E-PUR Services
Sediment Transport, Quality, and Mitigation
E-PUR utilizes its expertise in hydrology, hydraulics, river mechanics, and environmental quality assessments to evaluate all aspects of sediment quantity, quality, and transport mechanics. We have worked on projects that require U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging permits, assessment and mitigation of hazardous sediments within natural watershed and urban drainage systems, and environmental permitting (e.g., NEPA, EIS, etc.).
Sediment transport within a watershed requires an understanding of erosion processes, routing sediment within a watershed or conveyance, and deposition and resuspension mechanics. E-PUR professionals are experts in these engineering and scientific fields as well as hydrology and hydraulic computer models (e.g., HEC-HMS, HEC-RAS, SWMM, etc.) that provide data essential to understanding and demonstrating sediment movement within urban and natural watersheds. Projects that include sediment transport are sometimes driven by sediment quality or hazardous substances that are adsorbed onto or entrained within natural sediments. E-PUR provides clients with extensive project and litigation experience specific to characterizing sediment quality based on EPA or other regulatory requirements. We identify potential on- and off-site sources of the contaminated sediments and develop sampling strategies. Once the sediment characteristics have been ascertained, E-PUR continues to provide high level engineering solutions to clients by developing cost-effective mitigation methods and site specific BMP’s designed to comply with regulatory driven cleanup and/or treatment goals.
Stormwater Controls and Pollutant Loads
E-PUR provides clients with expertise specific to stormwater hydrology. sediment loadings and potential erosion, and urban pollutants. We assess the potential impacts to receiving waters from the quantity and quality of stormwater from urban environments especially municipal separated stormwater sewer systems (MS4s). E-PUR has extensive experience in analyzing the potential and actual pollutant loadings within urban/industrial/rural stormwater and non-stormwater runoff. These analyses yield cost-effective solutions based on the project goals for private and municipal stormwater sewers, potential underground injection control (UIC) features for stormwater runoff, agricultural water users, management of surface water bodies, design of best management practices (BMPs) for stormwater treatment, and design of flood control features. We analyze the potential impacts from contaminants in stormwater on the water quality conditions within a watershed and design effective solutions. In addition we can analyze and have analyzed the hydraulic loading to levees and other engineered water way features to assess the failure potential or root cause.