ESA PWA - Philip Williams and Associates >> Senior Staff

Our multidisciplinary staff has expertise in hydrology and hydraulics; civil engineering; geomorphology, sediment transport dynamics; hydrodynamic modeling; field monitoring and surveying, environmental planning; GIS, and landscape architecture.

Philip B. Williams, Ph.D., P.E., Eur. Ing. Senior V.P., Executive Director	Andrew Collison, Ph.D. Fluvial Director	Ann Borgonovo, P.E. ESA PWA Operations Director
Jeffrey Haltiner, Ph.D., P.E. ESA PWA Principal Director	Elizabeth Andrews, M.S., P.E. North Bay Fluvial Program Manager	Robert Battalio, M.Eng., P.E. Princial Engineer Coastal Zone Engineering & Management
Michelle K. Orr, M.S., P.E. Wetlands & Estuaries Director	Christie Beeman, P.E. Stormwater Program Manager	Jorgen Blomberg, MLA Design Director
Jeremy P. Lowe, B.S. Sea Level Rise Program Manager	Stephen Crooks, Ph.D. Climate Change Program Manager
Eric Ginney, M.S. Floodplain Restoration Program Manager & ESA PWA Sacramento Office Director	ESA Staff

Dr. Williams has been engaged in a wide range of national and international hydrologic and engineering hydraulics work since he received his Ph.D. in 1970. In 1976, after working in civil engineering and environmental planning firms, he opened his own practice, expanding to form Philip Williams & Associates in 1979. During the past two decades, he has developed considerable expertise in a wide range of technical issues and water-related policy issues both in the U.S. and abroad. From his original research field of sediment hydraulics, Dr. Williams has pioneered practical technical analyses in wetland hydrology, multiobjective river corridor management, lake water balances, the impacts of climate change, the hydraulics of coastal lagoons, and estuarine management. His work has addressed a wide variety of problems, including flood management, salt marsh restoration, reservoir operation, harbor maintenance dredging, riparian management, watershed sediment yield, groundwater management, and coastal lagoon restoration.

The majority of Dr. Williams' work has been assessment of the environmental effects of hydrologic change, often in working with professionals of other disciplines to prepare feasibility studies, management plans, and environmental impact studies. He has directed more than 250 such studies, including projects on flood control, wetland restoration, river management, national park plans, water resources development, and estuarine management plans.

Ms. Borgonovo leads the Design Engineering group; she has over 17 years experience in hydraulic engineering, focusing on restoration design and project management. Ms. Borgonovo specializes in translating restoration concepts based on geomorphic studies into construction documents. She has managed multi-disciplinary teams of biologists, landscape architects and engineers in the design of a wide range of restoration projects. Ann has led design projects that expand existing tidal marsh preserves, including Martinez Regional Shoreline and Petaluma Marsh Wildlife Area. She was also project manager and lead designer for the tidal marsh restoration of over 4,000 acres of former salt ponds along the Napa River. Ann has also been furthering ESA PWA’s design and implementation expertise for creek restoration by overseeing several Bay Area projects. One of her key roles at ESA PWA is evaluating the engineering feasibility and estimating costs for restoration concepts. She has also designed more traditional hydraulic structures such as pipelines, pump stations and flow-diversion structures.

Dr. Haltiner has an extensive background in hydrology and water resources. During the past 25 years, he has worked on numerous projects ranging from water supply and urban runoff treatment design to impact analysis on multi-basin water transfer schemes. His recent focus has been on multiobjective watershed management and the design of environmentally sensitive flood control and river management techniques. In conjunction with this, he has managed a variety of projects and authored a series of papers on urban stream restoration by integrating physical, biological, and land-use planning elements. To protect existing riparian corridors, he has worked on a series of master plans in urbanizing areas which include creek preservation and enhancement as central design features. This is accomplished within the framework of an integrated watershed management plan that incorporates the natural processes of flood flows, sediment transport, and channel dynamics into the planning process.

