and the chairman of the board of Gomez and Sullivan Engineers. He can be contacted at info@gomezandsullivan.com.

hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GOMEZ AND SULLIVAN.

Tom Sullivan: We’re not a research organization per se, but that doesn’t mean we don’t periodically come up with innovative solutions. A good example of an innovative solution we have applied recently is matching our computational fluid dynamics hydraulic modeling with radio-telemetry data to diagnose the operations of existing fish passage structures and to develop remedial designs. By combining these two skill sets, we have been able to locate areas both inside and outside fish passage structures that fish have trouble negotiating and to identify the hydraulic reasons for those difficulties. We are then able to apply solutions to correct the problem.

Tom Sullivan: We are working to build the next generation of Gomez and Sullivan. Jerry and I have made a conscious effort to transition the firm to the people who helped us build it. We’ve got a good bunch of talented people. We have people who want to grow a fisheries practice and people who want to grow an engineering practice. We have people who want to do even more than we’ve done in water resources work. Our vision is to set them up to do that. I hope Jerry and I have given them a good foundation, and I hope we can continue to coach them in ways that will make them successful. For Jerry and me, this is not just business, it’s personal. Both our sons work in the business—Jerry’s son, Damian, works on the dam safety side, and my son, Tim, works on the FERC licensing side. Our connections with the next generation at Gomez and Sullivan are not just business related; they are familial. Gomez and Sullivan is a business, and we’ve been successful on the business end, but all our employees have families and other things going on in their lives besides what they do at work. Caring about that has always been a big part of who we are. H

HOST UTILITIES:

The Next Current Support your Industry and Move Waterpower Forward in 2022

Plan to join us for Clean Currents 2022 October 18 -20, 2022 Sacramento, California

SAFE CREDIT UNION CONVENTION CENTER

The Clean Currents 2022 experience heads to the West Coast next year! It all begins with pre-tradeshow + conference

events on Monday, October 17, and continues throughout the

week. Build on the momentum that began in 2021 and plan to

join us in Sacramento at the official waterpower tradeshow +

conference of the National Hydropower Association—promoted by North American waterpower to benefit the industry.

ALL-ENCOMPASSING

Join the National Hydropower Association

CONVENTIONAL HYDROPOWER

PUMPED STORAGE

MARINE ENERGY

NHA Member Organizations receive discounted pricing on Clean Currents as well

as all of our events, along with many other benefits throughout the year. Join your

waterpower colleagues and support the voice of waterpower in North America—NHA. Learn more at hydro.org/membership

CLEANCURRENTS.ORG/2022

2022 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

NWHA has chosen the theme of renewal as we move past

RENEWAL

the pandemic to reinforce within the industry our role in creating renewable

PORTLAND, OREGON

BRINGING TOGETHER HYDROPOWER FOR A RENEWED FUTURE

February 23-25, 2022 Portland Waterfront

energy, our

Marriott

capacity to

Downtown

renew all in our industry and renew our climate through clean energy solutions.

TOPICS INCLUDE: Climate Change

New Age of Integrating Hydro

Invasive Mussels in the Northwest

Recent Ecological Monitoring

Dam Safety in Practice

Experiences

Empowering Hydro with DEI

Policy Updates

Why You Should Know About the

Plant Condition & Asset

Columbia River Treaty

Management

Breakfast Club- Topical Networking

Legal 401

Discussions

Post COVID Hydropower Reality

INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION AT:

WWW.NWHYDRO.ORG

Setting the standard. Troutman Pepper is home to one of the largest and most experienced teams of hydropower attorneys in the United States. Our attorneys have more than 70 years of combined experience in the hydropower industry and have been involved in nearly 40% of all FERC-regulated hydropower projects nationwide. Learn more about our firm, including our hallmark higher commitment to client care, at troutman.com.

troutman.com Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP

An Industry Homecoming at the Inaugural Clean Currents Conference and Trade Show

ctober 2021 saw the successful completion of the inaugural annual Clean Currents conference and trade show—an event by the industry, for the industry, with its profits reinvested in the industry, owned and organized by the National Hydropower Association (NHA). Its variety of session formats and its focus on innovation and participation made it a highly effective event—and an exciting one to take part in after a year and a half during which most in-person events were canceled due to the COVID‑19 pandemic. In this interview, NHA President and CEO Malcolm Woolf tells Hydro Leader about the successes of this year’s Clean Currents event and about plans for next year.

