Wastewater

RBI offers extensive expertise and experience in providing scientific, regulatory, engineering, and program management services to municipal wastewater utilities and regulatory agencies with respect to requirements of the Clean Water Act, California Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit system. RBI engineers, aquatic toxicologists, environmental chemists, and biologists have assisted many of the municipal wastewater management utilities in the Central Valley, and other regions of California, to facilitate streamlined NPDES permitting and cost-effective regulatory compliance solutions. This was primarily for dischargers to freshwater aquatic environments. RBI’s expertise in wastewater engineering and the aquatic sciences allows us to determine how discharge-related changes in water quality will affect aquatic ecosystems. A large part of RBI’s success is invested in our reputation and record of accomplishment for developing and successfully implementing technically and legally sound solutions to significant regulatory problems.

Negotiations for NPDES permits often require developing alternative discharge limits for chemical constituents that balance effective management of a wastewater treatment facility with adequate protection of the receiving water beneficial uses. Dr. Michael Bryan and staff support wastewater utility managers, and state and federal regulatory agencies, not only by facilitating permit renewals, but also by serving as a regional leader for development of special studies, refining water quality standards, and the approach to issuing permit limitations to uphold applicable water quality standards. RBI staff also have served has expert witnesses for appealed and litigated permits.

View Signature Wastewater Projects

Primary Areas of Expertise

• NPDES Report of Waste Discharge and Permit Negotiations
• Permit and Time Schedule Compliance Assistance
• Effluent Quality Monitoring & Assessments
• Metals Water-Effect Ratio and Translator Studies
• Mixing Zone and Dilution Studies
• Antidegradation Analyses
• Toxicity Reduction Evaluation (TRE)/Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE)
• Industrial Pretreatment Program Development
• Wastewater Master Planning
• Recycled Water Master Plans and Market Assessments
• Wastewater and Recycled Water Preliminary/Conceptual Design and Analysis
• Rate Studies
• Program Management