Water!

The Aspect sponsored Vuelta Grande water project in Guatemala was completed last week with water lines installed to approximately 40 homes.  For homes located at higher elevation above the water line several additional taps were installed and community pilas built. 

Aspect funded this project through making, donating, and giving each other items and experiences. See our previous post about the project.

For more information on water supply projects in the mountain villages of Guatemala, visit: http://www.handsforpeacemaking.org/clean-water

Seahawks 2014 Superbowl Parade!

View From Second and Jackson

9-10 am: Crowds gathering

We are hunkered down here . . .hope we have enough provisions to see us through the day . . . ‘cuz if we go out, it’ll be hard to get back  . . . cell service spotty at best . . .

11-12 am: Waiting for the parade
It's not a seahawk or any bird perched right outside the window . . .

12-1 pm: Still waiting . . .
View from the roof . . .

1-2 pm: More waiting . . .
still no sign of live Seahawks – or a parade . . . crowd thickens . . . inside watchers get restless waiting . . .

1-2 pm: Everyone loves a parade . . .

2-3 pm: After the parade has passed . . .View to 2nd and Jackson

A Gift of Water

43 families in the small mountain village of Vuelta Grande in northwest Guatemala will turn a tap and have water pour from a faucet in their home for the first time.  In the spirit of holiday giving, Aspect funded both the pipeline from a spring source into the village, and pipes and spigots in each home.

At the annual company holiday party, staff contributed to the project by buying raffle tickets for themselves or as a thank you to a fellow worker. Lucky raffle winners went home with Aspect staff-made gifts and experiences including mountain cabin weekends, a waffle breakfast at work, private yoga instruction, knit caps, bicycle tours of Skagit Valley or Vashon Island, a watercolor painting or an oil change.

For more information on water supply projects in the mountain villages of Guatemala visit: http://www.handsforpeacemaking.org/clean-water

Water Rights Ready for Certification?

Moving a water right from permit to certificate is the final step in the water right permitting process. Certification secures the water right for a needed water supply. With increasing demand for limited water resources, the surety certification provides can be critical.

To make the process quicker and more efficient, the Washington State Department of Ecology established the Certified Water Right Examiners (CWRE) program. Beginning August 2013, CWRE are authorized to conduct proof examinations for water users to support Ecology decision-making on issuance of water rights certificates.

Four Aspect staff were among the first to be certified as CWRE by Ecology.  Tyson Carlson, Dan Haller, Bill Sullivan and Breean Zimmerman are qualified to conduct the proof examinations needed to receive a certificated water right for permitted use. With CWREs in our Seattle, Wenatchee and Yakima locations, Aspect is available to support water right permittees across the state.

For more information on Ecology’s CWRE program visit:

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/rights/cwre.html

Earth Day 2013: Mulching for the Duwamish

Workdays Aspect is focused on environmental restoration and protection of our region’s earth and water. But our environmental and community engagement doesn’t end Friday at 5. Environmental stewardship permeates our off-hours –- as it did on a recent Saturday when Aspect staff shouldered shovels and pitchforks for a Duwamish Alive!-sponsored Earth Day project at T-107 / Herring’s House Parks.

Joining 95+ fellow volunteers from Women in Environment (WIE), Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, and other groups, Aspect helped remove sod and spread mulch to prepare park areas for the installation of native plants. The two lower Duwamish shoreline areas provide public access at one of the last oxbows remaining from the original river. The historic marsh/channel previously had been filled and developed as an industrial site, but restoration in the early 2000s removed industrial debris and contaminated soil, and restored intertidal habitat.

The 13,000 square feet (sf) of invasive plants removed, 8,000 sf mulched, and 125 native plants installed for Earth Day by Aspect and others will help maintain this section of the restored river for years. The 13 bug bites, 8 blisters, 4 bruises and 2 sore backs on Aspect staff healed in days.

A New Goal for Stormwater Management in Seattle

The City of Seattle has set a new goal for stormwater management in the city. Relying on “green” stormwater technology--including bioretention swales, rain gardens, stormwater cisterns, pervious pavements and green roofs--it is the City’s goal to manage 700 million gallons of stormwater annually with green stormwater infrastructure (GSI).

ell aligned with this initiative, Aspect’s core commitment to earth+water sustainability has been reflected in our staff’s position at the forefront of the green stormwater “revolution” in Seattle and across the West Sound. 

