Water Resources
ICF International specializes in helping clients identify creative solutions
to their complex water resources and watershed challenges. As an established
leader in water resources planning and permitting, we are adept at working
with stakeholders and policymakers on contentious water quality and policy
issues.
We have assisted federal and state agencies on high-profile water resources
projects, and helped numerous cities and industries to resolve water quality
issues, obtain waste discharge permits, and develop, and implement pollution
control measures. We work closely with clients to:
- Interpret provisions of and obtain permits and certifications required
under Clean Water Act (CWA) Sections 401 and 404
- Obtain permits and prepare mitigation plans in accordance with the River
and Harbors Act Section 10
- Prepare alternative analyses under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's
Section 404(b)(1) guidelines
- Conduct wetland delineations and help clients prepare, submit, and process
permit applications
ICF is also a leader in the integration of natural and social sciences in
water resource management, such as helping clients capture economic information
on the value of water and other ecosystem services in order to build financial
and political support for resource protection. ICF is skilled at applying
state-of-the-art techniques to estimate the dollar values of water resource
functions and services that are not considered in ordinary market transactions.
ICF Water Resources Services
- Integrated watershed management planning
- Flood protection analysis and design
- Floodplain and floodway delineation
- Water supply management and compliance
- Hydrology
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Selected Water Resources Clients
- Bureau of Reclamation
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- National Marine Fisheries Service
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
- California Department of Water Resources
- Santa Clara Valley Water District, California
- Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
- California Department of Fish and Game
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- CALFED Bay-Delta Program—State of California and federal agencies participating in Bay-Delta Accord
- East Bay Municipal Utility District, San Francisco, California
- Placer County Water Agency, California
- Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
- Pacific Gas and Electric
- Portland Gas and Electric, Oregon
- State water contractors
- Water utility companies
- Western Development Services
- Ducks Unlimited
- The Nature Conservancy
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Selected Water Resources Projects
Suisun Marsh Habitat Management, Preservation, and Restoration Plan (Programmatic)
California Department of Water Resources
ICF prepared a programmatic environmental impact report (EIR)/environmental impact statement (EIS) to provide National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance
for the site management plan (SMP), which addressed approximately 102,000 acres of the Suisun Marsh.
The plan is consistent with the goals of CALFED, which called for restoration
of 5,000 to 7,000 acres of tidal wetlands.
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Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages
and Coordinated
Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead
Bureau of Reclamation
The Bureau of Reclamation, acting on behalf of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior,
proposed adopting specific Colorado River Lower Basin shortage guidelines
and coordinated reservoir management strategies to address operations of
Lakes Powell and Mead. Brown and Caldwell and ICF worked to assist the Bureau
of Reclamation in preparing an EIS for the project, including support in
the scoping process, identification and screening of alternatives, system
operation modeling, and preparation of the document.
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Investment Planning for Water Utilities in the United Kingdom
Various
Private Clients
Several major water and sewerage companies in Great Britain engaged ICF
to fulfill the objectives of the United Kingdom's 2009 Periodic Review regulations.
ICF estimated the value that utility customers placed on improvements in
water, sewerage, environmental, and customer service. ICF used a survey-based
non-market valuation technique—choice modeling—to estimate customer willingness
to pay for improvements in various utility services. The utility companies
are using the resulting monetary benefit estimates to help prioritize the
investments valued most highly by their customers.
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Analysis of Growth Patterns and Water Demand
U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency
ICF conducted research that found that large-lot, dispersed development
patterns cost more to serve and use more water. The resulting report—Growing
Toward More Efficient Water Use: Linking Development, Infrastructure, and
Drinking Water Policies—concluded with policy options for states, localities,
and utilities to reduce the cost of, and demand for, water. These policies
offer opportunities for more efficient water use at a time when an increasing
number of communities face water shortages.
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Delta Mendota Canal-California Aqueduct Intertie Project
Bureau of Reclamation
ICF prepared an environmental assessment (EA)/impact statement (IS) on Intertie for the Bureau of Reclamation and San Luis & Delta Mendota
Water Authority. The EA/IS disclosed the environmental effects of constructing
and operating a project that would connect the Delta Mendota Canal with the
California Aqueduct. Major issues evaluated in the EA/IS included water supply
and Delta water management, Delta tidal hydraulics, water quality, fish,
and growth-inducing effects.
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Hydrology and Ecological Assistance for Water Contracts
Choctaw Nation
of Oklahoma
In coordination with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and the Army Corps
of Engineers, ICF collected and compiled available water resource information
to support decisions being made by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The information
that ICF compiled included hydrologic records, water quality information,
reservoir and river operations, reservoir management plans, water supply
permits, and existing diversions for the Kiamichi River and Little River
basins of Oklahoma. ICF prepared a draft summary report that included four
sections: water resources data, biological data, regulatory requirements,
and basin modeling results.
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Benefit Transfer Database
U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
ICF used its expertise in non-market valuation to create a database for
the Environmental Protection Agency on the benefit transfer methodology.
Benefit transfer refers to the practice of taking the monetary benefits that
were estimated by non-market valuation methods for a particular environmental
resource and applying them to a different resource. The database ICF created
reviewed and summarized more than 50 of the most prominent benefit transfer studies
that had recently appeared in peer-reviewed journals, books, and private-sector
studies.
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Global Climate Change Effects on Water Treatment
U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency
In a project for the Environmental Protection Agency's Global Change Research
Program, ICF analyzed potential factors contributing to the vulnerability
of public water supplies to climate changes. ICF analyzed 20 years of maximum
contaminant level (MCL) violation data from the Safe Drinking Water Information
System (SDWIS) database to characterize the relationship between MCL violations
and temperature and precipitation in 11 states.
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