LimnoTech Inc. services

Municipalities, public utilities, regulatory agencies, and others charged with safeguarding local water resources must deal with many issues affecting NPDES permits, watersheds, waterways, and ecosystems. These organizations are faced with developing, complying with, or changing water quality standards; preserving public and aquatic life uses of receiving streams; developing or complying with permit requirements; protecting drinking water; controlling stormwater and sewer overflows; and developing or reviewing TMDLs.

Tremendous progress has been made in improving the quality of our water environment since passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, but much work remains. While municipal and industrial discharges are well controlled, stormwater runoff still carries pollutants to our water bodies. Population increase and economic growth have brought increasing demands on water quality and quantity, and we are just beginning to understand how climate change impacts management of watersheds and waterways.

Industries, waterfront developers, resource managers, and site owners face many challenges as they strive to remediate or control environmental impacts at contaminated sites. The process of addressing legacy pollution can be complex, because of large volumes of sediments or soils, multiple contaminants and sources, and the length of time required for assessment and implementation. Furthermore, costs for remediating and restoring rivers, lakes, estuaries, floodplains, and other land sites can sometimes be staggering—up to hundreds of millions of dollars.

State, regional and federal government organizations, trustees for natural resources, industries, and environmental groups are challenged by complex issues surrounding living resources and their habitats. These issues extend beyond water quality and involve how living and non-living components of an ecosystem interact with each other and with humans. Human activities can impose multiple, simultaneous stresses on ecosystems that are physical (changes in flows or water levels), chemical (inputs of nutrients or toxics), or biological (invasive species).

Human alterations and demands on freshwater resources are growing rapidly. This is creating concerns about water scarcity and water quality, which can affect society, industry, and the health of aquatic ecosystems. Climate change will likely compound these problems. Our challenge as water professionals is to ensure that clean and sufficient water is available to support economic and social prosperity and to sustain freshwater ecosystems.

Consistent with our deep commitment to finding practical environmental solutions based on sound science, LimnoTech conducts and utilizes applied research to serve our clients. Complex environmental problems often present challenges that are not amenable to conventional engineering solutions and require development of new approaches or tools. Some recent examples include in-place remedial strategies for contaminated sediments, total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for toxic chemicals in large estuarine and coastal systems, and ecosystem alterations caused by invasive species. In such cases, solutions that are sustainable, cost-effective, and acceptable to multiple stakeholders depend upon applied research components embedded within the overall projects.

LimnoTech has the field experience, equipment and scientific understanding to run targeted sampling and experimental programs that support analytical needs and answer our clients’ questions. We help our clients make better decisions using science and technology, but we know that the advanced science and modeling tools that we apply are only as good as the data that support them. For this reason, we constantly strive to find the best new ways to gather high-quality environmental data, and rapidly and efficiently assimilate that information into our technical evaluations. Our technical expertise flows into our field activities, with state-of-the-art equipment and data-gathering approaches. Our experienced field personnel play a major role in our modeling activities, ensuring that our analyses are grounded in real-world data.