Malcolm Woolf speaks with Dr. Danielle Merfeld, the vice president and chief technology officer of GE Renewable Energy, and Herbie Johnson, the general manager for hydro at Southern Company, at a Clean Currents plenary session.

Hydro Leader: Please introduce yourself and NHA.

Currents. Traditionally, NHA’s only national event was Waterpower Week in Washington. With the advent of the new industrywide Clean Currents conference and trade show, we will pivot Waterpower Week to be a policy-focused conference with opportunities to interact with Congress, regulators, and resource agencies in Washington, DC. In addition, we will continue to offer our series of regional meetings, which are 1‑day meetings focused on specific regions across the United States. Registration for these meetings is open to all.

Malcolm Woolf: I am the president and CEO of NHA, the organization that champions waterpower as America’s premier carbon-free, renewable energy resource.

Hydro Leader: This was probably the first major in-person event that most people have gone to in a long time. Would you tell us what the experience was like?

Hydro Leader: You just wrapped up the first-ever Clean Currents conference and trade show. Please tell us about Clean Currents and the concept behind it.

Malcolm Woolf: I had been looking forward to Clean Currents as an industry homecoming for months, but even so, I was blown away by the excitement and inspiration I saw there. There was a tangible sense of optimism. I had numerous people tell me that they hadn’t realized they were in a malaise before coming to Clean Currents, but that coming to the event had brought them out of it and that they were now jazzed about the future of the industry. I think that after all the craziness of the COVID‑19 pandemic, folks were hungry to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones. NHA is especially grateful to Georgia Power, which served as the host utility of the event.

32 | HYDRO LEADER | January 2022

Hydro Leader: One of the intentions behind this conference was to structure it around your stakeholders’ interests and to learn what was important to them and the major things they were working on. What were the themes that emerged from this conference? Malcolm Woolf: One theme that we heard loud and clear was to better highlight the innovation that’s occurring throughout the industry. Innovation in wind and solar is easily visible, but there’s been an incredible amount of innovation in the waterpower sector, too. One of the ways we highlighted that was by creating an Innovation Power House at the center of the event. Every half hour, we used that space to hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NHA.

Malcolm Woolf: Clean Currents is NHA’s new industrywide annual conference and trade show. While the industry has gotten together before, this is the first time that we’ve put together a trade show by the industry, for the industry, and with the proceeds reinvested in the industry. It’s a really big deal for the industry to have put together Clean Currents. It’s something that the industry has been talking about doing for over a decade, so it was exciting to get together in Atlanta for this inaugural event. Clean Currents is critical for the industry for a few reasons. First, the industry needs to have a platform that it controls where it can talk about the issues that matter. We know that innovation is happening in all corners of our sector and that folks are hungry to talk to each other, do business deals, and catch up. It is important both strategically and financially for NHA, as the industry association, to be the convener of that event. Right now, NHA’s funding is predominantly dependent on membership dues. Running our own industry event is a way for us to diversify our revenues and hopefully deepen the industry’s ability to engage and provide the services that the industry wants. To be clear, NHA will continue to offer additional opportunities for connection in person beyond Clean

