Out of 2019 and Into a New Decade

Out of 2019 and Into a New Decade

Photo from February 5,1976, when two inches of snow fell around San Francisco

Photo from February 5,1976, when two inches of snow fell around San Francisco

Dear Friends, Family, Colleagues and Clients,

Happy Holidays! CDIM is grateful to our clients, partners and contractors for another year of continued collaboration. I write now to 1) wish you all the best fortune as we roll into a new decade and 2) give a short update on CDIM’s activities over the past year.

In 2019, our firm continued to slowly and cautiously expand. In November, we added a senior staff geologist.  Amie Hinds joined our team of four engineers and one GIS/data specialist.  We also added a new Joint Venture partnership and a contract with the Port of San Francisco, which resulted in the expansion of our existing business insurance and accounting practices. We continued to expand our in-house graphics capability by adding new software capacity, training and skills. We expanded our field services by developing new field quality assurance procedures, adding new equipment/measurement devices and adding partnerships with excavation, waste disposal, and material supply firms. We continued to expand our outsource relationships with marketing and accounting firms.  We gained a local international airport as a client and expanded the services we provide to local law firms. CDIM also had the opportunity perform a market analysis of the California’s hazardous waste industry that we published in the ASCE’s Hazardous Waste Infrastructure Report Card.

While continuing to provide our core assessment/remediation, site civil engineering, water quality and regulatory compliance services, we saw an expansion in sediment, air quality, and asbestos monitoring.

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  • We supported sediment remediation at a Superfund site, began assessing PAHs in sediment at another site, and have been contracted to provide dredge characterization and permitting.

  • We estimated air emissions from two large industrial processes, monitored and assessed air quality using real time measurement devices, and performed air dispersion modeling and health risk assessment for a new process using BAAQMD/CARB models. 

  • We assisted in entitlement planning for a new housing development in San Francisco and commissioned a water treatment system that we designed the year before.

  • We performed numerous asbestos assessments to support disposal projects and construction air monitoring projects that involve earthwork and naturally occurring asbestos.

In the most explosive moment of the year, we helped a local sheriff’s department bomb squad detonate an old dynamite (weeping nitroglycerin) that had become shock sensitive!

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Through business operations that lead to a modest profit, we were able to provide charitable donations to the following organizations:

  • San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocates for abused and neglected children in foster care. www.casasf.org. CDIM has support SFCASA since our inception. 

  • Downtown Streets Team provides a work experience program that empowers individuals and acts as a steppingstone into employment, housing and a better life. The Civic center team can be seen performing trash removal on mornings in SF Civil center where our office is located.   www.streetsteam.org 

  • Samaritan House is the largest food distribution agency in San Mateo County. This is the first year for CDIM to support the Samaritan House.  www.samaritanhousesanmateo.org

We are fortunate to have started CDIM during a time of economic growth, and we remain grateful to all of our clients and partners for trusting us this past year.  We wish you all a peaceful close to 2019 and prosperity and joy in the year and decade to come!

Thank you,
Scott Bourne, PE
Principal

New Contract with the Port of San Francisco

New Contract with the Port of San Francisco

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New Contract with the Port of San Francisco

CDIM is pleased to announce that we were recently awarded a four-year, environmental consulting services contract with the Port of San Francisco to support the expansion and improvement of their waterfront facilities.


This is a milestone accomplishment for our team as it is our first large-scale, direct contract with a Port Authority and San Francisco municipal entity. The contract was awarded by the Port to a newly formed Joint Venture between CDIM and San Francisco-based Environmental Science Associates (ESA).  

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Becoming one of the Bay Area's Premier Environmental Engineering Companies

The competition included seven teams. CDIM/ESA Joint Venture was the top-ranked team! The JV will provide the Port with the following services:

  • Environmental engineering;

  • Site investigation and remediation;

  • Construction monitoring and inspection for environmental regulatory compliance;

  • Environmental planning and permitting;

  • Stormwater management;

  • Industrial hygiene services;

  • Dredging support services;

  • Climate change planning; and

  • Support for wastewater treatment systems.

Focused on the future

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 Mary Cunningham, CDIM Project Engineer

"We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with our teaming partners to help the Port of San Francisco achieve its objectives."

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Scott Bourne, CDIM President and Principal Engineer

"We are very proud of our relationship with the Port of San Francisco, and we look forward to working with our team members to provide innovative and high-quality technical support to the Port during the next four years."

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CDIM Update - California’s Infrastructure Report Card

CDIM Update - California’s Infrastructure Report Card

Dear Friends, Family, Colleagues, and Clients:

I write now to provide an update on CDIM’s technical work over the past year supporting the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in its effort to prepare its recently released California Infrastructure Report Card. I served as the hazardous waste subcommittee chair for the 2019 report card and, along with other CDIM staff, wrote the hazardous waste section of the report.

