Environmental Research and Design, Inc. (ERD) services

ERD has been at the forefront of watershed and pollutant loading studies for more than 20 years. During the early 1990s, ERD developed some of the initial spreadsheet-based pollutant loading models to estimate nonpoint source loadings from watersheds. ERD also has developed and maintained a database of event mean concentrations for runoff generated in a variety of land use categories throughout the State of Florida. During the late 1990s, ERD pioneered the use of a GIS-linked spreadsheet model for estimation of runoff volumes which combines land use categories with soil types to generate estimates of annual runoff volumes.

Over the past 20 years, ERD has been involved in more than 75 lake restoration and water quality evaluations. All but two of these projects have been performed on lake or river systems within the State of Florida which has provided ERD with a unique understanding of physical, chemical and biological processes in Florida surface water systems.

ERD maintains a complete inventory of state-of-the-art field sampling and monitoring equipment sufficient to successfully complete any water quality or monitoring research project. ERD owns more than 20 automatic samplers with integral flow meters for collection of stormwater runoff and baseflow; seepage meters for monitoring of groundwater inflow to surface waters; equipment for collection of surface water; equipment for installation of groundwater monitoring wells and collection of groundwater samples; equipment for recording rainfall, evaporation, water level and flow rate; equipment for collection of grab and core samples from lake bottom sediments; sample collection and research boats; and multiple 4-wheel drive vehicles. This extensive inventory of equipment allows ERD to complete virtually any water quality project with in-house resources.

ERD has conducted water quality and BMP-related research projects for a variety of governmental agencies, including the St. Johns River Water Management District, the Northwest Florida Water Management District, the Southwest Florida Water Management District, the South Florida Water Management District, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and the Florida Department of Transportation. BMP performance monitoring research conducted by ERD has included virtually every type of stormwater BMP in use in the State of Florida today, including wet detention, dry detention, dry retention, gross pollutant separators, filter systems, wetland treatment systems, alum treatment, as well as proprietary BMPs. The results of these projects have been used to refine designs for stormwater management systems, develop regulatory criteria, and develop water quality criteria.

ERD maintains an in-house research-grade water quality laboratory which is used solely for our own project efforts. In addition to research-grade equipment for water quality analyses, facilities are also provided for sediment nutrient analysis, algal bioassays, short- and long-term toxicity experiments, settling columns, scale model filtration systems with underdrains, soil/sediment grain size analysis, and facilities for jar test and coagulation experiments, including measurement of zeta potential. ERD has also designed and constructed a continuously stirred environmental chamber for incubation of sediments and slurries under differing pH levels and oxidation states.

ERD has extensive experience in characterization of bottom sediments and evaluation of sediment-water column interactions in lake systems. Interactions between the sediments and the water column can be particularly significant in shallow lake systems. Previous research by ERD has shown that water column characteristics can be significantly affected by both sediment recycling and physical resuspension processes

ERD is one of the pioneers in sediment inactivation projects within the U.S., with current personnel conducting sediment inactivation projects as early as 1982. ERD has conducted more than 26 sediment inactivation projects throughout Florida, with a combined total area of more than 5000 acres. ERD pioneered the concept of calculating required aluminum doses based upon available phosphorus within the sediments and has conducted extensive research into water column, ecological, and sediment impacts from alum addition. ERD has been involved, either in dose determination or actual application (or both), for virtually all applications conducted within Florida. During 1992, ERD developed a modified phosphorus speciation technique to identify available phosphorus in lake sediments which forms the basis for alum dose determination.

In the late 1970s, Dr. Harvey H. Harper, P.E., while a faculty member in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Central Florida, began testing the effectiveness of liquid aluminum sulfate (alum) and other coagulants to remove pollutants, nutrients, heavy metals, and bacteria from stormwater runoff. This testing yielded very favorable results, and in the 1980s, alum treatment of stormwater runoff was evaluated for several stormwater retrofit projects, with the initial system constructed in 1987 at Lake Ella by the City of Tallahassee.

ERD has conducted multiple studies to identify the sources of nutrient loadings in watersheds contributing to lakes, creeks, or estuaries. These studies have used tracers such as chloride, conductivity, coprostanol, and stable isotope analyses of nitrogen and oxygen to partition measured nutrients into the originating sources (such as stormwater runoff, reuse water, or fertilizer). ERD has conducted multiple studies to identify impacts from reclaimed wastewater used for irrigation.

ERD has extensive experience and capabilities in the areas of hydraulic modeling and design for stormwater treatment systems. Personnel at ERD have studied and designed every type of stormwater treatment facility currently used in the State of Florida, including retention ponds, detention ponds, detention with filtration ponds, grassed swales, exfiltration trenches, wetland systems, in-line and off-line chemical treatment systems, and primary and secondary conveyance systems. Research performed by ERD has provided the basis for many of the current stormwater regulations used in the State of Florida and has allowed ERD to develop pollutant removal efficiencies for commonly used stormwater management practices.