Water

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GHD is at the forefront of the water industry, delivering sustainable water solutions across the globe, covering every element of the water cycle for urban, rural and industrial water applications.

As the world’s population grows and our standards of living improve so does our need to manage the water in our environment. We need to maximise its application for human well-being and minimise impact on the environment. GHD engineers, scientists and planners can provide sustainable, cost-effective and innovative water solutions.  We assist water utilities and others who provide water services to optimise infrastructure and adapt to environmental changes in ways that balance the needs of our communities. And we enable clients to meet compliance, improve profitability and maintain their commitment to sustainability.

GHD continually expands the boundaries by engaging in research, enhancing existing systems and strategies, evaluating new procedures and transferring technology from other industries into the water industry. We work with our clients through all project stages – planning, investigation, design, delivery, operation and renewal.

The end result is GHD is delivering significant projects all over the world. Examples include desalination plant work in Australia, USA and the Middle East; major water recycling projects like the Western Corridor Recycled Water project in Australia; and work on a wastewater treatment plant so that it meets high nutrient removal standards to protect the quality of water in Chesapeake Bay in the USA. But significance is relative. Every project is important to our clients and we at GHD pride ourselves on the efficient and effective delivery of every commission – large or small.

We're proud of our formidable knowledge-base, and we've won many industry awards for innovation and outstanding project delivery. Our people can provide sustainable, cost-effective and innovative water solutions for your next project. We are committed to sustainable development, safety and innovation. We care for the wellbeing of our people, assist communities in need and conduct business in an ethical and environmentally responsible manner.

For further information, contact:

Chris Hertle
Tel: +61 7 3316 3710
Email: Chris Hertle

Ammonia Phosphorus Removal, Metropolitan Syracuse Treatment Plant Onondaga County (NY, USA)

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In partnership with two other firms GHD was retained by Onondaga County, New York to provide engineering services in connection with the design and construction of improvements to its 84 million-gallon-per day Metropolitan (METRO) wastewater treatment plant, with the objective of upgrading the level of wastewater treatment provided for ammonia and phosphorus removal.

The project established that the facility, which provided conventional secondary treatment (with seasonal nitrification and phosphorus removal to less than 1.0 mg/L), needed to be upgraded to provide year-round ammonia removal (1.0 mg/L as N for June 1st to October 31st, and 2.0 mg/L for November 1st to May 31st), and phosphorus removal to 0.12 mg/L TP for a 12-month rolling average.

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Carlsbad Desalination Plant (CA, USA)

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GHD in collaboration with Butier Engineering were selected by Poseidon Resources to provide Owner's Engineering services for the development, construction and commissioning of the 50 MGD Carlsbad Seawater Desalination project. 

As Owner’s Engineer, GHD and Butier have and continue to provide general oversight and independent assessment of the performance of the Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) Contractor relative to the delivery of the Carlsbad project.

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Cox Creek Wastewater Treatment Upgrade (Md, USA)

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GHD was retained by Anne Arundel County for the Enhanced Nutrient Removal (ENR) Upgrade of the Cox Creek Water Reclamation Facility (WRF). The 15.0 mgd (56.7 ML/d) Cox Creek WRF is the largest of the County’s seven (7) major wastewater treatment facilities and is also the County’s largest single contributor of nitrogen and phosphorus to the Chesapeake Bay. 

During the facilities planning phase, a comprehensive examination was made of all plant unit processes and hydraulics.  As part of this project, a decision was made to expand the peak day hydraulic capacity of the facility from 30 to 45 mgd (113 to 170 ML/d) to accommodate observed I/I derived peak flows. ENR alternatives were evaluated in a two-step approach with the first step shortlisting to three alternatives and the second step selecting the final recommendation based on conceptual designs and lifecycle cost analysis. A Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) process was selected to replace the existing MLE process. MBRs proved to be the right choice for the Cox Creek WRF due to very tight site constraints, inadequate existing reactor volume to fully nitrify year-round, inadequate existing secondary clarification facilities, limited hydraulic head available for process modifications, and the County’s desire to produce as high of quality of effluent as possible with the maximum degree of reliability.