From the geotechnical design of Seattle streets, to GIS analysis of geologic areas to support GSI for the Rainwaise program, to the development of infiltration-specific soil parameters for the design and development of Theater Commons and Donnelly Gardens (recently certified by SITES), Aspect staff have been helping develop the framework for long-term regional sustainability. 

>> READ THE POST FROM MAYOR McGINN's BLOG HERE

ACEC Washington Best in State Silver Award Winner: Riverside Property Cleanup

Mark Sadler (2nd from right), City of Everett, joined Aspect project team members at the awards banquet.

Mark Sadler (2nd from right), City of Everett, joined Aspect project team members at the awards banquet.

For our technical guidance on the Riverside Property Cleanup, Aspect received a Best in State Silver Award for Social/Economic Sustainability at the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Washington 2013 Engineering Excellence Awards banquet on January 18.

The cleanup of the 90-acre Riverside property on the Snohomish River in Everett was conducted collaboratively through a public-private partnership between the City of Everett and Kimberly-Clark Worldwide - the Riverside Environmental Team (RET). With the RET relying on the technical analysis to drive the process, Aspect's deep understanding of MTCA regulatory requirements and strategic application of cleanup design and engineering steered the comprehensive cleanup of the former industrial property.

Aspect worked with the RET and Ecology to develop an efficient, focused approach and practical, cost effective engineered solutions that went beyond conventional industrial cleanup. Employing innovations including backfilling with available dredge sands and installing a subsurface drain system for use in groundwater treatment, Aspect oversaw a cleanup program of complete soil removal and active groundwater treatment that resulted in non-detect contaminant levels and six No Further Action (NFA) determinations for soil and groundwater.

Achieving unrestricted cleanup standards at the former Sawmill site preserved opportunities for a full range of future redevelopment options, not limited by capped contamination or deed restrictions.

The project was previously recognized with a 2011 Association of Washington Business (AWB) Environmental Excellence Award for Kimberly-Clark.

Aspect Consulting in Action: Now on Google Street View!

​It's a point of pride in this modern age, isn't it? Getting captured by one of Google's roaming car cameras is a badge of honor we'll wear proudly.

Aspect staff can be found onsite at remediation and monitoring projects state wide. Remediation engineer Eric Geissinger was captured--monitoring the Air Sparge/Soil Vapor Extraction (AS/SVE) system at the Dolarway site -- by a roving Google street view camera in Ellensburg.

The jury is still out on how worried we should be that Eric will leave Aspect to pursue a career in modelling.​

Dan Haller Speaks at Washington Water Law Conference

Aspect’s Dan Haller spoke at the Water Law in Washington conference on August 27 in Seattle, WA.

In a session on New Tools in Water Resource Management, Dan discussed how the Washington State Department of Ecology uses the Washington Irrigation Guide to determine water duty and extent and validity of irrigation water rights.

Celebrating Summer with Service

August 3, 2012.

Aspect again celebrated summer by combining our annual picnic/bbq with civic service. This year we sent volunteer crews out to two projects. Our beach crew worked with Puget Sound Restoration Fund sorting oysters growing on the organization’s Bainbridge Island community shellfish farm.

Our trail crew built a boardwalk at Heritage Park in Kingston to finish trail work we had first undertaken at our 2010 summer event.

With dogged perseverance under the midday sun, Aspect volunteers had the shellfish sorted and back in their grow bags well before the high tide came in to cover the farm area.

Meanwhile, the trail crew overcame creative differences in design to construct 50’ feet of 6-foot wide boardwalk over a streambed to replace a muddy section of the trail.

After successful completion of the projects, both groups convened in a backyard overlooking the Sound for a summer bbq of lobster, tri-tip, and (of course) fresh oysters.

One Site. Four Sources. One System.

​The groundwater beneath an eight-acre shopping center exhibited chlorinated solvent impacts from four different source areas of varying ages.

To sort out the complexities of multiple sources with multiple responsible parties, Aspect hydrogeologists distinguished the relative solvent contribution from each historical source and developed a site conceptual model that was used to reach an equitable cost-sharing agreement. At the same time, our remediation engineers pilot tested an in situ chemical oxidation system for groundwater treatment without disruption to the active retail facility.

The final remediation system treats all source areas through one air sparge and soil vapor extraction (AS/SVE) system consisting of 16 soil-vapor extraction wells and 47 air-sparging wells spread over an acre of the property.