Even in extreme weather situations, environmentally savvy Retention Pond Services (RPS) is there to act quickly and help prevent contaminated storm water from flowing into tributaries, contaminating delicate ecosystems. This essential service saves the lives of countless species and reduces the pollutant content of our nation’s natural water systems, making it safe for campers to swim in a lake and children to wade in a shallow bay.
In 1996, Retention Pond Services president and founder Glenn H. Garrett witnessed the aftermath of a hurricane in the southeastern United States. He observed firsthand the storm water damage that hurricanes cause and recognized the negative environmental impact of poorly maintained storm water retention structures. Garrett sought a feasible solution to prevent the damage from happening, a solution that came in the form of RPS.
Thirteen years after its incorporation RPS has become one of the largest facilitators of storm water retention management in the country, equipped to manage all aspects of storm water mantainence, inspection and the heavy equipment associated with repair work. RPS has eight offices in Delaware, Virginia, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi and is headquartered in Wilmington, N.C. The firm services all of the southeastern United States with roughly 100 employees. With the ability to juggle dozens upon dozens of high-intensity jobs at the same time, there’s never a dull moment when working for RPS.
“What sets us apart is our ability to do the really big, nasty, heavy equipment maintenance type jobs,” says Edward Coleman, General Counsel for RPS.
Keeping Qualified Experts in the Field
The company’s staff includes certified Best Management Practice (BMP) specialists, who are trained in the legal, logistical and procedural aspects of storm water retention, maintenance and remediation. BMP specialists understand federal and state compliance regulations; many have developed relationships with government water quality agencies and act as liaisons on behalf of clients, according to the company Web site.
Like Garret, most of the staff are former marines or military personnel, many of whom are recruited from Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., and Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C. Those who aren’t former military have higher education degrees in marine biology. RPS senior management trains company employees extensively while out in the field. According to Coleman, RPS has a fun but focused atmosphere.
“Glenn does a very good job at retaining his best employees,” Coleman explains. “He has high expectations of all his employees but at the same time rewards those who excel.”
RPS does a great majority of the company’s work in-house, and generally tries not to use subcontractors unless it cannot get to an emergency situation in time and the client needs immediate relief.
“We feel like we can do it better and, more often than not, more cost efficiently by doing it ourselves,” explains Coleman, adding that being self-reliant is good for customer service, too. “We don’t like risking our business relationships with our customers by putting a sub in between us and them.”
Accommodating the Client
RPS has an extensive Web site with client-based portals that allow customers to keep updated on the work that is taking place on their sites. Coleman says the daily updated portal is “one of the things that separates [RPS] from … competitors.” This application is particularly useful for large corporate customers, who can have dozens of projects going on at one time.
Recently, RPS has experienced a push from customers to use environmentally friendly materials. These materials, such as bentonite clay, are being used as an alternative to synthetic pond liners and organic materials are being used in slope stabilization and erosion control.
“The big box, Fortune 20 customers … have really adopted corporate cultures of going green and that funnels down to us,” says Coleman. “They’re more cognizant of what [materials] we’re using, they want to make sure we’re using materials and methods that meet their threshold for being a green company.”
For example, Wal-Mart, one of the firm’s largest clients, is a leader in the green movement. RPS has recently completed several large-scale storm water projects for Wal-Mart with a focus on using green materials and environmentally friendly methods.
In another large, high-profile project RPS worked with the Lakes Management Department of Kiawah Island, near Charleston, South Carolina, and removed more than 10,000 cubic feet of sediment from a pond on the island’s Turtle Beach Lane, improving its water quality and enhancing its biodiversity. RPS used several high-tech machines to clear the pond, including a Caterpillar excavator with an amphibious undercarriage to cut a relief ditch and facilitate draining and Caterpillar super-long reach excavators to remove sediment. All together, the project took only 24 days to complete.
“Their level of expertise in quality wetland remediation made them a viable resource for this job,” Norm Shea, director of Kiawah Island Community Association’s Lake Management Department, said of RPS in a release.
Whether on a calm resort island or in an urgent storm emergency when chaos is at its peak, RPS is prepped to respond to the most difficult of conditions and save the environment from further damage.