This month: WDBC 2017 Officers, New Groundbreaking Research and NACWA Urges Industry Support for Passage of 2016 Water Resources Act.
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Water Design-Build Council
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WDBC E-NEWS – December 15, 2016

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Issue Highlights

  • WDBC Members Elect 2017 Officers

  • 2017 Groundbreaking Research to Identify Trends in Design-Build of Water Projects

  • NACWA Urges Industry Support for Passage of 2016 Water Resources Act

WDBC Members Elect 2017 Officers 

At its 2016 Annual Meeting on December 1 in Dallas, TX, WDBC members elected its 2017 officers.

  • President: John Doller (Carollo Engineers)
  • 1st Vice President/Treasurer: Stephen Gates (Brown and Caldwell)
  • 2nd Vice President/Secretary: Bryan Bedell (Haskell)
  • Past President: Leofwin Clark (Brown and Caldwell)

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Newly-elected WDBC President John Doller is a Senior Vice President of Carollo Engineers, Inc., based in Phoenix, AZ. As President, John becomes responsible for presiding at all Board of Directors and Executive Committee meetings and managing the overall operations of the Council. In this leadership capacity, he is responsible for implementing the strategic direction of the Council.

With 30 years of experience in the evaluation, design, construction, and operation of water and wastewater treatment facilities throughout the US, John currently serves as the National Director of Carollo’s Project Delivery, overseeing all program management and construction management for all company collaborative delivery projects.

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Elected to the office of 1st Vice President/Treasurer is Stephen Gates, P.E., BCEE, whose responsibilities include assuming the duties of the president in his absence, and oversight of the financial operations of the Council which entails: chairing the Council’s Budget and Finance Committee, seeing that the annual audit or review of the Council’s financial transactions is conducted by a certified public accountant, and recommending any changes needed in the Council’s Investment Policy.

As a Vice President of Brown and Caldwell in Andover, MA, Steve has more than 35 years of experience providing program management, management consulting, facilities planning, and detailed design and construction management for a wide variety of environmental engineering projects throughout the United States and Canada. A nationally recognized expert in collaborative project delivery, Steve has successfully managed the completion of projects valued well over $4 billion for major public utilities and Fortune 1000 clients, which includes using program management and partnering, as both a delivery contractor and an owner’s advisor. He is widely published and is regularly called upon to lecture on best practices and national trends in capital project delivery methods.

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2nd Vice President/Secretary, Bryan Bedell assumes the responsibilities of reviewing and being signatory to the minutes of the Executive Committee and board meetings and chairing the board’s Governance Committee, which entails oversight of, compliance with, and updating the Council’s bylaws and ensuring that the roles and responsibilities of the officers are fulfilled.

Located in Jacksonville, FL, Bryan is the Water Division Director of Haskell with over twenty years of experience in managing collaborative delivery projects at various levels and helping countless owners realize the benefits of collaborative project delivery. In this capacity, Bryan is responsible for developing project opportunities and markets, its strategic direction and financial performance, while building teams that include engineering firms and specialty subcontractors for the successful delivery of water and wastewater projects. Providing oversight for all phases of project delivery including client relations, estimating, procurement, scheduling, contract administration, staffing, project controls, and construction coordination, Bryan has full authority to commit company resources as required for the successful delivery of every project.

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Past President Leofwin Clark’s responsibilities include continuing to serve on the WDBC Executive Committee to provide ongoing expertise to the members of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors. As Past President, he now chairs the Nominating Committee and may be requested to chair a search committee if a vacancy in the positions of the Council’s Operations Manager or Executive Director should occur.

Leofwin Clark is a Planner and Senior Director with 30 years of experience in the water, transportation, and environmental sectors. As a Vice President at Brown and Caldwell, Mr. Clark develops market strategy and leads at-risk (Construction Management At-Risk, Design-Build, Design-Build-Operate, P3, and Program Management At-Risk) pursuits from identification and positioning through the proposal and negotiations processes. Recently, Mr. Clark led interdisciplinary proponent teams on several of the water and wastewater sector’s most significant P3 procurements in Canada.

Clark’s 25 years of experience have been focused on pursuing the use of collaborative delivery for major water infrastructure that included Progressive and Fixed-Price Design-Build, Design-Build-Operate, Public-Private-Partnerships, and Contract Operations-Privatization.  Joining Brown and Caldwell in November of this year, his work in this field will continue. Previously, Mr. Clark was a Sales Director for CH2M’s Water Business Group, serving as the Business Development Platform Lead for the water- and wastewater-related design-build market.

For more information about WDBC’s Board members, please visit the WDBC website.

Learn More >>


2017 Groundbreaking Research to Identify Trends in Design-Build of Water Projects

In early October, the Water Design-Build Council commissioned a ground-breaking, independent, third-party research study, assessing the future demand for use of design-build project delivery by the nation’s leading publicly-owned water and wastewater utilities. This type of research on the size and growth trends of the use of design-build delivery in the water/wastewater sector has never been done before. More specifically, the research will:

  1. Determine the size and complexion of the market for completion of capital projects in the municipal water market, using the design-build project delivery method, in the United States. Data is to be reported on an annual basis for the next five years (calendar 2017 – 2021). We plan to report the data by geographic region and by project type, e.g., water treatment; wastewater treatment; wastewater collection; water conveyance; stormwater management, etc.
  2. Determine and report historic trends for the above, with a three-year retrospective.