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Securing Canberra’s water supply (ACT, Australia)

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GHD’s work with the ACT Electricity and Water Corp (ACTEW) on the Cotter Dam is helping to secure the territory’s water supply and raising the bar for sustainable construction. The AUD363 million project involves building a new 80 metre high wall to increase the main dam’s capacity from 4 gigalitres to 78 gigalitres, and building two saddle dams with walls 15-20 m high.

Working in an alliance with ACTEW and construction companies Abigroup and John Holland, GHD has been responsible for engineering design, stakeholder liaison, environmental approvals and safety and quality control during construction. GHD’s analysis identified the best location for the dam wall, and a cost-effective construction method using roller compacted concrete (RCC).

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Washington Suburban Asset Management (Md, USA)

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The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) appointed GHD to lead the provision of asset management services in support of master planning and enterprise resource planning initiatives.

WSSC is the eighth largest water and wastewater utility in the USA, owning USD$12 billion of infrastructure assets. While instituting a range of short-term measures to combat the increasing incidence of water main breaks and leaks, WSSC is also taking a long-range strategic approach to address the growing challenge of ageing infrastructure.

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Western Corridor Recycled Water Project (Qld, Australia)

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The AUD$2.5 billion Western Corridor Recycled Water Project is Australia’s largest water recycling scheme and the third-largest advanced water treatment project in the world.

It uses secondary wastewater from Brisbane and Ipswich, to produce 232Ml of purified recycled water a day. The project is the Queensland State Government’s response to unprecedented demand on its water supply due to population growth, climate change and the worst drought in recorded history.

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Australia China Environment Development (China)

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The ACEDP is a five-year AUD$25 million Australian Government, AusAID initiative, designed to improve environmental protection and natural resource management (in particular, water) to balance the needs of the environment and human development in China.

GHD was appointed managing contractor on 1 July 2007. The program promotes high-level government-to-government environmental policy dialogue and capacity building, and aims to deliver the following outcomes:

  • Enduring partnerships between Australian and Chinese agencies
  • Strengthened environmental policy development
  • Implementation of pilot activities using sound environmental governance and practice

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Murray River wetland rehabilitation (Vic, Australia)

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Known as the Wetland Rehabilitation Project – Reinstating Wetting and Drying Regimes, this is one of the first projects of its type in Australia. The Lower Murray-Darling Catchment Management Authority engaged GHD to investigate, design and implement rehabilitation works to restore flood flows and fish passage to approximately 700ha of wetlands.

The team investigated wetland ecosystems to identify environmental values, then used this information to propose works and complementary land management activities aimed at achieving specific rehabilitation objectives for each wetland. The process involved flora, fauna and aquatic assessments, grazing pressure and land management assessments, indigenous cultural heritage assessments, and hydrologic-hydraulic simulation of proposed water regime options.

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Asset & Facilities Management
aviation		 Dams
Dams		 Desalination
Desalination		 Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Hydrogeology
Hydrogeology		 Industrial Water & Waste
Industrial Water & Waste		 Instrumentation & Control
Instrumentation & Control		 Integrated Water Management
Integrated Water Management
Irrigation
Irrigation		 Materials Technology
Materials Technology		 Wastewater Systems
Wastewater Systems		 Wastewater Treatment
Wastewater Treament
Water Efficiency
Water Efficiency		 Water Treatment and Desalination
Water Quality and Treatment		 Water Sciences
Water Sciences		 Water Transmission and Distribution
Water Systems
Waterways & Coastal
Waterways & Coastal

Chris Hertle

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Chris Hertle is GHD's Global Market Leader - Water. A Chemical Engineer with more than 25 years’ experience, Chris aims to develop and strengthen our client and stakeholder relationships within the global water industry. Enhancing GHD’s offering in the industrial water and waste management areas are his key focus points, along with leveraging GHD’s global network to share water insight from around the world.

Having joined GHD more than 16 years ago, Chris is an active member of GHD’s Technical Services Advisory Group and also played a key role in helping roll out GHD’s Innovation program in 2008. Chris aims to deliver innovative, sustainable solutions to clients and leverage these outcomes to grow the firm. He has been involved in numerous municipal and industrial water projects involving advanced treatment for energy recovery and water recycling. Chris was involved in the introduction of membrane bioreactors into Australia.