ADVERTISEMENT demonstrate new technologies and to hold meet-and-greets for attendees with key members of the industry. This area, supported by Georgia Power, GE Renewable Energy, and the U.S. Department of Energy, was highly successful. Another area in which we innovated and about which we received really good feedback was varying the formats of the conference sessions. Some of the sessions were traditional classroom presentations in which participants shared presentations, but we complemented those with fireside chats to encourage more discussion among industry leaders. We also had working sessions in a roundtable format in which we asked participants to roll up their sleeves and try to solve issues together. By mixing it up and focusing on solving problems and innovating together, we provided a much more dynamic experience than traditional industry events. We also organized the event so everything—exhibits, content, food and beverages, networking—occurred in one space, which we called CC Central. All attendees really liked the community feel this layout created. Hydro Leader: What were some of the unexpected results of the event? Malcolm Woolf: We were really impressed by the quality of the attendees. The exhibiting companies shared that, normally, they may talk with 20 people before they talk with someone who is a decisionmaker. Decisionmakers came to this event. Numerous exhibitors told us that they were able to do more in sales on the first day of the trade show than they had been able to do for the 2 months previous. Both exhibitors and decisionmakers told us that they made meaningful contacts at Clean Currents and would be back again. That was exciting to hear. The other thing I heard was that people were seeing solutions to problems that they didn’t even realize they had. People saw technologies and thought, “Wow, you can do that? That’s something we just thought we had to live with. We didn’t even realize that people were working on innovations to solve this problem.” People were seeing problem-solving solutions and innovation, which is ultimately what it’s all about. Hydro Leader: What feedback did you receive from your participants regarding the format and themes of the conference? Malcolm Woolf: One piece of feedback was that they really liked the engaged participation. Clean Currents was not intended to be a traditional trade show. We wanted everybody to be engaged in the conversation. We had almost 200 speakers, but beyond that, there were so many problemsolving roundtable sessions and innovation showcases that I think everyone who attended brought something to the conversation. Folks were hungry for that conversation. I don’t think people had been this excited for a conference and trade show in a long time. hydroleadermagazine.com

Hydro Leader: Based on this year’s experience, what are some changes that you intend to incorporate in next year’s Clean Currents event? Malcolm Woolf: We’re going to have to be bigger, because everybody told me that they’re coming back and bringing more people. That’s exciting, but we are going to have to find ways to maintain the same level of engaged participation. Hopefully, we will be past the pandemic, allowing even more people to attend. We want to get more people engaged, because we want to highlight the innovation in the industry. We also want to highlight the diversity of the industry. We know that the people in the industry don’t look like the industry’s customers. In the engineering profession and the energy field, we’ve got a lot of older men. That is wonderful, but we can gain a tremendous number of insights by showcasing the emerging diversity in the industry. One of the programs we unveiled at Clean Currents is Future Leaders of Waterpower (FLOW). FLOW is a new group within NHA that is involved in program design and mentoring and has a great social component. We’re trying to encourage young professionals and people who are new to the industry, regardless of age, to get involved. The group had a happy hour at Clean Currents that was standing room only, which was fun to see. Hydro Leader: Is there anything you would like to add? Malcolm Woolf: My final thought is about the tagline we’ve been using for Clean Currents, which is that it’s the conference and trade show for the industry, by the industry, with the proceeds reinvested in the industry. Each one of those pieces is critically important. We did a significant amount of outreach to find out what the industry wants, and we’re continuing to do that with the feedback from this year’s event. I encourage folks who attended to provide us with your feedback, because we really want this to be your event. We’ve already started soliciting speakers and suggestions for next year’s panels, so give us your ideas. We are going to be meeting in Sacramento the week of October 17, 2022. Five California hydropower asset owners are the hosts: the Bureau of Reclamation, the California Department of Water Resources, the Northern California Power Agency, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. We are looking forward to having another industry homecoming in California. H

Malcolm Woolf is the president and CEO of the National Hydropower Association. He can be contacted at mwoolf@hydro.org.

