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I’m a water resource professional with over 38 years of experience, blending both practical science and engineering. I began my career in the American southwest before the age of microcomputers; now I relate that experience to a connected global community that faces the specter of climate change, food shortage, population growth, and transboundary water conflict.
Over the years I’ve diversified my water resource work to include infrastructure design, surface water hydrology, groundwater hydrology, floodplain management, water supply and demand, operations, dam safety, watershed restoration, climate science, and geographic information systems. Geospatial intelligence is the common thread that weaves through all of my experience– since the age of four I’ve been sketching freehand maps of the United States, Europe and Asia. This innate sense of geography has taken on new meaning in a world knitted together by geospatial data and the world wide web. I also have a keen understanding of the global economy and business of water, ranging from macroeconomics to day to day program management. For example, I recently used geostatistical interpolation (kriging) to reconstruct the paleosurface of the Friars Formation below Qualcomm Stadium, and incorporated this geologic structure into a numeric groundwater model. This work was completed within the context of litigation, local politics, an understanding of drought impact on local agencies throughout California, and an understanding of the need for local water supplies to the economy of San Diego. The work was completed in spite of Federal shutdowns and staff reductions.
Greg Cross at the City of San Diego paid me this complement:
Doug is also very flexible with new ideas and incorporates them, while at the same time, manages the scope of the project. He is also resourceful in finding what ideas or strategies have worked in the past, and applies them to the current course of action. Doug is a team player in the sense that he draws on the skills and ideas of others and a coach in the sense that he keeps everyone moving toward the same goal, with a winning attitude!
My career now takes this innate childhood talent related to geography and integrates it into modern data management practices, as related to both science and engineering. I look forward to working on cutting edge research related to climate science, to integrating surface and groundwater resource management, to constructing surface and subsurface hydrologic simulations, monitoring global issues from a water resource perspective, and just about anything else related to water and water management.
This page, and the following pages, do not represent the opinion of the Department of Interior, or my opinion as an expert witness, and are my personal, professional weblog (United States Constitution, first amendment, freedom of speech).
For further qualifications, see the Resume of Douglas B. Blatchford, PE, PH, CEM, CFM, or visit the website of Southwest Hydrology & Hydraulics, LLC.
This ePortfolio was last updated January 18, 2020.
Douglas B. Blatchford, PE, PH, CEM, CFM 