Utilities

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Utilities

Water and sewer – ask people what they know about utilities and that’s the answer you usually get. However, utilities are much more than that. These systems have to be safe, reliable, and cost effective. Johnson Engineering’s utilities team understands the engineering it takes to provide drinking water to communities, wastewater collection and transmission to treatment facilities, and irrigation water to keep lawns and landscaping green and healthy. We have decades of experience in Southwest Florida and have worked on many types of projects with a diverse set of clients – big and small. Let our team provide the solutions you need for your utility projects.

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What We Provide

From small developments to large service areas, we can help you figure out what you need and when you’ll need it. On smaller projects, needs can be determined by fixed values – for example, the number of homes that will be built in a development. For larger municipal projects, we prepare population/development projections for utility planning. Working with our Planning and GIS specialists, we evaluate zoning changes, future land uses, and community development or redevelopment plans that affect utility needs. We can develop infrastructure phasing plans that fit your planning horizon. Whether you planning for the next five years of capex, working to accommodate rapid growth, or extending services to new areas, our team can develop a utility plan that works.

Record drawings and GIS might not provide enough information when designing new utilities through a congested corridor. Sometimes the only way to be sure of what’s in the ground is to get our hands dirty. Our Utilities and Survey teams work together to provide two options for subsurface utility engineering.

The first option is ground penetrating radar, or GPR. This is a non-invasive technique to gather information about underground utilities. Sometimes, GPR provides enough information to confirm locations for conflict avoidance.

Our second option is our SUE service which utilizes StarVAC vacuum excavation to expose underground utilities in-situ so exact types, sizes, locations, and depths can be determined. This is a minimally invasive process that uses high-pressure water and vacuum extraction to perform micro-excavations of existing utilities. Afterwards, we restore the area to pre-existing conditions.

Both options provide valuable information when designing utilities through congested corridors. Our clients find these services to be very cost-effective compared to delays and changes during construction due to unforeseen utility conflicts.

Data is ubiquitous in the modern world, and your utility system is no different. In fact, utility systems are extremely rich in data that you can leverage for planning and decision-making. Working with our GIS specialists, we can put that data in the hands of your field crews to improve safety and efficiency during regular maintenance and emergency repairs.

Our team regularly collects pressure data from utility systems. Instead of assuming a pressure, we can tell you the exact pressures and how they change throughout the day. We can deploy short-term or permanent pressure data collection equipment into your systems. Permanent deployments can enable real-time monitoring for breaks or surges. Or, high-resolution pressure data can be used to avoid under or oversizing pipes and pumps – instead, we can right-size this equipment. This translates into lower upfront costs and improved efficiency.

We have also developed a unique approach to calculating wastewater flows to pump stations. We can collect our own data or leverage your existing SCADA data to determine how much wastewater is being pumped, what the peak factor is, and – with enough information – if stormwater inflow and infiltration are an issue.

Make your data work for you. Our team can help you make data-centric decisions that fix issues and save money.

Hydraulic modeling is an essential tool for planning, sizing equipment, evaluating operational issues, and identifying opportunities to improve reliability and efficiency. We provide hydraulic modeling services that include development, data collection, calibration, evaluation, and surge analysis. Our team has developed small community models and large service-area scale models. We can leverage existing GIS data or develop a model from scratch. We can leverage data collected in the field for calibration and develop extended period simulations to evaluate system dynamics. We know that accurate hydraulic modeling provides critical support to almost all capex planning and utility designs.

Utility pipelines bring drinking water to our homes, irrigation water to our lawns, and transport wastewater away for treatment. The public might not spend much time thinking about utility pipelines, but we know you do – and we do too. Utility pipelines are significant capital expenses and require ongoing maintenance. Oftentimes, pipelines are constructed through congested corridors where conflicts with other utilities cost time and money. And many times, our clients need construction plans to be ready within a short window of time – usually yesterday.

Our team has designed millions of feet of water mains, force mains, gravity sewer mains, and irrigation mains. We can meet your deadlines without sacrificing quality. And we are experienced with designing utility pipelines through challenging areas and identifying opportunities to reduce costs, impacts, and construction time. For example, we routinely utilize horizontal directional drilling in our designs because it can be very cost-effective approach when impacts and restoration are accounted for. Whatever the size, and however big the project, our team will get it done.

Pump stations are mission-critical items that need to operate reliably and efficiently. Whether you’re building a new pump station or rehabilitating an old one, our team can guide you through the process. We leverage data collection, flow projections, and hydraulic modeling to properly size the system. Our team has designed small grinder stations and large master stations that pump thousands of gallons per minute. Our in-house electrical team can provide designs for custom control panels, control logic, and coordinate your SCADA integration.

