Sustainable Treatment Solutions That Protect Communities and the Environment
Wastewater treatment facilities represent massive infrastructure investments—acres of treatment basins, miles of collection piping, and sophisticated equipment processing millions of gallons daily. Municipal authorities, sanitary districts, utilities, and industrial facilities managing these systems face mounting pressures.
Aging treatment plants and combined sewer challenges threaten critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, nutrient removal mandates and regulations for per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS) and biosolids continue to rapidly evolve.
Yet, these challenges are also catalysts for opportunity. Climate resilience, energy recovery, resource optimization, and strategic phosphorus management are more than compliance obligations. Each strategy is a pathway to lower operational costs, more efficient systems, and tangible community value.
Unlocking these opportunities requires engineering expertise that views wastewater challenges as interconnected systems, not isolated problems.
Why Choose RETTEW?
As a multidisciplinary firm, RETTEW connects with local partners across municipal government, utility management, and sanitary districts to plan strategically, evaluate alternatives, and design wastewater infrastructure. The goal is to meet the latest environmental protection agency (EPA) requirements and maximize your long-term operational value.
Our wastewater engineers, scientists, and regulatory consultants have decades of combined industry knowledge across the complete wastewater treatment cycle:
- Collection rehabilitation
- Process optimization
- Treatment upgrades
- Biosolids management
- Discharge compliance
We help clients implement solutions that deliver reliable, cost-effective treatment for decades.
We were impressed that RETTEW has deployed experts from across the U.S. Everyone we’ve met cares so much about our needs.
Market Realities Wastewater Authorities Face Today
Chesapeake Bay cleanup efforts drive increasingly stringent nutrient limits requiring biological nutrient removal, chemical precipitation, and filtration. RETTEW evaluates treatment alternatives and designs nutrient removal processes that balance effectiveness with lifecycle costs.
Much of the region’s wastewater infrastructure has exceeded its design life, causing aging collection pipes to develop cracks that allow groundwater infiltration and stormwater inflow. These problems overwhelm treatment capacity and drive-up operational costs. RETTEW conducts infrastructure assessments to identify vulnerable areas and designs rehabilitation projects that prevent further deterioration while helping to manage spending.
Wastewater treatment consumes substantial energy for aeration and pumping. Rather than treating this as an unavoidable cost, RETTEW designs systems that recover resources—capturing biogas through anaerobic digestion to offset energy consumption and convert biosolids into agricultural nutrients instead of disposal expenses. This approach reduces operational costs while improving environmental performance.
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits establish discharge limits, monitoring requirements, and reporting obligations that continue to tighten. RETTEW helps clients maintain compliance through process optimization, treatment upgrades, and permit negotiations.
Wastewater infrastructure requires substantial capital. Federal infrastructure programs, state revolving loans, and grants can provide critical funding. RETTEW helps authorities identify opportunities, prepare applications, and develop rate studies.
Comprehensive Services RETTEW Provides
Feasibility Studies and Act 537 Planning
We develop comprehensive planning modules and facility plans to assess capacity, evaluate alternatives, estimate costs, and establish priorities aligned with regulatory requirements and available funding.
Treatment Plant Design and Upgrades
RETTEW designs new facilities and upgrades existing plants, incorporating conventional activated sludge treatment, fixed film and moving bed bioreactors, biological and enhanced nutrient removal, biosolids stabilization and handling, disinfection, and odor control. Our designs balance treatment effectiveness with operational simplicity, energy efficiency, and lifecycle costs.
Collection System Design and Rehabilitation
We assess collection system conditions, identify infiltration and inflow sources, and design targeted solutions like gravity sewers, interceptors, alternative collection systems including pressure and vacuum options, and pump stations. These projects address immediate vulnerabilities, but sustainable improvement requires ongoing management. We develop systematic programs that progressively reduce extraneous flows, preventing the treatment capacity problems that worsen over time.
Regulatory Compliance and Permitting
RETTEW prepares NPDES permit applications and renewals, conducts compliance assessments, develops monitoring programs, and provides technical support for maintaining compliance and responding to violations.
Project Financing and Grant Administration
We identify funding opportunities, prepare applications, develop preliminary engineering reports, and provide documentation required for infrastructure grants.
Construction-Phase Services and Project Representation
RETTEW provides construction administration, resident project representation, and quality assurance services ensuring projects meet design specifications and regulatory requirements.
Why Wastewater Clients Choose RETTEW
As your trusted wastewater engineering consultant, RETTEW understands both the treatment processes and operational realities you face—aging infrastructure, tight budgets, regulatory pressures, and community expectations. Our experience spans diverse wastewater systems, from small plants to regional facilities that treat tens of millions of gallons daily.
We understand the regulatory landscape, which enables us to identify appropriate funding sources and to use our established relationships with regulatory agencies to shepherd projects through NPDES permits, construction permits, and operational approvals without sacrificing compliance.
Whether you’re planning treatment upgrades, addressing nutrient removal, managing wet weather flows, designing collection systems, securing funding, retrofitting an aging facility, or managing construction, RETTEW provides the engineering expertise and responsive service that helps you operate efficiently while managing costs.
Jason Wert, PE, Market Lead, Water
Mr. Wert is RETTEW’s Water Market Leader, with more than 30 years of experience, he has designed sewage collection, conveyance, and treatment systems; water sourcing, treatment, and distribution systems; and renewable energy systems.
📧 Email: jwert@rettew.com
