01
Define the real problem.
Diagnose the system before prescribing the project.
Stagnant thinking is expensive.
We begin with the problem and the budget, in that order, and design toward both.
ADC is a water and wastewater engineering firm focused on practical, buildable solutions. We work from the real constraints of performance, permitting, funding, construction, and operation, so the answer works beyond the drawing set.
30+
Years in water and wastewater
4
States served
Class A+
Reuse water delivered on multiple systems
4 MGD
Systems up to four million gallons per day
Most water problems get answered by reflex.
Replace the plant. Build the new facility. Add capacity for a future that may not be here yet. Those answers can be expensive to fund, slow to permit, and larger than the problem requires.
We start further back.
Then we design from there. If the constraints cannot support the outcome, we say so early, before years of design, permitting, and cost have accumulated.
ADC starts with four questions
- What is actually wrong?
- What does the system actually need?
- What can the client realistically fund?
- What can be permitted, built, operated, and maintained?
02
Design to real constraints.
Budget, permitting, operations, schedule, and constructability belong in the engineering decision, not after it.
03
Resolve obstacles early.
ADC coordinates design, regulatory requirements, funding, and implementation early enough to expose problems while there is still room to solve them.
The difference shows up in how the work is run.
Most of what separates one engineering firm from another is not technical. It is sequence, access and how early the real constraints are known.
Conventional practice
ADC
Conventional: Account management sits between the client and the engineers
The engineers on your project are the people you deal with
Conventional: Permitting follows design
Permitting and design are run in parallel
Conventional: Affordability is established late in the process
Budget is tested against the problem before design begins
Conventional: The solution reflects the firm's delivery model
The solution reflects the constraints of the project
Conventional: Drawings are resolved during construction
Drawings are produced by engineers who have built the work
What right-sized engineering looks like.
Three projects where defining the problem first changed what got built, what it cost, and what it takes to operate.
A replacement the community could actually fund
Parker, Arizona
$65M+~$20M
Prior replacement concept to ADC preliminary engineering report
A 1972 wastewater treatment plant serving the Town of Parker and the Colorado River Indian Tribes had reached the end of its serviceable life. A prior replacement concept exceeded $65 million. ADC's preliminary engineering report developed a roughly $20 million packaged membrane bioreactor solution designed for Class A+ effluent, and helped assemble funding through WIFA loans, congressional appropriations, and USDA support. Construction is underway.
Solve the water-quality problem without building a treatment plant
Duncan, Arizona
Elevated iron and manganese in Duncan's downtown wells were preventing approval of a planned system interconnect. ADC designed a right-sized orthophosphate dosing system that sequesters the metals while also providing lead and copper corrosion control. It removed the barrier without introducing a full treatment plant.
Invest in the plant instead of replacing it
Miami, Arizona
Miami's reclamation facility needed targeted improvements rather than wholesale replacement. ADC's condition assessment identified the upgrades that mattered, from sludge handling and screening to aeration, mixing, and SCADA, then carried the work into design, bidding, and permitting. The work is designed to close out the facility's consent order and restore long-term reliability.
Water and wastewater engineering, from problem definition through operation.
Water engineering
Transmission and distribution, treatment, storage, water supply, wells, groundwater hydrology, system evaluation, and rehabilitation.
Read moreWastewater engineering
Collection and treatment systems, plant rehabilitation, condition assessments, packaged membrane bioreactors, reuse, lift stations, and system planning.
Read moreOperations + maintenance
Water and wastewater system operations, compliance support, troubleshooting, utility maintenance planning, and operator certification training.
Read morePermitting + funding
APP, NPDES, reuse and reclaimed-water permitting, ADEQ and ADWR coordination, and project funding support involving programs such as WIFA, USDA, and HUD where applicable.
Read moreDesigned by people who stay close to delivery.
ADC's core team stays involved through design, permitting, and implementation. That continuity keeps the assumptions made early in the project connected to what can actually be constructed, operated, and maintained.
Rocky Anderson
Founder and President
Three decades in water and wastewater, with a focus on decentralized and small-community systems. Involved in project strategy, design direction and client coordination across the firm's work.
Dave Heighway, P.E.
Senior Water and Wastewater Engineer
Senior engineering across project development and technical decision-making, working with the team on design and review to keep solutions efficient and constructible.
Luis Gonzalez, EIT
Project Manager
Leads day-to-day execution, coordinating schedules, budgets and communication. Built water and wastewater treatment plants before designing them.
More problems. Different answers.
Practical solutions for complex water and wastewater challenges. From small communities to large developments, our work delivers results.
Parker, AZ
Replacement wastewater treatment
Duncan, AZ
Water quality and system interconnect
Miami, AZ
Reclamation facility rehabilitation
Tusayan, AZ
Water reclamation modernization
Ash Fork, AZ
New collection, treatment and reuse infrastructure
Elfrida, AZ
Water supply rehabilitation
Nine projects across four states.
View all projects