Donald Smith, P.E.
Lead Water Resources EngineerDonald Smith, P.E., is a Lead Water Resource Engineer with six decades of experience in the development and application of computational models for complex water resources systems. He specializes in hydrodynamic, thermal, water quality, and sediment transport modeling for rivers, reservoirs, and estuarine environments.
Prior to joining GEI, Donald built much of his career at Resource Management Associates, where he was one of the founding Principals and played a foundational role in advancing finite element modeling tools and their application to large-scale water management challenges. He is the principal author of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center’s HEC-5Q River-Reservoir Temperature and Water Quality model and led its integration with the HEC-ResSim reservoir operations platform. His work has supported major federal and state agencies on water quality planning, reservoir operations, environmental impact analyses, and long-term system operations across California and the southeastern United States.
Donald is widely recognized for his technical leadership, model development expertise, and long-standing contributions to water quality modeling practice.
LOCATION
Davis, CA, California
Highlights
- Professional Engineer (CA)
- B.S., Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
- Principal author of the USACE HEC-5Q temperature and water quality model
- Extensive experience modeling river-reservoir systems and estuarine environments
- Led water quality and temperature modeling for major federal and state water agencies
