Scott Forbess is a Senior Principal Engineer based in California with more than 17 years of professional experience focused on remediation design, Remediation Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) programs, treatment system process engineering, operations and maintenance, in situ remediation design, pilot testing, stormwater compliance, and permitting for clients in the public and private sectors.
Geosyntec’s expertise in efficient site characterization, including sites that exhibit complex groundwater-flow regimes, has distinguished our firm as a leader in groundwater assessment and groundwater remediation. Our practitioners address a broad suite of contaminants, including metals, chlorinated organic chemicals, petroleum hydrocarbons, and emerging contaminants, and use award-winning, technology-based remediation strategies that are often first-to-field. Many of our hydrogeologists specialize in modeling the fate and transport of contaminants through the most difficult types of media, including fractured and karst bedrock.
Geosyntec provides comprehensive water-quality permitting and receiving water-assessment services. Our services include the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting negotiations and technical support for wastewater and industrial wastewater treatment plant discharges, groundwater discharge, combined sewer overflow systems, and stormwater management. Our water-resources practitioners also specialize in water-quality assessments in large watersheds, rivers, and reservoirs. Many of these projects are multi-year efforts where our services have eliminated unnecessary treatment works, saving clients significant costs. Antidegradation and Water-Quality Reviews Antidegradation and water-quality reviews are essential for permitting wastewater discharge expansions. Regulators use these reviews to determine treatment-system requirements and effluent limitations. Permittees must prepare the review submittals for new or expanded treatment plants. These reviews can range in complexity from basic qualitative evaluations to complex modeling scenarios using actual stream data. Using our thorough understanding of antidegradation and water-quality review processes,we help clients select the most appropriate review approaches when pursuing new or expanded wastewater treatment plants. Regulators with the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and state regulators emphasize water-quality-based permitting of municipal, domestic, and industrial wastewater discharges.They do this to address water-quality concerns and attain water-quality standards within receiving streams, rather than basing permits on technology-based limitations that may not adequately protect the specific water resource. Waste-Load Allocation Geosyntec's water-quality-based permitting and waste-load allocation studies may range greatly in complexity, and regulatory involvement and negotiations are critical elements within such projects. Waste-load allocations may be derived using a variety of approaches, and water-quality-based permit limits are derived after determining the most appropriate and defensible waste-load allocation. Our engineers and scientists use state-of-the-art field monitoring approaches to calibrate water-quality models and establish appropriate water-quality criteria. We have saved our clients several millions of dollars in infrastructure investments by investigating conservative permit assumptions and ensuring a sustainable balance between resource needs and practical budget constraints.
Geosyntec helps hundreds of clients meet the challenge of stormwater management by assembling multidisciplinary teams of respected and experienced professionals known for their innovative accomplishments across this industry sector.
Geosyntec is a preferred partner for innovative, cost-effective, and successful remediation solutions because we approach each project with technical expertise and creativity. For every client, we develop a clear understanding of how to achieve best-value outcomes using the most appropriate technologies and management strategies for individual projects. When the nature of the problem, like an emerging contaminant, requires a new type of remedy, our professionals set the standard for developing innovative science into novel and effective solutions for environmental remediation. From advanced vapor intrusion evaluation strategies to sophisticated bioaugmentation techniques and beyond, Geosyntec delivers practical environmental management solutions that meet project-specific needs and achieve our clients' objectives. Along with our expertise in treatability and pilot tests, Geosyntec practitioners are adept at conducting feasibility studies that develop, screen, and provide detailed evaluations of alternative remedial solutions for impacted sites. Our studies help clients determine the optimum performance they can expect from a remediation system and the expected cost of implementing a remedy. We also provide detailed remediation system design and design/build services for a wide range of innovative and traditional remediation strategies, including those that employ groundwater pump and treat systems; bioremediation and bioaugmentation solutions; chemical oxidation; the injection of nanoscale zero-valent iron; soil vapor extraction; indoor air venting and treatment; and much more. Geosyntec applies the principles of future optimization at the forefront of the design process, positioning the client for long-term savings opportunities, with strategies like modular unit operations of an ex situ treatment train to reduce chemical and energy costs as influent concentrations decrease, or incorporating flexibility into injection systems such as allowing for alternating passive and active flow fields or the ability to add additional components to target residual source zones. Geosyntec is the leading provider of remedial design services, particularly for complex sites where the challenges – whether from unconventional contaminants, difficult geology and site setting, multi-party groups of responsible parties, or all of the above – make the exit strategy difficult to envision. Our collaborative, global network provides our clients with access to the most talented group of environmentally-focused professionals in the industry. We also approach every project as a time-critical action, recognizing that when our clients require remediation services, they should expect to see the positive results of those actions in a timely manner.
Geosyntec Consultants is a global leader in the assessment and remediation of soil and groundwater impacted by a broad range of contaminants.
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