Exponent has gained a strong reputation for solving technically challenging environmental and water resource problems involving groundwater, surface water, and vadose-zone systems. Our comprehensive understanding of the physical and chemical intricacies throughout the entire water cycle allows us to address our clients' water-related problems accurately and efficiently.
Our services include:
- Groundwater, surface water, and vadose-zone analyses
- Environmental transport and fate analyses
- Natural attenuation and degradation studies
- River and reservoir water quality analyses
- Watershed and basin-scale hydrological modeling and management
- Site-specific hydrology and geochemical evaluations
- Cold-region hydrological analyses, including frozen soil and snowmelt modeling
- Flood and stormwater planning and management
- Sediment transport analyses
- Dam failure analyses
- Open-channel and closed-conduit hydraulic studies
- Water supply reliability and resource planning and management
Exponent's scientists and engineers provide clients with clear answers and real solutions to their water resource problems. We use accepted, appropriate tools, including water quality and quantity models, geochemical models, geographic information systems, bench- and pilot-scale experiments, and focused field studies, to address the unique characteristics of specific problems. We help our clients identify material liabilities and assess mitigation measures. We analyze the causes and effects of natural resource disasters, such as floods, droughts, landslides, and dam failures, and help our clients prevent, minimize the effect of, or recover from the consequences of these phenomena. We also assist our clients with regulatory compliance issues such as the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements of the Clean Water Act.
Our scientists maximize the use of appropriate tools and information to achieve project goals, while avoiding the common pitfalls that often render such studies ineffective or too costly. These pitfalls include collecting an unnecessary amount of data, using one model to try to analyze everything, and ineffectively presenting results. Our experience has shown that many environmental investigations amass a substantial body of data, at considerable cost, only to find that meaningful synthesis is lacking. We provide thorough interpretations using existing data or identify specific data gaps that, when filled, complete the understanding of the situation. In approaching a new site, our scientists and engineers design data collection programs with a careful eye toward the end use of the data, rather than from an unfocused desire to "fully characterize" the site.
Another example of a common pitfall is the selection and use of a particular tool because it is familiar to the consultant or it is their proprietary model, not because it is the best or most appropriate tool for the problem. Our staff have a keen awareness of data limitations and project requirements and use this knowledge to select analytical tools and models that address specific levels of sophistication needed to answer the question at hand. This approach avoids taking the wrong path or "over-analyzing" a problem, committing only the resources necessary to achieve a workable solution.
Good data and analyses, however, have no value if study results are not presented clearly and understandably. We place a premium on clear presentation of our work and are known for our ability to present complex technical findings in concise language and clear graphics that are tailored to the audience. We use a variety of media to present our work, ranging from traditional written reports to oral presentations to detailed graphics and computer animation, depending on the nature of the issue and the target audience. We work with clients to convey information that promotes understanding and acceptance to regulatory agencies and the public. In addition, we have worked closely with attorneys to provide valuable expert witness testimony during trial, deposition, arbitration, and alternative dispute resolution proceedings.