January 2022 | HYDRO LEADER

| 33

Bridging the gap between idea + achievement At HDR, we’re helping our clients push open the doors to what’s possible, every day. We can help you navigate the complexity of planning, designing, constructing, managing and operating your pumped storage facilities. Contact Us: Rick.Miller@hdrinc.com Kevin.Snyder@hdrinc.com David.Culligan@hdrinc.com

hdrinc.com

HUMAN RESOURCES CONSULTING

People-Dynamics has 30 years of experience to help you with Employer Compliance,

Performance Management, Benefits & Compensation, and Employee & Management Training. Ask about our monthly HR webinar subscription!

Workplace Investigations

HR Compliance Audit

Employee Handbook(s)

Employee Training(s)

Job Descriptions/ Exemption Questionnaires

Compensation

CONTACT

DIANE CAMPANILE, SHRM-SCP TITLE IX CERTIFIED

DIANE@PEOPLE-DYNAMICS.COM

(484) 888-3911 people-dynamics.com

People-Dynamics LLC is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®

HOBAS for HYDROPOWER Proven by Our History of Success

With installations dating back to the 1960s and over 250 penstocks worldwide, HOBAS knows Penstocks! HOBAS Pipe USA’s experienced staff will assist you from project inception through completion. The pipes offer a 100-year design life, superior abrasion resistance and great flow characteristics. Call us today to enjoy the HOBAS benefits on your project.

HOBAS PIPE USA | Home of the 100-Year Design Life Pipe | 281-821-2200

| www.hobaspipe.com

We can Assura you our software will make your life simpler.

We know Infrastructure Assets We have a very flexible solution We play nicely with others via our API We provide a return on investment The Assura solution provides efficient management of the day to day running of infrastructure making the life of managers and staff easier. Staff know the tasks and assets, what the priorities are and don't need paper to complete them. This allows them and their managers to manage by exception and the tasks that haven't been completed are escalated for attention.

“Assura has provided RWCD with the ability to meet our operational challenges in real time and the opportunity to address them in a 21st century environment.” - Shane Leonard GM, Roosevelt Water Conservation District

 hello@assurasoftware.com

(360) 601-2391

assurasoftware.com

JOB LISTINGS

Hydro Leader Does your organization have a job listing you would like to advertise in our pages? Hydro Leader provides this service to irrigation districts, water agencies, and hydropower facilities free of charge. For more information, please email Kris Polly at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

SALES AND MEMBERSHIP ENGAGEMENT MANAGER Location: Washington, DC (Remote Available) Deadline: Until Filled Salary: TBD based on qualifications RESPONSIBILITIES: +P osition reports to the VP of Operations & Member Services and works with previous customers and warm leads to develop a strategy and lead a comprehensive sales and engagement program. +E stablish and nourish relationships with NHA members and the waterpower industry at large and maintain contact details in association management system. +W ork collaboratively with NHA staff to plan and develop an integrated sponsorship and advertising program. REQUIREMENTS: +S killed in providing an exceptional customer experience through written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills. +P roven ability to maintain positive communication and relationships with members, industry, staff, and all levels of management. +C reativity, diplomacy, and ability to navigate among competing stakeholders. +E xcellent ability to balance multiple priorities, and to effectively communicate the status of projects. +A bility to handle a variety of projects and multiple tasks while working with minimum supervision; excellent attention to detail, particularly with database entry and spreadsheets; and excellent proofreading and organizational skills. +B achelor’s degree in relevant professional field with a minimum of three years office experience or equivalent combination of education and experience. For more information: go to https://hydro.careerwebsite.com

WATER RESOURCE DESIGN PROJECT MANAGER Location: Dallas/Fort Worth, TX Deadline: Until Filled Salary: TBD based on qualifications RESPONSIBILITIES: +T his position requires an experienced engineer to serve as a Project Manager in the field of water resources and heavy civil projects with an emphasis on dams and levees. +C lient interaction and client services encompassing

