Stormwater Management

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Stormwater Management

We have a team of professionals that are specifically dedicated to all aspects of surface water management analysis, design, and permitting. The dedicated nature of this team allows them to stay up to date on current issues and advancements related to surface water management. They provide a wide variety of services including surface water master planning; retrofit analysis and design; treatment system design; permitting; hydrologic, hydraulic, and water quality monitoring; flow, and stage monitoring.

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What We Provide

Whether it is a single watershed, a county, or a multi-county analysis, we have the experience and expertise to provide the needed master plan. Master planning provides a look at the whole and not one or two facets of a watershed. It begins with the physical properties of boundary, ground elevations, right-of-way, easements, ground cover, stream, and overland flow characteristics and continues with calculated capacities for conveying and treating runoff and finishing with needed improvements, level of service, and financing the work. The work may be operations and maintenance or capital improvements. These expenditures are to maintain and improve, where needed, the conveyance capacity, water quality, and native vegetation where feasible physically, socially, and economically.

Retrofit projects can be some of the most challenging and complex. Many times, it is not physically or financially feasible to completely fix an existing problem. Our team of surface water professionals understand this and are able to work with our clients and interested third parties to come up with the best financially feasible solution. Water quality is now in the forefront of all retrofit projects. The days of fixing a flooding problem by just improving the conveyance capacity are gone. Water treatment must be incorporated into the solution or the solution will not get through permitting. The flooding and water quality problems must be solved simultaneously even though they often work at odds to each other. Our experience and understanding of the hydraulics and hydrology and surface water BMPs helps us solve both problems with one solution.

Best Management Practices (BMPs) are needed for most projects whether agricultural, commercial, industrial, institutional, or residential. Some BMPs are physical barriers to separate uses or reduce the quantity of pollutants into a water body. Other BMPs are changes in management practices such as sweeping, fertilization, having non-mow buffers, etc. The choice of the BMPs is based on the needs generated by the proposed development and the client’s particular aesthetic look for the particular development all while making the most economical selection.

The Johnson Engineering surface water team has modeling experience on a wide range of projects. Our experience helps identify the needs and provide the services required for each individual project. We can utilize spreadsheet calculation for relatively small projects that are not anticipated to evoke much controversy. For larger projects that include significant third-party interest, our team is able to utilize complex multifaceted models to answer a wide variety of questions from permitting agencies and interested third parties.

Our surface water team works with local, state, and federal permitting agencies on a wide range of projects on an almost daily basis. Our experience ranges from a small turn lane addition to several thousand-acre mixed-use developments and virtually everything in between. This variety of experiences gives us a unique understanding of the agencies, their staff, and their rules. Our continual contact with agency staff and their permitting processes allow us to stay up to date on any permitting changes that might occur. This allows us to help our clients by updating them on policy changes that could impact their projects.

The increased scrutiny associated with today’s projects make data much more important. Our surface water team understands this and is able to assist our clients by creating and implementing monitoring plans that increase the understanding of existing surface water management systems. We work with our clients, permitting agencies and other interested parties to create monitoring plans that satisfy all parties involved. After completing the monitoring plan our experienced team can install, maintain, and monitor each piece of equipment through the life of the project. After completing the monitoring, our team is able to interpret that information and utilize it to establish water table elevations, calibrate models, and facilitate permitting.

Each development or redevelopment of the land surface requires addressing the quality of surface water discharge. Simpler projects may only require the presumptive volume calculations treating the first inch of runoff. Other projects require more detailed analysis due to special needs including filtration marshes for regional treatment. See us about your specific treatment needs.

While these governmental entities must follow rules for operations of cities and counties, they have their own rules that set them apart. The particular needs of these governmental bodies are well understood based on working with them for nearly four decades. We are ready to assist you with your district establishment and continuing operations.

The best water quality improvement projects are surface water retrofit projects that use a series of diverse natural systems that improve upon one another. These projects often incorporate and enhance the local wetland systems by lengthening wetland hydroperiods, enhancing wildlife habitat, increasing biodiversity, and providing groundwater recharge without increasing the flood potential of the upstream communities. Accomplishing this requires a multi-disciplinary approach that includes all sub-areas of expertise within surface water and groundwater management. We are well-versed in the nutrient removal calculators regularly used in the FDEP TMDL program and know how to represent the various filter marsh designs in the calculators. Our experience, knowledge, and expertise in modeling plus real-life experience are invaluable resources when using out-of-the-box solutions not commonly found in the literature.

