NTH is looking for a computer specialist to support our dynamic civil engineering team. This position will be based in our Northville office, but would assist team members with their IT needs in our six offices throughout Michigan and Ohio. The successful candidate for this open position will have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems or related discipline - an associates degree and relevant experience may be considered.

Technical experience would include:

• Minimum 3 years of experience in a desktop / server support role configuring and troubleshooting Windows operating systems
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office suites
• 1+ years deploying standardized desktop / laptop images
• Experience with PC/Laptops and Windows Servers; Microsoft Windows Active Directory functionality; Networking protocols and connectivity basics; printer, scanner and wireless network configuration and troubleshooting and diagnosing, maintaining and repairing computer hardware and peripherals.
• Working knowledge of BST and SQL databases preferred
• Experience writing Structured Query Language (SQL) and stored procedures a plus
• CAD support experience a plus
• Knowledge of SharePoint (Sharepoint Designer, InfoPath, HTML CSS, security permissions, etc.) a plus

NTH has been providing professional consulting services to public and private clients throughout the United States as a Michigan corporation since 1968. As an employee-owned firm, NTH values its employees’ health and welfare. We offer a competitive benefits program designed to support the needs of our employee-owners and their families. Regular, full-time employees are offered generous benefits as part of the total compensation package.

​NTH supports our employees' career development with tuition reimbursement, staff mentoring, in-house and external training, and conferences as well on the job training experiences. We take our work seriously, but we know how to have fun. We promote a relaxed company culture that focuses on improving not only our staff members' professional life, but also their personal life. We regularly schedule company activities, such as our company picnic, golf leagues and outings, holiday parties, ice cream socials, cook-offs and more. We are also health conscious and offer a Wellness Program with an annual Wellness Fair and monthly health initiatives along with impromptu activities such as group lunch walks, healthy snack days, after work bike outings, and more. 

If you are interested in learning more about this position, you can click here to read more and apply.

You can also click here to learn more about NTH and our company culture.

​Last week, Harry Price, P.E., NTH Senior Principal Engineer, had the honor of hosting the 92nd Annual Michigan Water Environment (MWEA) Awards Luncheon which took place during the 2017 MWEA Annual Conference at Boyne Mountain Resort.

​Mr. Price is the MWEA Association Director and during the luncheon he presented awards to, among others, key NTH client representatives Dave Monmette from the City of Warren; Jim Nash, the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner; and Sue McCormick, CEO of Great lakes Water Authority.

Mr. Monmette received the Donald M. Pierce Award which recognizes a worthy individual who has demonstrated outstanding performance in a municipal facility.  Ms. McCormick received the James R. Rumsey Award for the best presentation at the 2016 conference.

Mr. Nash was awarded Public Utility Management Professional of the Year which is given to a worthy individual demonstrating outstanding dedication to his or her employer and to the MWEA, has excelled professionally, and has publicly promoted the wastewater environment profession. 

NTH wishes to congratulate all of the winners!

​NTH Founder Accepts Engineering Society of Detroit’s Highest Honor

One of our firms founders, Jerome (Jerry) Neyer, PE, FESD (the "N" in NTH), will be awarded the Horace H. Rackham Humanitarian Award at the ESD Annual Dinner on June 21, 2017.  This award, ESD's highest honor, is given for outstanding humanitarian achievements as exemplified by meritorious technical accomplishments for the benefit of mankind or by recognition on either a local, national or international level for extraordinary achievements in civic, business, public-spirited or humanitarian endeavors. Mr. Neyer was nominated for the award by a committee of his peers, in recognition for exemplary service and contributions to the ESD and outstanding achievements within our community and industry.

Mr. Neyer, a professional engineer with more than 50 years of experience, has always been active in professional organizations. He has served as president of the Southeastern Michigan Branch of ASCE, president of the Consulting Engineers Council of Michigan, and president of ASFE – Professional Firms Practicing in the Geosciences. He also served a one-year term as president of the Engineering Society of Detroit. Mr. Neyer has been a member of the Engineering Society of Detroit for 50 years and he has been mentoring students participating in the ESD Future City competition for the past nine years.
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Mr. Neyer has also been active in a number of civic and charitable organizations. He has served on the board of the Farmington Hills YMCA, as a Trustee of Lighthouse of Oakland County, the Engineering Advisory Board for the University of Detroit Mercy and as Chairman of the Farmington Hills Building Authority.

Mr. Neyer received a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the University of Detroit that now offers a yearly scholarship in his name. 

You can read the entire press release here. 

Natural gas has been “fueling” a significant part of NTH’s business, especially over the past few years.  NTH provides services to the natural gas distribution companies across Ohio, Northern Indiana, and Michigan. 

