My Blog
City Of Sunnyvale, CA
Provided technical advice on the effect of sewer blockages on the escape of PCE from the City sewer system. The blockages were due to grease from "restaurant row", which was just downstream from the sites of several dry cleaners. Issues included, sags in the sewer,...
Cheese Processing Plant, Northern California
Provided technical evaluation for a cheese processing plant where a dissolved air flotation clarifier could not be operated at the promised hydraulic capacity. Determined that the clarifier did in fact have adequate solids processing capacity but that the unit could...
Claim Against A Wastewater Treatment Vendor, Monterey County, CA
Provided technical advice and expert witness testimony in a case where the owners of a shopping center refused to pay a company that had furnished equipment for an on-site wastewater treatment system. Determined that many of the officers of the shopping center were...
Claim Against Design Consultant For Failure Of A Wastewater Treatment Plant To Perform After An Improvement Project, Northern California
Served as an expert witness helping defend a design consultant who was being sued because a wastewater treatment plant failed to meet its discharge requirements after an improvement project was constructed. Determined that the facilities that were included in the...
Design Engineer Suit For Payment Of Engineering Fees
Served as an expert witness in a case where a public agency cancelled a project just prior to bidding and refused to pay the consulting engineering firm its fees. The project involved a small diameter sewer system for an unsewered city of about 400 houses with...
Wastewater Treatment Plant Claim
Served as an expert witness in a case where a sequencing batch reactor wastewater treatment plant serving an upscale subdivision has failed to meet the requirements of the discharge permit. The owner received a proposal for a very expensive completely new plant of a...
Wastewater Treatment Plant Claim
Evaluated proposed corrective measures in a $5 million claim in which a wastewater treatment plant failed to perform as intended. The levees around earthen storage lagoons leaked because the design did not incorporate the recommendations of the geotechnical engineer....
Wastewater Treatment Plant Fatal Accident, Southern California
Provided expert witness services in a case where a workman installing deck panels over a concrete channel stepped on the unsupported cantilevered end of a panel and fell to his death. Issues included the responsibilities of the owner, the contractor, the design...
Septic System Failure
Investigated why the toilet at a rural residence in Contra Costa County would not flush properly. The tenant had called the County Environmental Health Department and the landlord had responded with a retaliatory eviction. Found that the septic tank and leach field...