Much of Dr. Haltiner's work is oriented toward planning for extreme events, either floods or droughts. His doctorate in statistical hydrology focused on riverflow and rainfall/snowmelt forecasting. He has managed numerous flood hazard analyses for FEMA as well as local, state, and private clients. In coastal flood analyses, he has pioneered techniques to address the joint probability of stormwater runoff and tidal events. A critical element in modern engineering is the development of viable projects integrating design, cost and environmental factors. Dr. Haltiner has completed a variety of flood management, urban development and coastal/fluvial wetland restoration projects providing assistance in project design, environmental review and permit acquisition, bidding, construction inspection, mitigation compliance, and monitoring. Many of these projects are technically complex and politically controversial; project success results from a combination of knowledge, experience, and trust by both the client and the regulatory agencies.

Dr. Haltiner remains active in education, teaching a graduate hydrology course at the University of California at Berkeley. He teaches a variety of short courses for private clients and agencies on watershed management and river/wetland restoration. He has also developed ESA PWA's "Educational Outreach Program" to provide water education to students from the elementary to high school level.

Ms. Andrews maintains a broad practice in water resources management, including expertise in hydrology, hydraulics, restoration and enhancement, flood hazard reduction, and water systems management, with emphasis on simulation modeling. Stream and floodplain restoration, flood management, fluvial geomorphology, and river management policy are areas of special interest.

As a project manager, Ms. Andrews has led team efforts on stream and floodplain restoration, wetland management, flood hazard reduction, gravel extraction, and FEMA Flood Insurance Studies, including hydraulic analysis and floodplain mapping of more than 70 miles of streams in western Placer County, California. She has also assisted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in evaluating reservoir management options and impacts and creating plans and an accounting system for water use under the Central Valley Project Improvement Act. Other projects she has conducted include: analyzing the feasibility of operating Sacramento Valley rice fields for winter waterfowl habitat; helping to develop multi-objective flood hazard reduction and ecological enhancement plans for Santa Rosa Creek, the Petaluma River, Arroyo Mocho, and Arroyo Las Positas; developing sediment management strategies on the San Lorenzo River; assessing reservoir operations alternatives at New Melones Reservoir on the Stanislaus River; developing a large-scale floodplain restoration proposal for the Cosumnes River; and evaluating floodplain restoration alternatives at the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge.

Mr. Battalio has extensive experience with the coastal engineering, preparation of construction documents, and project management. His training and work experience is focused in the coastal and estuarine areas, and waterfront civil engineering projects. He has directed all phases of waterfront civil works, including field data collection, conceptual design, preliminary design/feasibility analysis, final design/construction documents, and construction management. His experience includes several projects from the initial conceptual analysis and planning, through completion of construction. Mr. Battalio's experience also includes formulating and leading teams of consultants charged with multi-discipline design projects.

Types of projects include dredging design, upland disposal of dredged material, erosion control on the ocean and bay coasts, streambanks and marshes, enhancement of tidal wetlands, coastal lagoons, and creeks, development of coastal environmental design loads and conditions, design of rock revetments and breakwaters, studies of sand transport, design of surface and subsurface drainage facilities, erosion rates and development setbacks, inspection and renovations of waterfront structures, small craft marina and berth planning and design, and monitoring/ mapping of surfing sites. His work experience includes physical and numerical modeling of waves and mixing processes, and field data collection and analysis.

Dr. Collison is the senior fluvial geomorphologist at ESA PWA. Dr. Collison is a geomorphologist and hydrologist with over 15 years experience working with unstable river channels and on the development of restoration and river management plans. His particular areas of interest are river channel restoration, floodplain restoration, multi-objective flood management and hydrograph modification management (HMP). He has worked on rivers and wetlands on the West Coast from Northern Washington state to the Mexican border, as well as the Southeastern USA, Europe and South East Asia. Dr. Collison sits on several independent scientific advisory panels including the Southern California Wetland Recover Program, the Southern California Coastal Watersheds Research Program Hydromod Panel and San Francisco Estuary Institute’s Napa River project. Prior to ESA PWA, Dr. Collison worked on channel erosion and sedimentation problems at the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s National Sedimentation Laboratory and was a geomorphology professor at the University of London, England.