Chris has presented many papers at national and international forums and is currently a member of the Water Project Group for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Position: Global Market Leader, Water
Tel: +61 7 3316 3710

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Paul Hansford

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Paul is a civil engineer with more than 25 years' professional experience in the investigation, design and construction of civil engineering infrastructure including water supply, sewerage and drainage masterplans, assessment of water supply provisions, wastewater collection and treatment systems, wastewater recycling systems and drainage systems.

He has had significant involvement in projects in Australia, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Middle East.


Position: Business Group Manager, Water and Transportation, Manilla
Tel:  +63 2 479 5600

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Rhodes (Rip) Copithorn

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Rip has more than 37 years' experience in wastewater engineering. He has a master’s degree in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University and is a member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. His experience includes the application of suspended growth, fixed film and hybrid treatment processes for nutrient removal. He was one of the principal authors of a WERF study entitled "Investigation of Hybrid Systems for Enhanced Nutrient Control" (May 2000) and a contributing author to the Water Environment Federation (WEF) manual on the operation and maintenance of BNR facilities (MOP 30). He is currently working with the WEF on a new manual on Biofilm Reactors. Rip was instrumental in building the Stearns & Wheler business in the Chesapeake Bay area, and is a leader in the wastewater treatment field in the USA.

Position: Global Technical Leader, Water
Tel: +1 301 805 5629

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Gary Crisp

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Gary is highly regarded throughout Australia as one of the industry’s foremost desalination practitioners. He was instrumental in the delivery of Australia’s first major seawater desalination plant for public water supply. Prior to joining GHD, Gary served as the Perth Water Corporation’s Principal Engineer, Desalination. He has also worked in an advisory capacity to a range of clients planning major desalination projects and has been a member and presenter on a range of international committees and conferences involving desalination.

Position: Global Business Leader, Desalination
Tel: +61 8 6222 8843
Mobile: +61 447 202 581

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Ross Fryar

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Ross has more than 20 years’ experience with the assessment of waterways and water quality associated with major engineering infrastructure. Working jointly between our water and environmental teams, Ross has helped GHD deliver some very significant environmental water impact assessments covering major port developments, desalination projects, wastewater treatment plants and urban development. Using an understanding of the complex interactions between ecosystems and water and by applying good science, our teams have been successful in helping many of our clients gain approval for their infrastructure with minimum impact on the environment. Ross looks forward to working with our environmental teams and clients to realise more sustainable developments.

Position: Business Manager, Water & Environment
Tel: +61 7 3316 3619

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Thor Young

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Thor has more than18 years' experience in the planning, design, and construction management of water and wastewater systems. He specialises in treatment facility design and plant operations, having managed projects from study through design and construction and ranging in size up to USD140 million in capital cost. Other capabilities include enhanced biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal, advanced wastewater treatment processes, headworks facilities, membrane bioreactors, and solids stabilisation and dewatering systems. Thor is a member of the International Water Federation and the Water Environment Federation and has presented papers on a wide variety of topics at local and international conferences.

Position: Service Line Leader, Wastewater Treatment & Recycling
Tel: +1 240 206 6810

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Steve Carne

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Steve has more than 25 years’ experience in the water sector in Australia and New Zealand. He was previously the Service Line Leader for Sewer Systems. Over the past five years he has played a pivotal role in positioning GHD into one of the leading water businesses in New Zealand, delivering some of the biggest projects in that country. Steve is a true team player who is passionate about delivering great outcomes for our clients and is looking forward to further growing our water business in New Zealand.

Position: Business Development Manager
Tel: +64 9 261 1487

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Bernard Clancy

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Bernard has more than 20 years' experience working on and delivering water and wastewater related projects. He has experience at various project phases including investigation, approvals, concept and detail design, construction supervision, commissioning and project management. Bernard has lead or been involved in multidiscipline project teams operating within a range of relationship based contracts to deliver major infrastructure projects.

Position: Business Group Manager, Water
Tel:  +61 2 9239 7416

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Kevin Castro

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Kevin is the Water Service Group Manager in our Cazenovia, NY office, and has more than 22 years' experience in waterworks engineering. Since joining GHD in 1993, he has primarily worked in the fields of planning, study, design, and construction management of water supply, treatment, distribution, pumping, and storage facilities.

