Geosyntec provides specialized water and natural resources management services for the conservation and restoration of, and sustainable development adjacent to lakes, rivers, and coastal zones throughout the United States. Our water and natural resources management scientists and engineers comprise one of the leading practices in the country and include individuals who are at the forefront of policy analyses, new regulation interpretation and compliance and technology applications that promote sustainable water resources management and ecosystem conservation and restoration.
Practice Specialties
We have built our water and natural resources management practice to address our clients’ most challenging conservation and sustainability issues. Our clients include a variety of project proponents and resource agencies (e.g., utilities, developers, municipalities, local agencies), federal agencies (e.g., U.S. EPA, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), state agencies, public interest foundations, and a range of community stakeholders. We work with them to develop practical and protective strategies for consumptive use, watershed planning, stream and water body quality and flow assessments, wetlands protection and creation, hydropower relicensing, thermal discharge permitting and compliance, fish entrainment/ impingement, and aquatic vegetation/invasive species management. Examples include:
- We provide consultation to communities in Great Lakes states on designing and implementing water conservation programs – from policy development through community education.
- We work with electric utilities on applying expedited procedures for relicensing hydropower stations subject to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission jurisdiction and on cooling water intakes regulated under Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 316(b).
- We work with "big box" developers nationwide to protect streams and wetlands potentially impacted by construction site runoff and a host of other issues associated with CWA compliance (NPDES, Sections 401 and 404).
We are able to support all of these activities because our engineers, scientists, ecologists, and planners have expertise in wetlands delineation; monitoring and field studies, including stream gauging and field hydrologic studies; stormwater/effluent discharge and receiving water quality monitoring; sediment surveys and mapping; in-stream flow studies; aquatic and terrestrial flora and fauna studies; and dry and wet weather stormwater flow monitoring.
Our water and natural resources specialists work hand-in-hand with in-house colleagues who specialize in ecological risk assessment to develop strategies for habitat assessment and ecosystem restoration. For example, our staff of ecologists and aquatic resource specialists recently conducted extensive sampling and analysis activities at one of the most complex Superfund sites in the southeast. These include estuarine and benthic studies as part of an ecological risk assessment we performed. Similarly, our team recently conducted extensive sampling and analyses of sediments and aquatic resources at a RCRA site in Florida; the results were used by our risk assessment specialists to successfully secure a "no further action" finding from state regulators.
Advancing the State-of-the-Practice
Geosyntec uses state-of-the-practice tools such as remote sensing, innovative water quality models, sampling designs based on statistical analyses, hydromodification assessments, and endangered species investigations to assess water quality impacts and develop appropriate solutions. From a research perspective, Geosyntec is working with NOAA to develop a predictive tool for salt marsh vegetation management. We are also developing new tidal control techniques to help restore salt marshes that have been deprived of saltwater flows through urban development. We are also working with the Water Environment Research Foundation to develop tools for assessing the effects of stormwater best management practices on receiving water health.