RPH Is Growing! In 1st-quarter 2008, RPH completed the purchase of VISTA Engineering Group, LLC, formerly based in Cumming, GA. "With a well-established practice in civil engineering, land surveying, permitting, hydrology, water quality and related fields, Vista represented an opportunity for us to add depth and breadth to our services," said RPH President Reid Irwin. "The acquisition will help us work more efficiently in meeting the needs of our current and future clients."

Working with their new colleagues, RPH engineers will continue to honor one of Vista's flagship community programs, a consulting practice with private home-owner associations (HOAs) seeking certification for neighborhood dams and ponds under county storm-water facilities maintenance programs.

Residents living near the Ben Hill Reservoir in the City of East Point will benefit from dam safety improvements currently being engineered by Riley, Park, Hayden & Associates. The City of East Point awarded RPH the design contract for repair work in late 2007, with project work to begin in 2008.

A part of East Point's raw water supply, the Ben Hill reservoir was created in the 1950s in the Sweetwater Creek watershed. The reservoir dam was classified as a Category I dam in 1980. A new housing development has recently been constructed about one-half mile downstream from the dam, making safety concerns of paramount importance.

The sanitation department of DeKalb County, one of metro Atlanta's most densely populated areas, has named RPH as part of the team on a multi-year contract to provide waste management engineering services. Under terms of the contract, Riley, Park, Hayden & Associates will handle collection yard and facilities engineering and borrow area and dam engineering for DeKalb County landfill development projects. In addition to RPH, the project team includes a highly qualified team of engineering, ecological, and surveying consultants. Project activities began in first-quarter 2008.

Atlanta's vibrant Atlantic Station — an innovative urban development of residential, retail and office space — has been designed to use methane fuel recovered from a large regional waste management facility engineered and retrofitted by Riley, Park, Hayden & Associates. RPH is an industry leader in designing methane recapture capabilities for municipal landfills.