Spicer’s Environmental Service Group: Part Two
Diving into Water Quality Studies, Improvement Design, and Environmental Monitoring
The Environmental Service Group at Spicer Group continues to integrate with every department at the company, delivering expertise in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) compliance, environmental permitting, water quality studies, watershed management, and environmental studies and monitoring.
Through comprehensive water quality assessments and monitoring programs, the team helps their clients identify potential sources of pollution, implement effective mitigation measures, and track environmental trends over time. These assessments use various methods, including long-term deployment of remote monitoring equipment and grab-sampling events. Monitoring can occur in surface water, groundwater, storm sewers, or sanitary sewers. Spicer Group utilizes in-house monitoring equipment for many projects but can develop, order, install, and manage specific equipment plans based on project needs. Depending on project requirements, a suite of recommended parameters can be developed, collected, analyzed, and formalized into a report.
Monitoring serves multiple purposes, such as understanding a watershed’s or sewer system’s current water quality conditions, recommending best management practices, driving project design, ensuring permit condition compliance, or collecting data required for permit approval. Other projects evaluate the effectiveness of Best Management Practices (BMPs) like detention basins or porous pavement, identify chemicals and sources of spills or illicit discharges, investigate undesirable water characteristics, or establish baseline water quality data for a body of water.
Environmental Monitoring
Spicer Group performs three general types of monitoring: investigative monitoring, monitoring for permit compliance, and monitoring for design. Investigative monitoring typically occurs when we receive a report of suspicious water conditions, such as unusual coloring, smell, bubbles, or a report of an accident leading to a spill. A typical spill response may include a site inspection, sample collection, and reporting.
Monitoring for permit compliance is project-specific, ensuring adherence to permit conditions, which usually specify the number of sites to monitor, surveys required, and timelines to follow. Common examples include aquatic vegetation surveys or continuous turbidity monitoring upstream and downstream of in-water work, like bridgework. Spicer Group works closely with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to designate required monitoring after pre-permit application meetings.
Spicer Group can handle environmental monitoring for projects of any scale. Some great examples of large-scale projects that demonstrate environmental monitoring include two Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Design-Build road reconstruction projects on I-69 and US-131, where Spicer Group serves as the Environmental Compliance Manager (ECM) on the Design-Build team. The 22-mile-long I-69 project spans from Charlotte to Marshall on both bounds. The US-131 project in Byron Center extends from 100th to 76th Streets, approximately two miles for both bounds. As the ECM, Spicer ensures adherence to all project environmental permits, permit conditions, and environmental regulations, participates in EGLE audits, is responsible for writing the project’s Environmental Management Plan, and conducts trainings for contractors. This role includes responsibilities such as monitoring, documenting, and reporting environmental compliance status, producing monthly and annual reports, designing, implementing and maintaining the Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control (SESC) plan, Notice of Coverage, and reporting any violations or non-compliance to MDOT.
The I-69 and US-131 projects also illustrate the Environmental Service Group’s collaborative work with other departments at Spicer Group.
Often, project permits require continuous water monitoring. This could include surface-water monitoring for rivers, lakes, streams or stormwater; groundwater monitoring using monitoring wells; biological monitoring to study the health and diversity of organisms in the water; microbial monitoring for pathogens and indicator organisms such as E. coli; and sediment monitoring which looks closely at deposits for contaminants that can impact water quality.
In addition to water monitoring, the Environmental Service Group has the capacity to collect soil and sediment samples for projects using a variety of methods. This could include surface-level grab sampling, hand augering, ponar sampling, or soggy bottom sampling.
Each project requires different sampling and monitoring practices. Spicer Group works closely with regulators, contractors, engineers, community stakeholders, and other project team members to accommodate each project’s needs. By understanding the chemical makeup of stormwater, soil, and other environmental elements, a project can be designed better to improve water quality and can incorporate applicable low-impact design elements.
Water Quality Studies and Improvement Design
Another pivotal area of service that the Environmental Service Group provides is water quality studies and improvement design. These play important roles in ensuring the health and sustainability of our water resources. These efforts encompass comprehensive watershed and lake management plans, which assess and address various sources of pollution, erosion, and habitat degradation. By implementing Best Management Practices (BMPs) and engaging local communities, these plans aim to protect and enhance water quality within entire watersheds and lake ecosystems. Low-impact-design (LID) approaches are integral to these efforts, promoting sustainable development practices that minimize environmental impact, reduce stormwater runoff, and enhance natural infiltration. Together, these strategies form a holistic approach to water quality improvement, balancing human activities with the need to preserve and restore aquatic ecosystems.
Low-impact-design (LID) approaches are also integral to these efforts. LID involves collaborating with engineers and developers to promote sustainable development practices that minimize environmental impact, reduce stormwater runoff, and enhance natural infiltration. LID strategies often include slowing the flow of water to the receiving body and incorporating soft structures within projects to minimize environmental impact.
Watershed and lake management plans serve as frameworks to protect and improve water quality and ecosystem health. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed watershed management plans consisting of nine elements as seen below. These plans involve assessing current conditions, identifying problems, and implementing strategies to address them.
The EPA nine-element plans are designed by communities within watersheds to evaluate where the water and watershed areas are currently at and set goals for future improvements. The plans typically last for 10 years before they are updated again so most goals are set with that time frame in mind. An evaluation takes place annually to see how much progress was made and to assess any possible future work to continue meeting the set goals.
Lake Management Plans, also known as Lake Improvement Plans, follow a distinct set of guidance questions tailored to their specific requirements. Similar to the watershed management plans, a lake management plan can be guided by nine formal elements, but they can also contain any number of steps needed to provide a balanced lake and ecosystem.
The Environmental Service Group at Spicer continues to play an important role, delivering expertise in NPDES compliance, environmental permitting, water quality studies, watershed management, and environmental monitoring.
Whether it’s environmental data collection, analysis, or reporting, the Environmental Service Group tailors their methods to meet project-specific needs, fostering sustainable and low-impact designs. Their comprehensive approach and dedication to environmental stewardship highlight their role in protecting and improving our environmental health.
If you have any questions about this group or how they can assist you, reach out to Kelsea Sutton, EIT, CFM at kelseas@spicergroup.com and check out our previous Straight Lines edition for Part One of our Environmental Service Series!