The WDBC research study is being performed independently by the highly-acclaimed Washington, DC, based firm of Rubin Mallows Worldwide (RMW), in collaboration with the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. RMW and/or its principals have completed more than 100 assignments similar to this one for the WDBC, including major policy and strategy engagements for dozens of private for-profit water/wastewater technology and services companies, dozens of US water and wastewater utilities, as well as the numerous non-profit advocacy and education organizations and others in the water and wastewater sector. 

The Environmental Finance Center (EFC), located at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC), provides applied research, educational programs, and advising services to governmental and non-governmental organizations across the country that work with environmental systems, such as water and wastewater utilities. Led by Jeffrey Hughes, the EFC specializes in researching emerging financial challenges and developing and testing creative strategies for addressing those challenges. Current areas of focus include assessing capital needs of water and wastewater utilities, affordability and financial capacity, innovative and traditional service pricing, and alternative service delivery methods.

Lead Researcher for the study is Dr. Kenneth Rubin, who brings 40 years of experience in the US and international water sectors, during which time he has conducted numerous water sector analytics and M&A engagements. Dr. Rubin is widely recognized as one of the leading experts on water sector policy, economics, finance, markets, management, and operations. He consults regularly on matters of infrastructure, real estate, and industrial strategy, management, and operations, as well as water resources management, markets for water and wastewater goods and services, and water/wastewater utility PPPs. This research will be completed in early 2017 with special presentations being planned. 

                                                                                                      Learn More >>

NACWA Urges Support for Passage of 2016 Water Resources Act


Late last week, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies’ (NACWA) legislative director, Patricia Sinicropi, issued the following appeal (content below) to industry members to contact senate leaders and representatives supporting passage of the WRDA legislation. Please read the information below and join WDBC in taking action today.

On Thursday, December 8, the House of Representatives passed WRDA legislation – now known as the Water Infrastructure Improvements for our Nation (WIIN) Act with a vote of 360-61. The bill now awaits action in the Senate, where leadership is working to pass both the WIIN Act and the Continuing Resolution (CR) before the current CR expires Friday night. WIIN and the CR are the two final major pieces of legislation for the 114th Congress. 

WIIN passage is likely, but not assured. Influential Senators are holding up both the WIIN and CR at present over several issues including an interest in having a "Buy American" provision for the DWSRF made permanent, and a commitment from coal state Senators to secure benefits for retired miners. Other points of contention include the 11th-hour addition of a CA drought package to WIIN. The drought package, negotiated between Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. McCarthy (R-CA), includes provisions of interest to many NACWA members but faces Congressional opposition due to Endangered Species Act concerns – most notably from Sen. Boxer (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Environment & Public Works Committee. Long-term water management battles in the Georgia/Alabama/Florida region are another point of contention in the bill. 

Unfortunately, the final WIIN Act does not contain key Clean Water Act provisions which the Association and many members advocated for this year, but we anticipate Congress will likely revisit these policy questions in the new 115th Congress. Having said that, the bill does provide important funding for water infrastructure, ecosystem restoration, reuse and desalination. Its passage would also set a helpful precedent for addressing clean and safe water issues through WRDA legislation. This is particularly helpful given that WRDA authorization comes up every two years. We have already received signals from Congress that there is interest in addressing Clean Water Act issues next year either through stand-alone bills or a more comprehensive infrastructure policy package. 

Below is a brief list of key inclusions in the final WIIN package. The bill and a section-by-section are attached. NACWA will provide members with a detailed analysis of the bill as passed in the coming days. In the meantime, we wanted to keep members up to date on the bill's status and final provisions. If you or your utility would like to reach out to your Senators to urge final passage of the WIIN Act, we encourage you to do so TOMORROW. The Senate may vote as soon as mid-day Friday, Dec. 9th.

Highlights:

  • Authorizes the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, the Delaware River Basin Conservation Program, and Columbia River Basin Restoration Initiative; 
     
  • Authorizes significant new funding to help communities expand water supply through investments in water recycling and desalination, and authorizes new water recycling and reuse projects under the Title XVI program (Subtitle J);
     
  • Reauthorizes the Water Desalination Act of 1996 ($40 M - Subtitle H);
     
  • Includes resolutions ensuring robust support for the CWSRF and DWSRF, and ensuring that appropriations for WIFIA are not taken from SRF money;
     
  • Authorizes emergency aid for Flint through the DWSRF ($100 m) and WIFIA ($20m), and supports community lead prevention and education programming through the Centers for Disease Control.

For additional information, please contact:
Patricia Sinicropi, JD
psinicropi@nacwa.org
202-833-2672 

Learn More >>

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Established in 2006, the Water Design-Build Council is a not-for-profit organization providing education on the best practices in collaborative project delivery to the water/wastewater sector through research and through leadership.



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