Position: Business Leader - Water US East
Tel:  +1 315 679 5800

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Bassam Halabi

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Bassam’s wide-ranging skills will enable him to add value in a variety of areas to deliver quickly and efficiently. As the Qatar Business Group Manager for Infrastructure, his experience encompasses

  • Infrastructure strategy and policy, operational planning, control and benchmarking
  • water supply modelling
  • infrastructure planning and management
  • water quality and public health management
  • risk and health and safety management systems
  • networks vulnerability and reliability assessment
  • leakage and pressure management
  • demand management
  • irrigation systems.

Bassam has also undertaken work on projects overseas, some of this experience being in areas with challenging conditions.

His leadership skills and practical approach are invaluable when quick decisions are required in complex circumstances.

Position: Business Group Manager – Infrastructure & Environment
Tel: +974 4428 9579

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Throstur Gretarsson

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Throstur leads the Water & Wastewater team – which provides engineering for water and wastewater treatment and pumping stations, solid waste management, air pollution and general project management during the design and construction phase.

He is an environmental engineer with 15 years’ experience in Canada, the USA and Scandinavia.

Position - Service Group Manager – Water & Wastewater, Canada
Tel: +1 905 752 4300

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Mark Soldati

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Mark has more than 30 years' experience in the planning, design and construction management of a variety of water and wastewater systems projects, including water transmission and distribution pipelines, wastewater pipelines, water and sewer master plans, pump stations, water storage reservoirs, wells, water treatment facilities, telemetry systems, and storm drains. Mark has managed a variety of public infrastructure projects, ranging from stand-alone utility projects to multi-project capital improvement programs to large scale multi-million dollar design. He has been very active in the AWWA California-Nevada Section, having served in many roles, including committee chair, division officer, trustee and Governing Board member.

Position: Business Leader - Water, US West
Tel: +1 415 296 3616

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Paul Priebbenow

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Paul is a Principle Engineer with more than 26 years’ experience in a wide range of catchment management and civil engineering disciplines. In recent years Paul’s focus has been on surface water management with particular attention to floodplain, waterway, rural drainage, urban stormwater & flood, and catchment management.

Throughout his career he has also lead and delivered projects and services in  land development engineering, commercial development civil works, road design, urban drainage water and sewerage, hydraulic infrastructure, and  major highways design.

Paul has led and contributed to large and small projects including many requiring multi-disciplinary efforts.

Position: Principal Engineer, Waterways & Water Resources, Beijing
Tel: +86 10 5930 1517

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2012

2011

  • Tetra-Trap Stormwater Device, Arthur Mead Award, Environment and Sustainability, Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand
  • Sandgate Avenue Drainage Stage 1, Pipelines Alliance
    • Earth Award (Victoria), Civil Contractors Federation
    • Excellence Award (Victoria), Infrastructure projects >AUD20 million category, Engineers Australia

  • Southern Seawater Desalination Integration
    • Excellence Award (Western Australia), Overall Winner, Engineers Australia
    • Excellence Award (Western Australia), Infrastructure and Building Category, Engineers Australia
    • Excellence Award (Western Australia), Management of Engineering Category

  • Christina West, Young Engineer of the Year, Engineers Australia
  • Onondaga County Water Authority, Technical and Management Innovation Award, Projects > USD15 million, American Public Works Association
  • Canal Landing Park, Village of Layetteville, Environmental Project of the Year Award, American Public Works Association
  • Town of Chatham Comprehensive Wastewater Management Planning, Grand Prize for Planning, International American Academy of Environmental Engineering
  • MSABI Safe Water for Better Health Project, Development Award, Hardware Water Category, International Water Association
  • Sandy Tripp, Stanley E. Kappe Award, International American Academy of Environmental Engineering

2010

  • Coffs Harbour Water Reclamation Plant, Recovering, Recycling & Reusing Award, Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia
  • Nyrstar Groundwater Interception System, Silver Award, Environmental Category, Consult Australia
  • Victorian Desalination Project, Silver Award, Environmental Category, Consult Australia