Recent Projects
Water Treatment
Washington Aqueduct (US Army Corps of Engineers) produces drinking
water for approximately 1 million consumers across the US capital
region. Latis Associates is providing technical oversight,
stakeholder facilitation, and risk analysis to assist Washington
Aqueduct with the Future Treatment Alternatives Study. The
Study goal was to determine whether additional or alternative treatment
should be provided to improve public health protection and/or meet
expectations of consumers. With input from a variety of community
and environmental stakeholders, this study developed a framework for
prioritizing water quality challenges and identifying mitigation
strategies.
Water Distribution
The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) serves approximately
1.8 million customers in two counties in Maryland. Latis
Associates is overseeing a large, multi-year water modeling project to
help WSSC better plan for growth and optimize operational
activities. The project includes creating a vision for
integration of data sources and modeling activities across multiple
departments using GIS as the central platform. A key component of
the project is development of a new hydraulic model incorporating
individual customer billing data for more than 400,000 customers and a
near 1:1 representation of the 5,500 mile distribution pipe network.
Regulatory Support
The Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water of USEPA protects public
health by ensuring safe drinking water through implementation of the
Safe Drinking Water Act. All regulations are reviewed and updated
on
a periodic basis, a process which incorporates stakeholder input and
public comments. Latis Associates is supporting the USEPA on a
variety of drinking water regulations, the most recent being the Lead
and Copper Rule revisions and the Total Coliform Rule revisions.
Qualifications
Vanessa Speight, PhD, PE
Dr. Speight has been actively involved in consulting and research on a
variety of water topics for the past 18 years. Her expertise is
regularly sought as a member of Project Advisory Committees for the
American Water Works Association, Water Research Foundation and the
WateReuse Foundation, member of Technical Review Panels for EPA, peer
reviewer for professional journals, and member of planning committees
for several leading industry conferences. Dr. Speight received a
Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from McGill University in
Montreal, Quebec and Master’s and PhD Degrees in Environmental
Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Project experience includes Technical Facilitation for the Total Coliform Rule Distribution System Advisory Committee for US EPA, hydraulic model development and master planning for more than 40 water utilities across the US including several of the 10 largest systems, and Principal Investigator for the Water Research Foundation.
Selected publications:
-
Speight VL, Water-Distribution Systems: The Next Frontier, The Bridge, Journal of the National Academy of Engineering, 38:3:31-37, Fall 2008.
-
LeChevallier ML, Besner M-C, Friedman M, and Speight VL. Microbiological Quality Control in Distribution Systems, in Water Quality and Treatment, Edzwald J, ed., American Water Works Association, Denver, CO 2010.
- Speight VL, Khanal N, Uber J, Grayman WM, Friedman M, Martel K, Singer P and DiGiano F. Probabilistic Modeling Framework for Assessing Water Quality Sampling Plans, Water Research Foundation, Denver, CO, 2010.
- Speight VL, Khanal N, Savic D, Kapelan Z, Jonkergouw P, and
Agbodo M. Guidelines
for
Developing, Calibrating and Using Hydraulic Models, Water
Research Foundation, Denver, CO, 2010.