Shaw Water Engineering

What Shaw Water Engineering does

Shaw Water Engineering, operating under the legal entity John Shaw Consulting, LLC, is a sole-practitioner civil engineering consulting firm providing forensic engineering and expert witness services to the water and wastewater utility industry. The firm is led entirely by John Shaw, PE, a civil engineer with 35 years of experience spanning design, planning, construction, operations, maintenance, safety, regulatory compliance, and governance for potable water, domestic and industrial wastewater, reuse, conveyance, hydraulics, storage, and sewage collection systems. Its primary offerings are expert witness testimony and forensic analysis (mode of failure, design and operations review, industry standards, and standard of care evaluation) for plaintiff and defense counsel, supplemented by consulting services to engineering firms, municipal and private utilities, private industry, insurance companies, and regulatory bodies. The firm holds AWWA Grade IV Water Treatment and Distribution, WEF Grade IV Wastewater, California DHS Grade V Water Distribution, and Nevada Grade IV operator certifications, with PE registrations in 30+ US states and prior project work in 8+ international jurisdictions.

The business operates on a professional services model with project- and retainer-based engagements acquired through direct contact, attorney referrals, and professional reputation. There are no proprietary software platforms, technology products, or AI/ML capabilities; service delivery rests on the principal's personal expertise, certifications, and published authority (including co-authorship of WEF's Operation of Water Resource Recovery Facilities and the Lift Station Technical Report). The customer base is concentrated in Nevada and California municipal and water district accounts (City of Lovelock, Lander County, Washoe County Utility Division, Alpine Springs County Water District, Gold Mountain CSD, Pine Ridge Water Company, Battle Mountain WWTP, Tahoe Truckee Sanitary Agency) with select industrial and international engagements. The firm is not institutionally backed, has no subsidiaries, and operates from a single Truckee, USA office with all distribution and client acquisition handled directly by the principal via a static website and downloadable CV.

Growth and capacity are inherently constrained by the single-individual structure: revenue is entirely a function of the principal's billable hours, travel availability, and case pipeline, with no disclosed sales team, associate engineers, or recurring institutional client contracts. Strategic positioning is defensive and stability-oriented, focused on preserving the principal's expert witness credentials, multi-jurisdictional licensing, and published authority rather than on scaling headcount, technology investment, or geographic expansion campaigns.

Name

Shaw Water Engineering

Legal name

John Shaw Consulting, LLC

Website

https://shaweng.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Shaw Water Engineering (John Shaw Consulting, LLC) is a sole-practitioner civil engineering firm providing forensic engineering and expert witness services for water and wastewater utility matters, serving attorneys, municipalities, utilities, insurance companies, and regulatory bodies across 30+ US states.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Water and Wastewater Engineering Consulting

NAICS

Engineering Services (54133)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAHAIAD

Water, Wastewater & Hydraulics Engineering Consulting

Business & Public Services/Professional Services (Legal, Accounting, Consulting)/Engineering & Technical Consulting

SECONDARYBPAHAJAJ

Water, Wastewater & Stormwater Compliance

Business & Public Services/Professional Services (Legal, Accounting, Consulting)/Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) Consulting

Keywords

• Water utility engineering
• Wastewater utility consulting
• Forensic engineering services
• Expert witness testimony
• Hydraulic engineering consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Truckee

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Expert Witness and Forensic Engineering Services: Consulting and expert witness testimony for attorneys on water and wastewater utility matters, including forensic analysis, design review, operations assessment, and regulatory compliance evaluation. Services are provided on a project or retainer basis.
2. Engineering Consulting Services: Design, planning, construction management, operations and maintenance consulting, and regulatory compliance services for engineering firms, municipal/private utilities, private industry, and regulatory bodies.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Shaw Water Engineering provides civil engineering consulting and expert witness services to the water and wastewater utility industry, with a primary focus on forensic engineering analysis, expert witness testimony for plaintiff and defense counsel, and design/planning/construction/operations/regulatory compliance consulting for utilities, engineering firms, insurers, and regulators.