Recent projects have required NTH to provide site-civil engineering, subsurface utility engineering (SUE) locating services, pipeline routing design, base mapping, geotechnical engineering, materials testing, stormwater pollution prevention planning, construction administration, municipal permitting, and environmental agency permitting. 

NTH is also called upon to manage work by its sub-consultants for topographic and site features surveys, easement documents, construction staking surveys, and due diligence and permitting for ecological and cultural resources. Reasons for NTH’s increase in this line of business include are an increase in the use of natural gas (over coal), organized programs for replacement of aging gas distribution pipe networks, NTH’s growing expertise in this industry, and a robust economy. 

​Feel free to contact Patrick (Pat) Nortz, CPG, PE if you have questions on our natural gas engineering / environmental services:  pnortz@nthconsultants.com. 

On December 24, 2016, a sinkhole opened up on 15 Mile and Eberlein Drive in Fraser, Michigan due to a collapse of the 11-foot diameter 15-Mile Interceptor.  Since that time, NTH has been providing support for the project. We recently had a chance to capture some images of the work being done on this massive project. 

The Oakland-Macomb Interceptor Drain (OMID) is a large diameter deep sewer system that serves over 800,000 residents of Southeastern Michigan. This sewer was constructed in-tunnel in the 1970s, and has experienced several catastrophic failures over the years, the latest in 2004. The OMID system consists of mostly 8 foot to 12.75 foot diameter sewer that ranges in depth from 30 to 110 feet. 

Nearly ten years ago, the Oakland Macomb Interceptor Drain Drainage District selected NTH Consultants to lead a team to develop an overall design approach for rehabilitation of the system, and to prepare contract documents for six (6) construction contracts that comprised the overall rehabilitation and repair program. 

Throughout the years, NTH has won numerous awards for our work on this project including:

​​​​Many years later, the OMID team gathered on May 23 at the site of Control Structure 3 for a ceremonial ribbon cutting to commemorate the substantial completion of the OMID repair program - a milestone over 10 years in the making!

​On hand for the ceremony were Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller, Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash, several key members of both counties’ staff, representatives of Jay Dee Contractors, and the engineering team led by NTH.  Representatives from the Owner, Contractor, and Engineering team spoke about the successful project, and the team celebrated with a luncheon following the proceedings.

By Ryan Butler, P.E.

The NTH Cleveland office has been receiving requests for their Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) expertise more and more frequently.  One of the more recent requests occurred on the Doan Valley Relief and Consolidation Sewer (DVRCS) project, on which NTH is conducting various geotechnical field and design tasks.  NTH was asked to locate the alignment (horizontal and vertical) of a No. 7 brick sewer that was installed in the 1920s.  As you can imagine, as-built documentation was relatively non-existent, and so there was a blind bend in the pipe – meaning a bend that occurred where no access structure is located (e.g. manhole). After looking into our options, and including relatively new innovative ideas, we determined this type of SUE effort would require a two-step approach. 

The first step required narrowing down the horizontal alignment.  This type of challenge is not new to NTH, as we have traced sewers through various means of inserting traceable equipment into the pipe.  For this particular instance, we were dealing with a sewer that was on the order of approximately 20 to 25 feet in depth – where the traceable device would feasibly be located. A depth of 20 feet is generally considered the assumed feasible maximum depth for tracing with line locators; however, we have traced deeper objects in the past, so we knew it could be done – especially with assistance of newer tracer wire that was in good (non-corroded) shape. 

With assistance of our subcontractor, we pulled our tracer wire through the sewer by use of a CCTV rover. This produced mixed results, as we seemed to be receiving interference in tracing signal from objects other than our target tracer wire.  It did not help that the area is relatively congested with underground utilities, but we did not believe this to cause as much issue as we were having.  We thought maybe we were receiving interference form the CCTV unit due to our tracer wire being located so closely to electronics.  Thankfully, the No. 7 brick sewer carried relatively high flow and our field engineer, Anthoni Fazio, came up with the innovative idea of creating a flotation object to carry the tracer wire which allowed us to avoid the potential CCTV interference and made the attempt more cost effective. We converted a plastic cleaning device bottle into a perfect floatation object that got the job done.  The tracing seemed to work well and produce results we were confident with.
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Then we were on to step 2 which involved exploratory drilling to touch the top of the brick sewer at a number of locations and confirm its profile.  We were able to work around some ‘hiccups’ with this step as well, use our decisive engineering judgement, and produce the results needed!

Project Overview:
The Oakland-Macomb Interceptor Drain (OMID) is a large diameter sewer system that serves over 800,000 residents of Oakland and Macomb Counties. This sewer was constructed in the I970s, and has experienced several catastrophic collapses over its service life, the latest occurring in 2004. The OMID system consists of mostly 8-foot to I 3-foot diameter sewers that are up to 110 feet deep, extending below major transportation and power transmission corridors, which serve several million people and businesses. 

