Environmental Business Journal Awards

Strategic undergrounding program
Won by: San Diego Gas & Electric
Award: EBJ Industry Leadership – Strategic Undergrounding Program

The team delivered industry-leading results on a Southern California utility’s Strategic Undergrounding Program, addressing escalating wildfire risks driven by drought, extreme heat and high winds. By placing the environmental team at the center of delivery alongside engineering and construction, ArchTam cut cost per mile, accelerated permitting and significantly increased the pace of undergrounding. The program managed 18 service categories, maintained strong safety and quality, and enabled 112 miles of powerline undergrounding — a 53 percent annual increase and 23 percent cost per mile reduction. Sustainability and equity were embedded throughout, achieving 38 percent Diverse Business Enterprise participation, minimizing environmental impacts, engaging nine Tribes through 37 meetings, and securing more than 500 permits and easements. This integrated model sets a new benchmark for wildfire mitigation and resilient infrastructure.

Realigning the Lower San Acacia Reach: A model for sustainable river management in the Rio Grande watershed
Won by: ArchTam
Award: EBJ Project Merit – Sustainability Model for Rio Grande Watershed

The Rio Grande watershed is critical for water users, ecosystems, and recreation, but its highly dynamic channel has shifted significantly over the past century. To address challenges in the Lower San Acacia Reach — such as channel perching, conveyance losses, and declining habitat — the Bureau of Reclamation is planning a 20‑mile river realignment south of Socorro, NM that works with natural geomorphic trends to improve water delivery, enhance ecosystem health, and reduce long‑term maintenance. ArchTam is supporting a four‑year environmental program with robust stakeholder engagement and regulatory compliance, producing key analyses including a 2024 geomorphology and alternatives report and a 2025 Draft Environmental Impact Statement. This forward‑looking effort integrates engineering, science, and collaboration to strengthen river resilience.

Closing the loop on PFAS: Advanced technology for ARFF vehicle decontamination
Won by: ArchTam, TRS Group, Inc., Denver International Airport
Award: EBJ Technology Merit Awards – PFAS Decontamination

Airports face growing PFAS contamination challenges from decades of AFFF use, intensified by the EPA’s 2024 designation of PFOA and PFOS as CERCLA hazardous substances. Denver International Airport, with ArchTam and TRS Group, implemented a groundbreaking closed-loop cleaning system to decontaminate ARFF vehicles, circulating heated water and cleaning agents through foam systems on each vehicle. After three to five cycles, PFAS levels dropped an average of 98.72 percent, enabling safe conversion to fluorine-free foam without replacing vehicles and saving millions in equipment costs. A total of 20 firefighting vehicles were cleaned, supported by SOP development, rigorous sampling, and validation of analytical results. This innovative, repeatable approach sets a national precedent for cost-effective PFAS remediation and regulatory compliance.

Leading the charge in post-wildfire environmental recovery
Won by: ArchTam and ECC for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Award: EBJ Industry Leadership – Post-Wildfire Rapid Environmental Recovery

After the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led a six-month recovery effort that cleared more than 12,000 parcels, enabling communities to rebuild while safely managing hazards such as asbestos, lead and lithium batteries without harming wildlife or cultural resources. The team’s custom mobile and GIS-enabled apps streamlined more than 27,000 biological and archaeological monitoring forms, reducing errors and accelerating clearance through real-time digital reporting. Working long hours, crews recovered artifacts and documented historic structures, preserving cultural heritage, while the program also provided hands-on training for recent graduates through mentorship with senior experts. This effort set a national standard for innovative, coordinated and resilience-focused disaster recovery.

Klamath Dam removal project
Won by: RES
Award: EBJ Project Merit – Large-Scale River Restoration

When four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River were deemed environmentally and economically unsustainable, a diverse coalition — led by Tribes — advanced the landmark 2016 Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement, creating the Klamath River Renewal Corporation to deliver the largest dam removal project in history. The final dam came down in October 2024, and by fall 2025 over 10,000 Chinook salmon had returned to the upper basin. The project restored habitat, reconnected floodplains, improved tribal subsistence resources, created public access to world‑class whitewater, and will return 2,000 acres to the Shasta Indian Nation. ArchTam facilitated federal cultural resource compliance, protected cultural sites, and supported listing part of Kikacéki on the National Register.

Climate Change Business Journal awards

Innovating energy and carbon management for the world’s largest chemical company
Won by: ArchTam and BASF
Award: CCBJ Consulting & Engineering – Sustainability Target Architecture Solution Implementation

ArchTam partnered with BASF to deliver a global energy and carbon management solution that provides transparent, asset‑management GHG estimation to support Product Carbon Footprints. Using BASF’s STArS architecture for data collection on Enablon, ArchTam created a scalable, assurance-ready approach to automize data collection for CO2 emissions that can be rapidly deployed plant by plant. Three proof-of‑concept sites validated the method, enabling expansion across 550 plants worldwide, including Ludwigshafen, Germany. The solution automates significant parts of the data collection for GHG reporting, supports sustainable product design, reduces energy use and lowers operating costs. By combining advanced technology with strategic consulting, ArchTam helped BASF to significantly increase efficiency in the processes and transform complex environmental data into actionable insights.