Product overview

Shaw Water Engineering (operated by John Shaw, PE) is a civil engineering consulting firm offering a unified suite of services centered on forensic engineering and expert witness testimony for the water and wastewater utility industry. The primary offerings include forensic analysis and expert witness services for legal proceedings, general civil engineering consulting (design, planning, construction, operations, maintenance, and regulatory compliance), and specialized technical consulting to engineering firms, utilities, industry, insurance companies, and regulatory bodies. Project experience spans wastewater treatment facilities (sequential batch reactors, lagoons, oxidation ditches, activated sludge), sludge treatment (digesters, thickening, dewatering), water treatment facilities, transmission systems, hydraulic modeling, SCADA systems, and related conveyance and collection infrastructure.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Forensic Engineering and Expert Witness Services Expert witness testimony and forensic engineering analysis for plaintiff and defense counsel in water and wastewater utility litigation, including mode-of-failure analysis, design and operations review, construction defect evaluation, industry standards assessment, and engineering standard-of-care opinions.
• Civil Engineering Consulting for Water and Wastewater Utilities Design, planning, construction management, operations and maintenance, and regulatory compliance consulting for water and wastewater utility clients including engineering firms, municipal and private utilities, private industry, insurance companies, and regulatory bodies.
• Wastewater Treatment Facilities Consulting Consulting and design services for wastewater treatment facilities including sequential batch reactors, aerated and facultative lagoons, rotating biological contactors, oxidation ditches, standard and modified activated sludge processes, and individual sewage disposal systems.
• Sludge Treatment Facilities Consulting Consulting for sludge treatment, thickening, and dewatering facilities including aerobic and anaerobic digesters, mechanical and gravity thickening, and mechanical dewatering.
• Water Treatment Facilities Consulting Consulting for water treatment facilities including transmission pipelines, pump stations, pressure regulating stations, AWWA storage facilities, hydraulic computer modeling, fire flow analysis, and system mapping.
• SCADA Systems Consulting Consulting services for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems supporting water and wastewater utility operations and management.

Named customers9 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Carollo Engineers: Largest US firm dedicated exclusively to water and wastewater engineering. While Shaw is a solo practitioner and Carollo a 1,000+ person firm, both operate in the same water/wastewater consulting specialty and compete for municipal utility clients and technical expertise recognition.
• Brown and Caldwell: Major environmental and water/wastewater engineering consultancy serving municipal and industrial clients. Overlaps with Shaw's utility consulting, design review, and regulatory compliance offerings, but at much larger scale and broader service scope.
• Exponent: Engineering and scientific consulting firm with significant failure analysis and expert witness practice. Competes with Shaw for high-value forensic and expert witness engagements, particularly in infrastructure failure and product liability matters.
• GHD: Global engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting firm with significant water and wastewater practice. Comparable in municipal water utility consulting but with vastly larger scale, multi-discipline teams, and international footprint overlapping Shaw's claimed geographic reach.
• Hazen and Sawyer: Established water and wastewater utility consulting firm with deep municipal client base. Comparable in technical discipline (civil/environmental engineering for water utilities) but operates at significantly larger scale than Shaw's solo practice.

Others

• Water Environment Federation (WEF): Industry association for water quality professionals that publishes the standards and operator training manuals Shaw co-authored. Not a competitor but a peer institution that anchors the professional community and referral network in which Shaw's practice operates.
• Haestad Methods / Bentley WaterCAD: Provider of hydraulic modeling software (WaterCAD / Hammer) used in water utility engineering. Comparable because Shaw's practice explicitly includes hydraulic computer modeling, fire flow analysis, and transmission pipeline design — areas where this software is standard tooling.

Direct peers

• Robson Forensic: Multi-discipline forensic engineering and expert witness firm providing expert testimony in litigation matters. Most directly comparable to Shaw in the expert witness / forensic engineering delivery model, though operating across many engineering disciplines beyond water/wastewater.
• AEI Engineering (Aquatic Engineering & Forensics): Independent forensic engineering consultancy providing expert witness services in water-related infrastructure failures. Closely mirrors Shaw's solo/small-firm expert witness model within the water/wastewater niche.

Regional players

• Water Design Inc. Independent water and wastewater engineering consulting firm serving municipal and private utility clients. Comparable in service offering (design, planning, operations) to Shaw's consulting practice, though typically structured as a multi-person firm rather than solo.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance9 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors1 record

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 Shaw Water Engineering