NTH performed several inspections in 2005 through 2008, and found that many areas of the sewer were in poor condition and could be subject to additional collapses. The OMID Board chose NTH to lead a team of design consultants and develop an approach for rehabilitation of the system, and to prepare contract documents for three-phase rehabilitation and repair program. Segment 3 (Contract 4) of the program began construction in November, 2013 and was substantially completed in July, 2016.  

​This segment of the OMID Repair Program was a first for our industry in many ways. Never before had a repair program been attempted at such a large diameter (up to 13 feet), at such extreme depths (up to 110 feet), at these lengths (over seven miles), without the ability to bypass flow. This unprecedented scope of construction required complex flow control systems; innovative construction means, methods, and equipment; and efficient operations in tight work windows. Because of the truly unique nature of this project and the challenges involved in its successful completion, Segment 3 of the OMID Repair Program has garnered national attention in our industry.

The planned Indeck Niles Energy Center in Niles, Michigan will be a 1,000-megawatt combined-cycle power plant fueled by clean natural gas. The facility is being developed to fill the need for generating resources created by the decommissioning of less-efficient coal-fired plants in the region. 
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The plan is for the facility to be operational by 2020, however, prior to construction, Indeck Niles had to go through the permitting process - and that's where NTH comes into the picture. NTH was chosen by Indeck Niles to assist in securing an air permit for the construction of the Energy Center.

On March 3, 2016, NTH met with representatives of Indeck Niles, LLC to discuss air permitting requirements for a new natural gas combined-cycle electric baseload plant. The new power plant will consist of two natural gas-fired CTGs, two HRSGs equipped with natural gas-fired duct burners, one steam turbine generator, and ancillary equipment. NTH developed air emission estimates for several operational scenarios, including various equipment manufacturers and ambient conditions, baseload operation, and startup and shutdown.

As part of air pollution control technology evaluation, NTH performed an in-depth review of NOx, CO, and VOC BACT limits and averaging periods on the combined-cycle CTGs in order to permit optimal operational flexibility and ensure future compliance across various operating conditions. NTH reviewed SCR and oxidation catalyst performance at numerous similar sources nationwide, in support of proposed BACT limitations, which were accepted by Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). NTH also provided theoretical cost information for PM, SO2, and CO2 control technology on natural gas CTGs at the request of MDEQ, although there is no current application of these controls on gas CTGs.

Finally, NTH performed an ambient impact analysis to demonstrate compliance with air quality standards and increments using computational models through the use of accepted guidance and methodology. The modeling analysis consistently supported flexible operation of the plant.

During biweekly calls, NTH worked closely with MDEQ during permit review to allow for timely permit approval. NTH provided feedback to MDEQ on draft permit conditions regarding regulatory consistency and operational flexibility. Within a few weeks after the close of the public comment period, MDEQ issued the permit with insignificant changes. 

The permit application was submitted to MDEQ on May 10, 2016, and the permit was issued on January 4, 2017. Indeck Niles LLC obtained the permit ahead of schedule and with flexible conditions originally requested in the application.  ​

NTH has worked with DTE Energy Company for nearly 50 years, providing various services throughout this time, such as Asset Management Services. In continuing this relationship, DTE contracted with NTH in October 2016 to assist in the Greater Michigan Asset Tagging efforts.  To provide some history, in 2001, DTE merged with Michigan Consolidated Gas (MichCon), bringing Michcon under DTE as a subsidiary.  Although Michcon sites, specifically in west Michigan, northern Michigan, and the Upper Peninsula (DTE Greater Michigan), have been part of the DTE system for many years, many of their “assets”, such as HVAC equipment, which are maintained by the DTE Facilities group in Detroit, have not been fully integrated into the standard DTE Facilities management system. 
 
In an effort to develop a comprehensive understanding of the assets at DTE Greater Michigan sites and integrate the Greater Michigan assets into Maximo, the DTE tracking system, NTH staff members, Phil Herout and Mary Koeger, spent eight weeks from November through January traveling to various DTE Greater Michigan facilities throughout the Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula locating assets on site.  To complete this project, NTH located equipment at the various DTE sites, entered the equipment information in DTE’s Maximo system, printed tags used to identify each piece of equipment, and placed the tags at each piece of equipment. In the future, DTE will use the tags to assist maintenance workers to identify, track, and maintain these assets.
 
Although the field work is now complete, NTH is working to create “Asset Plan” drawings for DTE.  The Asset Plans will show the location of each tagged asset on a building floor plan. The Asset Plans will be used by DTE maintenance personnel to assist locating specific assets in the field.
 
We want to send out a thank you to our staff members, Phil and Mary, and everyone who was involved in this project to make it a great success!