38 | HYDRO LEADER | January 2022

business development activities, proposal preparation, visits, and marketing activities. +S erve as Project Manager for large, complex projects. +D irect and supervise studies, investigations, and designs. +D efine tasks to be conducted by others, and provide supervision, review, and approval throughout each project to ensure continuity, consistency, and quality. +M aintain effective communications with client, client’s staff, and regulatory agencies. +P rovide supervision of a multidiscipline team of engineers, CAD technicians, designers, drafters, scientist, etc., requiring intergroup and interoffice coordination and external consultant management. QUALIFICATIONS: + 1 0+ years’ experience in engineering of dams, levees, and hydraulic structures. +B .S. degree in Engineering (minimum); M.S. in Engineering or Business Management (preferred). +E xcellent communications skills – both technical writing and oral. +A bility to lead, motivate, and manage a project team and oversee excellent quality of work. +R egistered with the Texas Board of Professional Engineers or capable of obtaining license in less than six months. For more information: go to Freese & Nichols Careers.

TECHNICAL SALES AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT –ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY HYDRO TURBINES Location: Northwestern United States Deadline: Open until filled Salary: TBD based on qualifications RESPONSIBILITIES: +P resent Nustreem well by representing our product and our values accurately and enthusiastically. +M aintain existing lines of business relationships and effectively obtain new business. +B uild rapport and trust with both internal and external customers. +P rovide market feedback to help product development, marketing, and other strategies. REQUIREMENTS: +2 + years of Sales Experience in the Hydropower Industry. +S trong technical understanding of mechanical and/or electrical products. +E xcellent written and verbal skills. +C omputer literate with Sales Force, Zoho, or other CRM. For more information: go to https://NuSTREEM.com or send your resume and cover letter to HR@NuSTREEM.com. hydroleadermagazine.com

JOB LISTINGS +C ompares the actual cost to estimated costs and prepares

periodic progress and cost reports for leadership. PROJECT MANAGER Location: Saginaw, TX Deadline: Open until filled Salary: TBD based on qualifications RESPONSIBILITIES: +D esign, development, and delivery of effective water transmission applications. +L ead design sessions and review sessions with engineering, operations, production control team members, and other members of the organization including all levels of management. +R eview and assess vendor proposals. +M anage multiple, parallel projects using formal project planning techniques. +M anage application design through the various life cycle stages from business needs through design and delivery. REQUIREMENTS: +D emonstrated ability to manage multiple, parallel projects. +M ust have excellent computer skills including MS Word, Excel, CADS, and other project management programs. +E xcellent oral and written communication, advanced mathematics, and analytical and problem solving skills. For more information: contact Nick Hidalgo, Talent Acquisition at nhidalgo@nwpipe.com, or go to www. nwpipe.com/careers.

PROJECT ENGINEER Location: Atlanta, GA/Remote Deadline: Until Filled Salary: TBD based on qualifications RESPONSIBILITIES: +C ollaborates across functions to create a project execution plan and cost estimates of materials, time, labor, and other resources required to complete the project. +C ompletes site assessment studies as required to support project development and sales. +A nalyzes equipment, material, systems, processes, and systems to identify modifications to improve efficiency, increase quality, and reduce costs. +A ssesses the competence, capabilities, resources, and financial status of vendors. +P rovide on-site installation training, quality oversight and commissioning support for customer projects. +D etermines project schedule by studying project plan and specifications, calculating time requirements, and sequencing project elements. +M aintains project schedule by monitoring project progress, coordinating activities, and resolving problems. +C ontrols project costs by tracking / approving expenditures and administering subcontractor contracts.

