Water and Environmental Programs

Choosing the Right Engineer for Your Project

Counseling an applicant on a reasonable approach for selecting a project engineer is an important part of RUS service.  The owner's selection of an engineer is one of the first steps to a successful infrastructure improvement project.  The May 2003 issue of the Pacific Mountain Network News provides tips to aid an owner in selecting a project engineer.

A recent Question of the Month in the Opflow publication by the American Water Works Association has good information on this very subject. Although, we do not encourage giving engineers a bonus for cost savings as suggested in the last paragraph, it has some very helpful guidance. The article is available at www.awwa.org/Science/sun/index.cfm.

Another excellent article on this topic was printed in the Pipeline, Winter 1997 (Volume 8, No. 1), "Choose the Right Consultant for Your Wastewater Project." This is a publication by the National Small Flows Clearinghouse. You can contact the clearinghouse by phone at 1-800-624-8301 or via the Internet at www.nsfc.wvu.edu.