As part of ASCE’s volunteer team, CDIM dedicated time to researching California’s infrastructure, including its condition and the economics of operation, maintenance, and capital improvement.  We then assigned a grade to the infrastructure and made concrete recommendations to improve the grade.  

Below I give a detailed description of our findings for the hazardous waste infrastructure (spoiler: C-) and then summarize the overall findings of the report card. I am available to discuss any aspect of the report, and I would love to talk ad nauseum with you about the hazardous waste section!

INFRASTRUCTURE REPORT CARD—HAZARDOUS WASTE SECTION

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The report categorized hazardous waste (HW) infrastructure into two primary elements: HW disposal and site cleanup. Overall, we graded California’s HW infrastructure as a C-. The main reason for the low grade is that California sends around half the hazardous waste it generates to other states (or Mexico) where the waste is placed at a lower cost into non-hazardous landfills with less protective design standards (see graphic below). Another key factor for the grade is that California is not systematically evaluating the effects of sea level changes on contaminated sites that have been closed.  In many of these sites, the contamination remains in place in coastal areas where both the sea level and groundwater levels are rising.   

The report notes that California has developed exemplary digital tools for tracking state-wide waste disposal and cleanup (see Haz. Waste Tracking System, CalEnviroScreen, Geotrackerand Envirostor). It also notes that “Cradle to Grave” regulations for HW, and strong laws for responsible party liability in site cleanup are effective overarching frameworks that help to maintain the infrastructure and to protect California’s environment and the health of its residents.

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To improve the grade, we recommend increasing funding and incentives for contaminated site cleanup (by including incentives for infill development and coastal vulnerability assessment of HW sites in a state-wide infrastructure spending plan);  revamping certain programs (e.g. CLRRA, SCAP and CLEAN programs) that cause delays, confusion and poor allocation of resources; and, re-evaluating California’s HW characteristic standards, minimization programs, and landfill capacity to develop an integrated and rational statewide management strategy that prevents unnecessary disposal of waste in out-of-state/country non-HW landfills.

INFRASTRUCTURE REPORT CARD—ENTIRE REPORT CARD

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It’s rare for the public to notice a well-functioning infrastructure, until something goes wrong like the Aliso Canyon gas leak or the Orville Dam spillway emergency.  Only when a populated area is threatened or evacuated does the public become aware of the infrastructure's importance.

Other challenges, like bringing safe drinking water to California’s rural communities, are rarely discussed except by those who live there. In some communities, arsenic, chromium or nitrates have rendered the water unsafe and requiring treatment.  And retrofitting of coastal structures for sea level rise resilience is another important part of our infrastructure that may not appear urgent in Sacramento’s myopic budget cycle.  Even road improvements, which have readily visible economic benefits such as reducing vehicle wear-and-tear and increasing fuel efficiency are neglected because of inefficient resource allocation. 

To assess the condition of California’s infrastructure, ASCE divided the infrastructure into 17 categories (e.g., dams, drinking water, ports, schools) and assigned a subcommittee to each category.  The subcommittee did the technical research and assigned a grade. The individual category grades were then averaged by ASCE to determine the overall state grade.

The team gave the highest grades to aviation (C+), ports (C+), and wastewater (C+) and the lowest grades to energy (D-), inland waterways (D), levees (D), and roads (D). 

To raise the grades, ASCE recommends that California decision-makers: 1) promote effective and collaborative leadership, 2) develop intelligent plans to better identify funding needs, 3) increase state and local funding, and 4) inform the public and raise overall awareness about infrastructure issues.

CONCLUSION

ASCE found the condition of California’s infrastructure to be inadequate. Our subcommittee found hazardous waste infrastructure to be functioning but in need of improvement, especially as relates to in-state landfill utilization, planning for more e-waste, and sea-level rise planning for contaminated sites. Because infrastructure is critical to maintaining a vital environment for citizens, business and government to function within, ASCE prepared the Report Card to raise awareness about the issue with California decision-makers and included thoughtful policy suggestions for how to make improvements. We hope that government at local, state and federal levels will take the recommendations and work to improve the grade!

Our Team is Expanding!

Our Team is Expanding!

CDIM is pleased to announce the hiring of Bryan Starks, CAC. Bryan obtained an engineering degree from the University of Hawaii and has over seven years’ environmental consulting experience.  He is a California Division of Occupational Safety and Health Certified Asbestos Consultant (#17-5914).  Prior to joining CDIM, Bryan worked at multiple environmental engineering firms in Hawaii and California providing project-level environmental investigation, remediation and construction management services. Bryan will lead CDIM’s field services group and provide technical support to CDIM’s clients in the areas of hazardous materials assessment, soil and groundwater testing, and site cleanup and remediation.

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