President Biden and his administration plan to introduce a more than $2 trillion spending package, which will be broken into two parts. The first part will focus billions of dollars on building sustainable infrastructure not only in largely populated areas but also in rural and suburban areas. This first bill will be used to improve […]
Does your Water Utility serve between 3,300 and 49,999 customers? If so, you will need to develop or update a Risk and Resilience Assessment by June 30, 2021, and your Emergency Response Plan by December 31, 2021. The Oldsmar Florida Water Treatment Facilities hack, as summarized in our February 2, 2021, Utility SCADA Systems Cybersecurity […]
As part of Commonwealth’s design process, 3D virtual walkthroughs of proposed facilities are often developed to ensure client expectations are met, resulting in significantly better collaboration with the client. For years, we would hold design review meetings by providing 2D plan sheets, which were often quickly viewed by clients with no clear visual understanding of the end product. With 3D virtual walkthroughs, we can send a website link to a client that allows them to navigate the proposed space as if they were walking through the facility in person, which can be done at any time, not just at contractual […]
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Annual Infrastructure Report Card is complete. The report card assigns grades and offers solutions to various infrastructure categories, three of which we will be focusing on: Drinking Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater. As a country, Drinking Water has come up in their grade to a C- where wastewater stayed the same at […]
Commonwealth Engineers, Inc. announces the promotion of three staff members to the Associate Program. The Associate Program exists to develop talent within our organization and provide growth opportunities to develop into future leadership roles. Jeremy Schmitt, P.E. Jeremy joined Commonwealth in 2017 and works in our Indianapolis Office. He has 23 years of experience in the […]
Commonwealth Engineers, Inc. welcomes two new employees serving in the capacity of Business Development Manager. Gabrielle Biciunas will be based in the Crown Point office and will serve as the Northwest Indiana Business Development Manager. Her primary responsibility will be heading Commonwealth’s efforts to create and maintain client relationships in Northwest and North Central Indiana. Before joining […]
House Bill 1527 is currently in the hands of the Indiana Senate after being passed by the House on Tuesday, February 22. The bill focuses on Eminent Domain, which could affect utility projects after December 31, 2021. If a municipality is exercising eminent domain authority outside of its corporate boundaries (e.g., for a water or […]
In the Midwest, we are accustomed to bitter cold temperatures, high snow totals, and associated impacts to our water and wastewater infrastructure. In the South, they are used to enjoying warm temperatures, no snow, and little concern for prolonged subfreezing impacts to their utilities. In Texas, dangerously low potable water levels were recently reached across […]
You may have read the recent headlines about the Oldsmar Florida Water Treatment Facilities control system being hacked. Chemical feed rates for sodium hydroxide (the ingredient commonly found in drain cleaner) was increased from 100 ppm to 11,200 ppm. If not for the plant manager’s prompt reaction, those headlines would likely also include a report […]
Annual Pretreatment Report Due to IDEM April 1st Your Community’s Industrial Pretreatment Program’s Annual Report is due by April 1, 2021. If your community is classified as a Non-Delegated Pretreatment Program, your Annual Report must be submitted to IDEM’s Office of Water Quality (OWQ). If your community is designated as a Delegated Pretreatment Program, your […]
