Gary E. Loesch, P.E. DEE

Mr. Loesch is Executive Vice President and serves on the Board of Directors of Holzmacher, McLendon & Murrell, PC; H2M Associates, Inc.; H2M Labs, Inc and H2M Construction Management, Inc. He has over 32 years experience in the fields of engineering, architecture, planning and environmental science and is currently responsible for directing and coordinating the technical activities of the firm, and developing and implementing project management and related training programs within the firm. The major focus of these efforts is to improve the quality of our services to better serve our clients needs. He continues to be an account executive responsible for various municipal clients in the wastewater and water supply industry.

Mr. Loesch was Director of Environmental Engineering with principal focus in the fields of water supply wastewater and septage waste treatment, solid waste management, resource recovery, centralized industrial wastewater treatment and related projects in environmental engineering. He also worked on various multi-media projects including remedial investigations/feasibility studies (RI/FS), treatment facility design and construction services, ground/surface water monitoring networks, and closure plans. He was a project manager on master plans, water supply and water treatment design projects for municipal clients. A few examples of his diverse project management experience include:

• Development of master plans, including the evaluation of groundwater supply, treatment and distribution systems, forecasting future needs and recommending comprehensive long- term solutions. Utilized groundwater models to trace contaminates and hydraulic models to identify necessary improvements in water distribution systems. Assist in the public hearing process and establishing financing alternatives to implement needed programs. Designed numerous water supply wells and treatment systems.
• Area-wide planning, treatment facility design and construction services to numerous municipal clients including the Towns of East Hampton, Huntington, Oyster Bay, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Southampton and Southold. Preparation of comprehensive wastewater facility plans, extensive environmental inventory; analysis of existing conditions; and identification of existing and future needs. He managed these projects, developed alternatives based on environmental, economic and implementation considerations, assembled and directed the overall design team, provided technical review and oversight. Due to his efforts, a number of these projects were awarded federal and state Innovative and Alternative Technology Grants resulting in 92.5 percent funding. Two of the scavenger waste treatment plants designed and constructed were among the first such plants in the United States to treat scavenger waste to tertiary levels, resulting in a high quality effluent suitable for groundwater discharge and discharge to a sensitive bay system, respectively. In conjunction with the report and design phase, he also coordinated all aspects of the wastewater district formation phase including public participation, public hearings, preparation of applications to the New York State Department of Audit and Control and the successful formation of five wastewater disposal districts. Legal descriptions and maps, based on property tax maps, excluding sewered areas, were prepared for all of these districts. For each wastewater disposal district, he forecasted the annual capital, operation and maintenance costs over a 20-year period and the resultant tax rates and user fees.
• Preparation of a study to evaluate the feasibility of implementing a centralized collection and conveyance sewer system in the Melville area to protect the underlying groundwater aquifers from future contamination and eliminate existing industrial and commercial discharges to groundwater. Development within the study area was estimated to generate up to 3.1 MGD, with the selected remedy to convey the wastewater to the Suffolk County Sewer District No.3 (Bergen Point STP). The study included the preparation of a district map and legal description, whereby selected parcels that were zoned residential had to be identified and excluded from the proposed industrial/commercial district. The project also included an extensive public participation program up to and including all filings with the New York State Department of Audit and Control for district approval.
• Under contract with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), Mr. Loesch conducted a major surface water sampling, analysis and modeling program for the Rancocas Estuary. Based on extensive field sampling and analysis program, H2M predicted the assimilative capacity of the estuary and developed waste load allocations for seven sewage treatment plants discharging to the estuary. The success of this project led to a recommendation by the NJDEP and a contract with the Evesham Municipal Utilities Authority and the Township of Maple Shade to conduct a similar study of the Pennsauken Creek.

Mr. Loesch has coordinated and guided public participation and citizen advisory groups on projects to ensure public involvement and input in the areas of facility planning, wastewater and septage treatment and solid waste management. He has provided citizen training, developed work plans, prepared fact sheets and agency responsiveness summaries, conducted citizen surveys and coordinated hearings and publicmeetings. Serving on the Long Island Environmental Economic Roundtable (LIEER), he has worked closely with a LIEER sub-committee to address the need to recycle abandoned and underutilized land within New York State. The major focus of these efforts has been to develop a program in conjunction with NYSDEC to promote voluntary cleanup of contaminated sites, thereby putting formerly productive parcels back to use and minimizing the need to develop in pristine areas.

Before joining H2M, Mr. Loesch served as an instructor in Systems Analysis and Engineering Economics at Cornell University.