We routinely assist clients with utility permitting through various state and local agencies. Decades of combined experience in Southwest Florida means our staff has had many opportunities to work with the regulatory agencies on a wide variety of projects. We know the permitting processes and what reviewers look for. In addition, we regularly assist clients with obtaining supporting permits for projects, like development orders, SDPs / SDPIs, FDOT ROW and utility coordination, and others. In addition, our Environmental team regularly assists with obtaining ERPs from the FDEP and permitting through Florida Fish and Wildlife Services, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife when required.

We approach every project like it’s the most important project we’ve ever worked on. That’s because we know our clients need their projects to be successful – it’s important to you. Big or small, we go all-in on every project we do. We don’t overextend ourselves to the detriment of our clients – if we say we can do it, we mean it. In fact, our team is the go-to team for many clients that need to meet an aggressive schedule. Our team will prioritize communication, provide high quality solutions, identify and present opportunities to you, and keep your project on time and within budget. Working together, we’ll make your project a success.

Turning plans into functioning utility systems that you can rely on is the whole point of what we do. Our team can provide construction administration and inspection for your utility projects. Whether we prepared the plans or someone else did, we’ll make sure it gets built correctly. We can handle administrative work like meetings, payment applications, and progress reports. We’ll get in the trenches to monitor construction progress and quality. We know that your projects don’t end with lines on paper – they end with pipes in the ground.

Utilities Projects

Utilities Team

Michael Dickey, PE

Director of Utility Services/Chairman of the Board

Mike joined Johnson Engineering in 1999 and serves as the firm’s director of the utilities market group and is the chairman of the board of directors. His project experience on utility projects includes master planning, hydraulic modeling, design of water distribution systems, wastewater collection systems, irrigation systems, and pumping facilities. Prior to joining Johnson Engineering, Mike worked for a local utility contractor which gave him a unique perspective of how the utilities he designs today come together in the field. With both utility design and construction experience, Mike has a comprehensive understanding of the entire utility development process from planning to design, to permitting through construction. He knows how to develop a design that works both in theory and in practice.

 

Dave Trouteaud, PE

Utility Project Engineer

Dave joined Johnson Engineering’s utility team in 2005. Since that time, David has become a project manager for various projects. In the past he has specialized in hydraulic analysis for water, wastewater and irrigation systems. Modeling has become an essential tool in predicting any effects of future infrastructure on existing facilities along with efficiently analyzing deficiencies within the existing system. In addition to modeling, David’s responsibilities include: managing projects and designing utilities for various developments and municipalities in Southwest Florida, permitting of projects through local and state agencies, and overseeing projects throughout construction and closeout phases.

 

Billy Saum, PE

Utilities Engineer

Billy has been with Johnson Engineering since 2015. He is a utility engineer and works on projects with all branch offices of Johnson Engineering. Billy’s experience includes work on a variety of utility, water resource, and land development projects. Billy has experience working in our utilities group where he is responsible for such tasks as data collection and analysis, FDOT utility coordination, pump station design, underground utilities layout, hydraulic modeling and calculations, quantity/construction cost estimates, plan production, permitting, coordination with outside consultants, and on-site construction inspection. While most of his experience thus far has been with municipal projects, he has completed various tasks for commercial and residential projects as well.

 

Stephen Howard, EI

Utilities Engineer Intern

Stephen has been with Johnson Engineering as an Engineer Intern since May 2023, when he joined the firm’s utility group. Stephen also worked at Johnson Engineering as a Survey Instrument Technician Intern during the summers of 2018 and 2019. Stephen spends some of his days testing lift stations and ARVs to obtain operating pressures and water level data essential for system modeling and analysis. Since rejoining Johnson Engineering, Stephen has completed various assignments for projects across SW Florida.

 

Brad Sundermeier, EI

Utilities Engineer Intern

Brad has been with Johnson Engineering since May 2022. He joined the utilities department and has assisted in various projects. Whether it be something basic like contacting references or checking shop drawings, Brad is willing to assist wherever he can. He has been becoming more familiar with using InfoWater and WaterCAD for water, wastewater, and irrigation systems. Brad spends some of his days testing lift stations or ARV’s to obtain the operating pressures or water level data essential to modeling and analyses. Hydraulic modeling has become an essential tool in predicting any effects of future infrastructure on existing facilities along with efficiently analyzing deficiencies within the existing system. Brad has completed various assignments for commercial and residential projects in both Lee and Collier County.

 

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