Michelle Orr is a leader in wetland restoration planning and design, including recent plans for Bair Island and the South Bay Salt Ponds Restoration Project in San Francisco Bay. As a water resources engineer with a background in both coastal and riverine hydraulics, Michelle specializes in coastal marsh geomorphology, hydraulic and sediment transport modeling, and tidal channel dynamics integral to successful flood management and habitat restoration efforts. Michelle is actively engaged in the scientific and restoration communities through work on the Bay Area Wetlands Restoration Design Review Group, CALFED regional wetland assessment projects, conference presentations, and peer-reviewed publications.

Mr. Lowe is a coastal geomorphologist with a detailed knowledge of estuarine and coastal geomorphology, process modeling, and coastal engineering. His 14 years of international consulting experience spans a wide range of coastal projects in the UK, Italy, Lebanon and Hong Kong. His achievements include the design of sea defenses to reduce flood hazards in Venice, Italy; coastal erosion protection for the new Hong Kong airport; and policy recommendations to the UK for intertidal habitat restoration.

Christie Beeman is a water resources engineer with a background in surface hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, and river mechanics. Her project management experience includes creek restoration, flood control, hydraulic modeling, stormwater management, and wetland restoration projects for both public and private sector clients. She has led numerous multidisciplinary creek restoration projects that combine habitat restoration and flood management in urban environments. Ms. Beeman was ESA PWA’s project manager for the development of the Contra Costa County Hydrograph Modification Management Plan, the first HMP to receive final approval from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Mr. Blomberg is a landscape designer specializing in creek and wetland restoration projects. His specific interests and experience focus on biotechnical streambank stabilization applications for comprehensive, multi-objective river restoration projects. As a member of the ESA PWA Restoration Design Team, his working knowledge and familiarity with native plant materials, riparian ecosystems and permitting procedures contribute to practical and creative projects.

Typical projects that Mr. Blomberg is involved in include creek and floodplain restoration, streambank stabilization, schematic and conceptual design alternatives, riparian revegetation efforts, public access and trail design. His work includes the coordination of multi-disciplinary teams, integration of technical analyses, evaluation and presentation of design alternatives.

Dr. Crooks is a Senior Wetland Scientist / Geomorphologist. He joined ESA PWA in 2004 after 12 years working on the science and policy of wetlands restoration at leading institutions in Europe. He has devoted his career to capacity building and decision support to meet the challenges of climate change through ecosystem restoration and wise management of wetlands.

Dr. Crooks directs activity across the company related to integration of wetland management into climate change planning and capacity building. At the technical level, he leads wetland restoration feasibility assessments and design, geomorphic assessments of landscape response to sea level rise, development of a wetlands restoration offset protocol and climate change adaptation planning. Dr Crooks has contributed to numerous committees, interdisciplinary research groups and programs. He is co-author of over 50 peer-review papers, book chapters and reports on wetland restoration, geomorphic response of coastal systems to sea level rise, sustainable management of wetland resources and carbon sequestration.

Mr. Ginney’s expertise is in fluvial geomorphology, water resources, and river ecology, with an emphasis on restoration of salmonid habitat and ecosystem dynamics in conjunction with multi-objective water resources management. Eric has over 15 years experience conducting river-reach planning and modeling efforts, implementing river rehabilitation projects, and providing solutions for applied geomorphic applications.

Eric led ESA PWA's development of a Restoration Plan for the Klamath River after Dam Removal. He managed the Geomorphic Assessment of potential effects of the Three Rivers Levee Improvement Authority's Feather River Levee Setback Project, and also developed floodplain restoration concepts for this precedent-setting 6-mile long project. He also managed ESA PWA's Geomorphic Assessments for DWR's Urban Levee Evaluation (ULE) and Non-Urban Levee Evaluation (NULE) Programs.

Currently, he is managing projects to assist DWR with Floodplain and Riparian Restoration on the Feather River (for FERC License Implementation) and separately to complete multi-objective flood maintenance project designs in the Sacramento Valley. He is also providing assistance to the Trinity River Restoration Program (USBR) for their ongoing river rehabilitation efforts.