Stormwater Management Projects

Stormwater Management Team

Laura Brady Herrero, CE

Director of Water Resources & Environmental Services / Principal Ecologist

Laura joined the firm in 2000 and serves as director of the firm’s environmental consulting and water resources team, providing project management and oversight of large-scale public and private sector projects. As a principal ecologist, she continues to conduct:

  • State and Federal wetland jurisdictional determinations
  • Protected species surveys
  • Habitat and species management plans
  • Coordination and permitting with:
    • - The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)
    • - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
    • - FWS Biological Assessments and Biological Opinions
    • - Wetland/listed species mitigation proposals and mitigation monitoring
    • - Environmental Resource Permit and Federal Dredge and Fill applications
    • - Follow-through to permit issuance and post-permit compliance.

She is also an FWC Authorized Gopher Tortoise Agent, Federal Aviation Administration Qualified Airport Wildlife Biologist, and FWS qualified caracara observer with over 2,000 hours of caracara survey experience and 45 nests found to date.

Erik Howard, PE, PSM

Professional Engineer

Erik joined Johnson Engineering in December 2003. Erik earned both his Master of Engineering and Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degrees from the University of Florida. As an engineer, surveyor, general contractor, plumbing contractor and electrical contractor, he is familiar with both the technical and construction side of projects.

Erik’s experience as an engineer includes groundwater modeling, hydraulic pipe modeling, data analysis, utility design, directional drill layout and design, well design, pump station design, treatment facility design, stormwater design, permitting, certification and construction administration. He routinely prepares specialized plans and specifications for projects that require an ‘out-of-the-box’ approach. Erik’s technical background and practical experience allows him to handle most any unique circumstance.

Rick Acosta, PE, CFM

Water Resource Engineer

Rick joined Johnson Engineering in 2006. He is a project manager in the firm’s surface water management department. He has designed and permitted surface water management systems for roadway, site development and assorted environmental projects through the South Florida and Southwest Florida Water Management Districts. Rick is a Certified Floodplain Manager and is accomplished in backwater profile modeling for adjustments to FEMA FIRMs. His modeling experience also analyzes water quality for treatment facilities related to municipalities achieving their obligations under the TMDL program.

Jordan Varble, PE

Water Resources Engineer

Jordan joined Johnson Engineering in 2015 and is a Professional Engineer in the company’s Water Resources group. Jordan earned his Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University in 2011 and Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Missouri S&T in 2009. Jordan’s experience as an engineer includes regional watershed modeling, surface water design, hydraulic pipe modeling, Class I deep injection wells, construction inspection, well design, regulatory permitting, technical report writing and engineering due diligence. He currently manages engineering projects relating to water resources, bringing projects from conceptual ideas to physical reality.

Alfredo Perez, PE, PSM

Professional Engineer

Alfredo began his engineering career in 2004 as a survey rod technician. After receiving his A.S. in Drafting and Design in May 2005, he joined Johnson Engineering as a survey CAD technician. Alfredo has eight years of prior survey experience. He is familiar with office and field procedures in surveying/mapping, both conventional and global positioning systems. Alfredo continued his education as a part-time student while transitioning into the engineering department within the company. He earned his B.S.C.E in May 2014 and is currently working in the water resources department. Alfredo works on a variety of projects entailing various disciplines of engineering which include groundwater, utilities, surface water, construction inspection, report writing, and field data collection. Alfredo received his Professional Engineering License from the Florida Board of Professional Engineers in December 2017. Alfredo recently earned his Professional Surveyor and Mapper License from the Florida Board of Professional Surveyors and Mappers in September 2019.

Wayne Wright, PE

Senior Electrical Engineer

Wayne has nearly four decades of experience working as an Electrical, Instrumentation & Controls (EI&C) engineer. His experience includes design and implementation of power, instrumentation, process control, industrial control, systems integration and commissioning, site and process evaluations, SCADA architecture, networking, telemetry, and PLC/HMI/OIT programming. Wayne has provided control panel electrical designs for motor control, instrumentation, low voltage power distribution, lighting, and lightning protection. Wayne has worked on projects with multiple disciplines in project management and project engineering roles managing project scope, schedule and budget from conceptual design through detailed design and construction completion and has provided engineer-of-record and construction observation services.

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