Building Brazil’s carbon future: A transformative national carbon certification program
Won by: ArchTam, BNDES, Bradesco Bank and Ecogreen Fund
Award: CCBJ Consulting & Engineering – Carbon Certification Program for Brazil

ECORA is a national carbon credit certification program positioned to become a reference for Brazil and the Global South, strengthening trust and transparency while enabling market-wide growth. Structured through ArchTam’s advisory program and formally launched in partnership with BNDES, Bradesco and the Ecogreen Fund at COP30, it enhances security and scalability in a sector that must grow 400 percent by 2030. Integrated with the Conservare Digital Platform, ECORA digitizes the full credit generation lifecycle — from feasibility to retirement — using geospatial analytics, predictive modeling and automated traceability. The solution reduces transaction costs, accelerates certification, and aligns methodologies and safeguards with Brazil’s diverse biomes, regulatory frameworks and socioenvironmental realities. By delivering high-integrity, locally tailored certification and expanding market access, ECORA attracts global investment and supports Brazil’s low carbon transition, demonstrating ArchTam’s leadership in scaling climate solutions.

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Ciro Viscotti joined ArchTam 20 years ago as a graduate chemical engineer. Since then, he has developed his expertise in environmental engineering, remediation process and treatment technologies design, gaining wide-ranging experience for tackling various types of contaminants.  

He is also involved in national networks such as the Surf Italy working group within Assoreca, to promote implementation of sustainable remediation of contaminated sites and provides ESG consultancy services related to the sustainable use of water in industrial sites. Over the past few years, Ciro has been working towards environmental management and remediation of one of the most complex PFAS contaminated sites in Italy. 

What inspired you to join the industry? 

I have a background in process engineering. My curiosity about the technologies of chemical and physical transformation of matter and the ambition to design something useful for the community drove me to study engineering.  

Since my university days, I have always been intrigued by the idea of combining the engineering approach with the goals of environmental protection, sustainable management of resources and improved social outcomes.  

I therefore decided to pursue a course of study in chemical engineering with a particular focus on the aspects of industrial safety and environmental protection.  

When I joined URS in 2004, I found a dynamic and motivating environment, and the opportunity to work with an excellent technical team. I started my career as project engineer within the Environment business line, providing technical services for the conceptual, front-end engineering and final design stages of remediation systems and treatment plants. As project engineer before and as technical lead after, I had the opportunity to provide remediation services to many national and international clients and engage with leading experts and centres of excellence within the company and among key clients like Exxon, Shell and others.

What is your favorite ArchTam project that you’ve worked on and why?  

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work on many interesting projects. One of my recent favourites is the remediation of a former manufacturing site in Northern Italy, which produced waterproofing agents for over 50 years and contributed to the PFAS contamination of a vast portion of the aquifer, with 700 square kilometres estimated to be compromised and 350,000 citizens potentially affected by health and drinking water supply issues. This is one of the most challenging projects I have undertaken in recent times: a mixture of recalcitrant compounds, included per-polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and benzotrifluorides (BTF) have been found affecting a subsoil characterized by complex geology (alluvial deposits, marly levels and calcarenitic substrates) and seasonal variability of hydrogeological conditions. 

My working group has been providing design services aimed to optimize hydraulic containment and wastewater treatment plant performance and managing the construction of physical confinement consisting of a 580-meter sheet piles wall in order to prevent clean water from entering the site, as part of the emergency measures plan for the protection of groundwater.  

Moreover, we are carrying out bench scale tests to assess the potential of innovative treatments such as advanced oxidation processes and our DE-FLUORO PFAS destruction technology. This project has given us the opportunity to collaborate with our global network of experts across Europe, the U.S. and Australia, to provide viable solutions to our client.   

Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community. 

We have recently issued the final design for the reclamation of a historical industrial plant located within the urban area of the city of Brescia, Italy.  

The industrial development after World War II led the factory to expand to its current 110,000 square meters built area. Today, entirely disused, it remains in close connection with the urban area. The industrial activity in the city — dating back to the early 1900s and mainly related to the production of caustic soda and chlorine derivatives — has heavily contaminated the soil and groundwater with inorganics, polychlorinated biphenyls and pesticides. The transport of the pollutants in groundwater and through the irrigation ditches has also caused the pollution to spread outside the industrial site.  

For the past six years, I have been working on developing an integrated strategy for decommissioning and implementing remedial actions and permanent safety measures in accordance with the site redevelopment plan and the clean-up goals set by Italy’s Environmental Ministry and the local government. In a few years’ time, we aim to return part of this territory to the public for recreational use as identified by the municipal urban planning. 

Share a piece of career advice. 

Be open and curious! You can learn every day by working together with your colleagues, managers and technical experts. We have such a wide range of skills and capabilities at ArchTam, that makes each project unique and interesting!  

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