Professional Summary
Senior Water Resources Engineer and Software Developer with over 25 years of experience bridging advanced hydrological simulation and modern software solutions. Proven track record of architecting complex water balance models, designing decision-support systems, and developing software tools that translate operational logic into highly scalable, user-friendly applications. Passionate about leveraging data science, cloud architecture, and intuitive UI/UX to solve complex water resource challenges under uncertainty.
Technical Skills
Hydrology & Hydraulics
- Industrial Water Balance
- Municipal Water Delivery Systems
- Irrigation Canal Improvements
- Flood Control Studies
- Rainfall-Runoff Modeling
- Open Channel Flow
Simulation & Strategy
- GoldSim (Advanced)
- EPANET, HEC-RAS, SWMM
- Conceptual Water Supply Modeling
- Decision Support Systems
- Stochastic Modeling
- Uncertainty Analysis
Programming & Tools
- Python (Pandas, SciPy, Django)
- Web App Development
- System Architecture & UI/UX
- Git/GitHub Version Control
- Stochastic Weather Generation
- Climate Change Forecasting
Professional Experience
Principal Engineer & Independent Consultant
Lillywhite Water Solutions LLC
- Providing specialized consulting services in water resources engineering, simulation architecture, and software development.
- Partnering with clients to build custom digital solutions, stochastic models, and decision-support systems.
- Developing modern web applications to provide intuitive interfaces for complex simulation models.
Senior Water Resources Engineer & Solution Lead
GoldSim Technology Group
- Lead technical support and consulting for a global user base, directly influencing development of water resources features.
- Designed and delivered complex water balance and process models for large-scale clients.
- Authored support documentation and delivered specialized training to engineers worldwide.
Advanced Modeling & Architecture Projects
- Oil Sands Water Reclamation: Architected a complex water reclamation plant model for a major mining company, engineering a special mathematical solver to successfully handle intricate feedback loops and multiple recycle streams.
- Jordan River Regional Water Balance: Developed a comprehensive model of the Salt Lake Valley water cycle, simulating complex decision logic for routing water across municipalities and irrigation districts from supply through effluent recycling.
- Hawkes Bay Regional Water Supply (NZ): Built a custom flow solver to study the viability of a new reservoir in a large agricultural basin, accurately balancing complex, competing multi-sector water demands.
Regional Technology Leader / Water Resources Engineer
CH2M HILL
- Served as Project Manager for 10+ major water resources projects; managed a $200k fee project that secured an ACEC Honor Award (Utah Chapter, 2006).
- Led technical modeling in reservoir operations, supply-demand forecasting, hydrology, and unsteady open channel flow (HEC-RAS, SWMM, GoldSim).
- Spearheaded internal business development initiatives focused on simulation tools, acting as a Solution Lead and directly resulting in new project acquisitions and revenue growth.
Key Consulting Projects
- Digital Twins: Developed a custom hydraulic digital twin for the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake to simulate real-time operations of new WTPs, pump stations, and pipelines prior to startup.
- Industrial Water Balance: Designed major model upgrades for a site-wide water balance model for Kennecott Copper Mine (Rio Tinto), expanding the tailings facility simulation to drive operational decision-making.
- Reclaimed Water Networks: Engineered a complex operations model for the City of Santa Rosa simulating hundreds of scenarios across a 12-pond system to optimize discharge criteria.
- Environmental Constraints: Built a dynamic operations model for CalWater to evaluate fish bypass scenarios for river diversions, incorporating complex water rights and environmental constraints.
Water Resources Engineer
Ensign Engineering and Land Surveying
- Managed design and construction documents for water, wastewater, and irrigation distribution systems.
- Authored a successful USBR 2025 grant proposal for secondary water metering funds.
Junior Engineer | SHN Consulting Engineers May 2000 - July 2001
Assisted with stream channel restoration, dam break analysis, and Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPP).
Education
Master of Science, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Thesis: "Performance of Water Supply Operations Measured by Reliability and Marginal Cost"
Bachelor of Science, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Licensure
Software Development
Co-Simulation Architecture (Python/GoldSim/EPA)
Architected and developed robust integration bridges connecting GoldSim with core industry-standard modeling engines (MODFLOW, EPANET, EPA SWMM), enabling seamless data exchange and multi-domain co-simulation for complex water systems.
PrecipGen (Python/GoldSim)
Engineered a parameter generator and stochastic model for simulating synthetic daily precipitation patterns, significantly enhancing climate variability analysis in mine water management.
GSPy (Open Source)
Developed the GoldSim-Python interface library, facilitating seamless integration between dynamic simulation software and the Python data science stack.
rTemp (Python)
Developed a deterministic water temperature model utilizing a heat budget approach to calculate water body response temperatures based on complex meteorological inputs.
Publications & Presentations
- Lillywhite, J. (2025). "Introduction to PrecipGen: Stochastic Daily Precipitation Model – Enhancing Mine Water Management under Climate Variability." Presented at Mine Water Solutions Conference.
- Ahmadisharaf, E., Kalyanapu, A., Lillywhite, J., & Tonn, G.L. (2018). "A probabilistic framework to evaluate the uncertainty of design hydrograph: case study of Swannanoa River Watershed." Hydrological Sciences Journal, 63(12).
- Lillywhite, J. et al. (2016). "Vulnerability Assessment to Support Integrated Water Resources Management of Metropolitan Water Supply Systems." Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management.
- Lillywhite, J. (2014). "Probabilistic analysis to evaluate the effects of dam breach methodologies on downstream flood hazard." World Environmental & Water Resources Congress.