Water and Wastewater

Our water source and treatment projects have covered major water source supplies, raw water intakes, and major water treatment plant upgrades up to 15 MGD, all the way to minor chemical feed improvements at existing plants. Our treatment plant experience includes conventional treatment, reverse osmosis, and membrane technologies. Raw water intake styles include run-of-river, shore side wetwell, weir, and inlet, as well as inclined submersible. We understand local regulations and permitting requirements, as well as the operational strategies and needs of our clients. Further, our experience includes permitting new water supply intakes, reservoir repairs and maintenance, and permitting new dams.

We have worked on a multitude of water distribution system projects that involve water line extensions and replacements, as well as booster pump stations, storage tanks, and treatment facilities. Our water modeling experience is extensive across the water practice team. We understand the intricacies of projects and the pitfalls to avoid when dealing with maintaining existing service, citizen and customer concerns, and meeting needs within the time frame and budget. This broad base of experience includes hundreds of miles of water lines up to 36 inches in diameter and water storage tanks up to 2 million gallons.

The McGill wastewater practice routinely works on projects that include sewer pump stations, force mains, and gravity sewer line replacements and extensions. Our experience includes hundreds of miles of sewer lines up to 48 inches in diameter and a variety of sewer pump station styles with very large horsepower pumps. While the vast majority of our work has included gravity sewer service, we have experience with alternative sewer collection technologies, such as low-pressure sewers, vacuum sewers, and effluent STEP systems. In addition, our team has completed many infiltration and inflow studies, along with sanitary sewer evaluations surveys.

McGill has successfully completed many wastewater treatment projects, including new treatment plants, expansions of existing plants, and modifications to improve performance of existing processes. Our experience includes a wide array of wastewater treatment technologies and capacities. We assist clients with small upgrades to plant processes or components, as well as the design of complex wastewater treatment processes, to address regulatory requirements. Many of our projects address current issues such as nutrient removal and residuals processing.

We understand the importance of compliant wastewater treatment to the economic viability of a community and the need for reliable treatment to meet future needs. We have a knowledge of the intricacies of balancing client budget and operational needs with regulatory compliance requirements.

McGill’s knowledge of state and federal environmental and regulatory programs related to water and wastewater projects is invaluable to clients in resolving permit challenges in even the most sensitive environmental situations. From feasibility studies to navigating the regulatory process for NPDES permits, our environmental specialists can confidently steer our clients’ projects through complex regulatory and environmental compliance requirements. We lean on our long-standing relationships with regulatory agencies, giving us an advantage to tackle even the most complex permitting issues.

Our team’s operations and management background also aid in our ability to assist clients with policy and ordinance items. Those such items often include pretreatment; fats, oils, and grease; standards; intergovernmental relations; and regionalization. We have assisted many communities with developing innovative partnerships to address their utility needs.