Murraysmith Acquires Odell Engineering, Rounding Out Water Treatment Expertise

Murraysmith is excited to announce that long-time collaborator (and occasional competitor), Odell Engineering, has officially joined our firm!

Lee—founder of Odell Engineering—and his colleague, Aaron Gress, bring a combined 38 years of engineering experience and nationally recognized expertise in ground and surface water treatment to our team, further enhancing Murraysmith’s water engineering capabilities.

Lee’s reputation in the industry and strong client relationships, forged over years of putting their treatment needs foremost in his mind, puts Murraysmith on the map as a significant resource to public agencies needing cost-effective and creative designs for high-quality treatment facilities. And did we mention that Lee literally wrote the book on groundwater treatment?

Lee explains, “Murraysmith has maintained a reputation for quality work, industry service, and customer satisfaction for many years. The firm has a tremendous amount of energy in leadership roles, and that energy will help them continue to meet the challenges facing the water, transportation, and environmental sectors. To me, helping to expand Murraysmith’s treatment offerings in drinking water and water reuse is a perfect fit. The demand for water treatment and the need for cost-effective treatment solutions has never been greater. State regulations and customer demand have become major drivers for treatment projects, adding complexity to the federal regulatory requirements. As a result, clients need guidance on water quality issues, cost-effective ways to test and compare alternatives, and proven delivery teams to get the solutions up and running.

“Technology development in the industry is also progressing at a breakneck pace, with more treatment solutions being developed every day. It’s an exciting and challenging area to work in, and I am overjoyed to be doing it as part of the Murraysmith team.”

In addition to a shared emphasis on client satisfaction, Lee wholeheartedly shares Murraysmith’s dedication to the professional growth of our staff. The Murraysmith team has gained a passionate and knowledgeable mentor, who has already dedicated many years of his career to developing training materials and resources, and who looks forward to supporting our experienced and aspiring water treatment engineers.

Lee brings tremendous technical know-how, a positive reputation in the industry, and an incredibly humble and approachable demeanor,” says Murraysmith CEO, Chris Rayasam, “shared values and objectives, we know that this partnership will allow us to continue to take care of our people and our clients.”

Meet Lee and Aaron

Lee Odell, PE, is a nationally recognized expert in drinking water quality and treatment. His over 30 years of experience includes completion of more than 200 water treatment projects, authorship of AWWA’s Treatment Technologies for Groundwater, development of ASCE’s only certificate course on drinking water treatment, and innovation of many new treatment technologies. Though over 100 of Lee’s projects have focused on removal of iron and manganese, his water treatment wizardry covers the gamut of technical solutions to address a variety of contaminants.

Aaron Gress, PE, brings eight years of experience engineering a variety of water resource infrastructure, from planning and design through construction and start up. He brings specialized expertise in the operation of advanced treatment technologies and drinking water research, as well as five years of experience as plant manager of a 200 gallon per minute demonstration treatment facility for the Bureau of Reclamation.