HydroScience Engineers

What HydroScience Engineers does

HydroScience Engineers is a privately held, full-service civil engineering firm founded in 1998 and headquartered in Northern California, specializing in planning, design, and construction phase services for water, wastewater, and recycled water infrastructure. The firm serves municipal utilities, sanitary districts, county agencies, tribal communities, and select private clients primarily across Northern California, with an additional office in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia. Its service portfolio spans facilities planning, master planning, hydraulic modeling (using Innovyze InfoWater and InfoWorks ICM), treatment plant design, collection and distribution system design, trenchless rehabilitation (CIPP), progressive design-build delivery, and full construction phase support — including an in-house electrical, instrumentation, and controls team that supports integrated project delivery.

The firm's core technology stack centers on conventional civil engineering design and modeling tools rather than proprietary platforms, with domain specializations including Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) facility design, Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) treatment systems for groundwater remediation (notably TCP contamination), and Cured-In-Place Pipe (CIPP) trenchless rehabilitation for large-diameter trunk sewers. Notable project work includes the City of Davis $71 million WWTP comprehensive upgrade, a multi-year MSA with the City of San Jose covering the 167 MGD Regional Wastewater Facility serving 1.4 million residents, the SacSewer Mission Trunk Rehabilitation (34,000 LF of 36- to 75-inch pipe), and the City of Manteca TCP Mitigation project, which was recognized as ENR California's 2022 Best Project in the Water/Environment category.

HydroScience generates revenue through professional engineering services billed under time-and-materials or fixed-fee contracts, secured primarily through qualifications-based selection (QBS) and competitive bidding with municipal clients, supplemented by negotiated multi-year Master Services Agreements. The firm operates from four offices — Sacramento, Berkeley, and San Jose in California, plus Warrnambool, Australia — each managed by one of five principals, two of whom (Sim Blake and George Harris) are co-founders. The company is employee-owned with no disclosed external institutional investment and competes as a specialized mid-sized boutique against larger national AEC firms in its Northern California core market.

Name

HydroScience Engineers

Legal name

HydroScience Engineers

Website

https://hydroscience.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

HydroScience Engineers is a privately held Northern California civil engineering firm founded in 1998, providing planning, design, and construction services for municipal water, wastewater, and recycled water infrastructure across four offices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Water and Wastewater Civil Engineering Services

NAICS

Engineering Services (541330), Engineering Services (54133)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro primary industry

Water, Wastewater & Hydraulics Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Design & Engineering for Renewal/Expansion (Pipelines, Pump Stations, Treatment Plants) (EUANALAD)

Keywords

• Water infrastructure engineering
• Wastewater treatment design
• Recycled water systems
• Civil engineering consulting
• Hydraulic modeling services

Headquarters

HQ city

Sacramento

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Engineering Consulting Services: Professional engineering services for water, wastewater, and recycled water infrastructure projects including planning, design, permitting, and construction phase services. Revenue generated through time-and-materials or fixed-fee contracts with municipal and private clients. Projects range from small-scale improvements to large multi-year capital programs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

HydroScience Engineers is a full-service civil engineering firm providing planning, design, and construction phase services for municipal water, wastewater, and recycled water infrastructure projects. Services span facilities planning, master planning, alternatives analyses, hydraulic modeling, treatment plant and pump station design, pipeline and trunk main rehabilitation, regulatory compliance support, and construction engineering across three integrated service areas: water, wastewater, and recycled water.

Product overview

HydroScience Engineers is a full-service civil engineering firm that provides planning, design, and construction phase services for water, wastewater, and recycled water projects. The firm operates as a single integrated service offering organized around three core service areas: Water Engineering Services (treatment and conveyance facilities, groundwater/surface water plants, distribution systems), Wastewater Engineering Services (treatment plants, collection systems, lift stations), and Recycled Water Engineering Services (master plans, treatment facilities, distribution systems). Projects span from facilities planning and master planning through detailed design to construction support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Water Engineering Services Planning and design of water treatment and conveyance facilities for municipal clients, including groundwater and surface water treatment plants, pump stations, storage tanks, wells, and water distribution and transmission pipelines. Includes facilities planning, master planning, watershed analysis, hydraulic modeling, pilot testing, water distribution systems, and groundwater treatment.
• Wastewater Engineering Services Planning and design of wastewater treatment plants and plant upgrades for private and municipal clients in California. Includes wastewater master planning, alternatives analyses, pipeline rehabilitation and replacement, lift station rehabilitation, membrane filtration, headworks, disinfection, SCADA upgrades, condition assessment, and facility rehabilitation, as well as large trunk main and pressure main pipeline design.
• Recycled Water Engineering Services Recycled water master plans, feasibility studies, facility plans, treatment facility design, distribution systems design, and retrofits including cross-connection testing. Includes regulatory approval navigation and customer outreach for recycled water programs.

Quantifiable outcome

• Project selected as ENR California's 2022 Best Project in the Water/Environment category
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• General Engineering Contractors (Design-Build)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerHydroScience collaborates with general engineering contractors on progressive design-build projects, including projects like the City of Manteca TCP Mitigation where HydroScience worked with the contractor in a highly collaborative process optimizing cost, constructability, reliability, flexibility, and long-term operations and maintenance.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Carollo Engineers: Largest US firm exclusively dedicated to water and wastewater engineering planning, design, and construction management. Closest direct peer to HydroScience across municipal water, wastewater, and recycled water services with similar QBS/government client base and progressive design-build delivery.
• Brown and Caldwell: Environmental engineering and consulting firm with a long-standing water/wastewater/recycled water municipal practice. Competes directly with HydroScience on California utility capital programs and shares the same niche-focused positioning.
• Hazen and Sawyer: Specialty consulting firm focused on water and wastewater planning, design, and regulatory support for municipal clients. Directly comparable on water treatment, collection systems, and recycled water expertise.
• Kennedy Jenks: West Coast-based (with significant Northern California presence) water and environmental engineering firm. Direct competitor for the same Bay Area and Sacramento municipal clients that HydroScience serves, particularly on recycled water and wastewater master planning.
• Woodard & Curran: Integrated engineering and operations firm with strong municipal water and wastewater practice. Comparable delivery model offering planning, design, and construction-phase services to public utility clients.

Broad incumbents

• Black & Veatch: Global engineering, procurement, and construction firm with a large water practice serving municipal utilities. Broader portfolio than HydroScience and competes on larger capital programs but overlaps directly in California water/wastewater design.
• Jacobs: Global professional services firm with a substantial water and conveyance practice and significant California municipal presence. Competes for the same water/wastewater master planning and design programs but at much larger scale.
• Stantec: Global engineering and consulting firm with deep water/wastewater expertise (including legacy MWH). Competes directly with HydroScience on California municipal water projects as a multi-discipline incumbent with full PMCM capabilities.
• AECOM: Global infrastructure consulting firm with one of the largest water practices in the world. Overlaps with HydroScience in California on wastewater, recycled water, and conveyance programs but typically pursues larger scopes.

Emerging players

• Garney Construction (Water Services): Design-build and construction firm expanding its water/wastewater treatment and pump-station design services across the West. Increasingly competes with HydroScience for design-build and progressive design-build municipal scopes.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hydroscience-engineers

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about HydroScience Engineers