+C onfirms system performance by designing and

conducting performance tests per contract requirements. +E nsures compliance with codes, guidelines, best

practices, policies as well as applicable federal, state and local regulations. REQUIREMENTS: +B achelor’s degree in Civil, Mechanical or Electrical Engineering or other related discipline +5 + years of project experience in construction, preferably in energy or light industrial +P roficiency with MS Project and the MS Office Suite of tools, 3‑D modeling and CAD software +A bility to travel up to 50%. For more information: go to https://emrgy.com/careers/ or send cover letter and resume to HR@emergy.com

WATER SYSTEMS ENGINEER Location: Atlanta, GA/Remote Deadline: Until Filled Salary: TBD based on qualifications RESPONSIBILITIES: +P erform desk top review of all available data related to irrigation and other water delivery systems in target regions around the globe to assess the potential for energy production using Emrgy turbines. +C ontinue to develop and add to the existing ARC-GIS database of cataloged waterways. + I mprove upon and manage the methodology for ranking potential waterways for energy production. +S upport sales and origination by performing site assessment studies to further define waterway potential and provide detailed data required for accurate turbine and array designs. +S upport and participate in project performance testing to validate system performance after installation. +F acilitate coordination with and manage engineering subcontractors required to support waterway infrastructure improvements or changes to enhance turbine performance. +S upport the digital analytics team in developing the most cost effective means to monitor system performance and collect data on water infrastructure. REQUIREMENTS: +B achelor’s degree in Water Studies, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or other related discipline. +5 + years of project experience with open channel flow, hydraulics engineering or related industry. +P roficiency with the MS Office Suite of tools, HEC-RAS and other 1 and 2 dimensional modeling software. +A bility to travel up to 50%. For more information: go to https://emrgy.com/career/ or contact hr@emrgy.com

FOR ADDITIONAL HYDRO-RELATED CAREER OPPORTUNITIES, VISIT: National Hydropower Association careers page: https://www.hydro.org/careers/ United States Society on Dams job listings page at: https://www.ussdams.org/resource-center/job-postings/ hydroleadermagazine.com

January 2022 | HYDRO LEADER

| 39

Leader ydro H

Upcoming Events

January 4–5 National Water Resources Association, Leadership Forum, Phoenix, AZ January 9–11 American Public Power Association, Joint Action Conference, Destin, FL January 12 Nebraska Water Resources Association, Water Roundtable, Lincoln, NE January 17–20 Idaho Water Users Association, Annual Conference, Boise, ID January 21–22 Texas Rural Water Association, Rural Water Conference, Round Rock, TX January 26 Nebraska Water Resources Association, Legislative Reception, Lincoln, NE January 26–27 Irrigation Leader, Operations & Management Training Workshop, Phoenix, AZ January 26–28 Colorado Water Congress, Annual Convention, Aurora, CO January 26–28 PowerGen International & DistribuTECH International, Dallas, TX January 28–29 Nebraska Natural Resources Districts, Legislative Conference, Lincoln, NE January 31–February 3 National Association of Clean Water Agencies, Winter Conference, Scottsdale, AZ January 31–February 3 Nevada Water Resources Association, Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV February 9 Nebraska Water Resources Association, Water Roundtable, Lincoln, NE February 16 Energy Storage Association, Policy Forum, Washington, DC February 23–25 Northwest Hydroelectric Association, Annual Conference, Portland, OR February 28–March 2 American Public Power Association, Legislative Rally, Washington, DC March 9 Nebraska Water Resources Association, Water Roundtable, Lincoln, NE March 11 Oregon Water Resources Congress, District Managers Workshop, Newport, OR March 15–16 CEATI International, 13th Annual Hydropower Conference, Palm Springs, CA March 25–26 American Public Power Association, Lineworkers Rodeo, Austin, TX April 5–7 National Hydropower Association, Waterpower Week, Washington, DC April 7–8 The P3 Water Summit, San Diego, CA April 11–14 United States Society on Dams, Annual Conference and Exhibition, San Diego, CA April 13 Nebraska Water Resources Association, Water Roundtable, Lincoln, NE

To sign up to receive Hydro Leader in electronic form, please contact us at admin@waterstrategies.com. hydroleadermag

hydro_leadr

hydro.leader

hydroleadermagazine.com

/company/water-strategies-llc

Hydro Leader January 2022

Articles inside

Sustainability and Specialization