Industrial Wastewater
Hixson designs industrial wastewater pretreatment and treatment systems, including equalization, DAF, biological treatment, sludge handling, and discharge permitting for dairy, meat, beverage, pharma, and biotech operations.
Hixson provides wastewater engineering consulting services for industrial, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and biotech facilities where discharge compliance, capacity, and operating reliability matter. From pretreatment and biological treatment to water reuse and permitting, integrated engineering teams help clients manage complex waste streams, reduce risk, and align infrastructure with production goals across North America with confidence.

Integrated wastewater consulting for complex industrial waste streams, regulatory compliance, treatment capacity, and sustainable water reuse.
Hixson designs industrial wastewater pretreatment and treatment systems, including equalization, DAF, biological treatment, sludge handling, and discharge permitting for dairy, meat, beverage, pharma, and biotech operations.
Wastewater solutions address API residuals, solvents, cleaning chemistry, biologics, and high-purity water blowdown, with treatment strategies aligned to cGMP environments and EPA discharge expectations.
Pretreatment and treatment designs manage high BOD/COD, FOG, blood proteins, solids, and pathogens using screening, DAF, equalization, biological treatment, and sludge management.
Hixson engineers systems for high-strength dairy waste streams, including BOD/COD loads, fats, oils, greases, nutrients, sanitizer chemistry, DAF, biological treatment, and permit compliance.
Water reuse and conservation engineering identifies savings through water balance audits, rinse recovery, CIP reuse, cooling tower optimization, RO concentrate recovery, and closed-loop integration.
Permitting support covers wastewater discharge, NPDES, POTW coordination, stormwater, air emissions, hazardous waste, and compliance planning for new facilities, expansions, and ongoing operations.

Hixson begins by understanding production processes, waste stream variability, discharge limits, capacity constraints, and corporate sustainability priorities. This establishes the technical basis for treatment, reuse, permitting, and long-term facility planning decisions.
Hixson supports leading food, beverage, pharmaceutical, biotech, laboratory, and industrial clients across complex facility programs.
Hixson brings integrated engineering depth to wastewater challenges tied to complex manufacturing environments.
Decades of facility engineering experience help clients reduce risk on complex industrial projects.
Twenty in-house technical disciplines coordinate wastewater, utilities, process, civil, controls, and compliance needs.
Specialized knowledge supports food, beverage, pharmaceutical, biotech, laboratory, and industrial wastewater requirements.
Engineering teams address POTW, NPDES, EPA, cGMP, USDA, FDA, and operational requirements early.
Experienced leaders guide integrated wastewater and facility solutions.

Manager, Plumbing Systems & Fire Protection Engineering
John oversees the department responsible for the design and engineering of plumbing systems and fire protection engineering for a variety of project types, including new construction, building utility upgrades, utility capacity analyses, and process line additions. John and his team work with a range of systems, including domestic water, process water, hot water production, direct contact water heaters, high pressure/rinse water, compressed air, natural gas, sanitary drainage, process drainage, central sanitation systems, fire pumps, and fire sprinkler systems.

Manager, Controls & Automation Engineering
As the Manager of Hixson's Controls & Automation department, Craig guides the team responsible for designing, implementing, and commissioning advanced control systems and automation solutions. His responsibilities include overseeing the development of automation strategies that streamline manufacturing processes, enhance operational efficiency, and ensure seamless integration of new and existing systems.

Manager, Process Engineering
Warren leads the team providing processing design services, process optimization studies, and process commissioning and FAT, SAT, and IQ activities. He advises on waste, energy, and GHG emissions reductions, and conducts safety and dust evaluations, including PSM/HAZOP. His expertise spans all food and beverage sectors including fluid, dried and cultured dairy products, processed meat, flavors, and prepared foods. Warren is also on the IDFA Food Safety Committee and actively participates in the 3A, SSI steering committee, and work groups.

Manager, Civil Engineering
In his role as Manager of Civil Engineering, Steve leads the team responsible for the planning, design, and engineering of roads, stormwater hydraulics and modeling, and onsite utilities. On project work, Steve is responsible for civil site project design, specifications, technical design, and project coordination with the client, government regulatory bodies, outside consultants, and contractors. As a senior staff member with our firm, Steve also serves as a mentor to newer associates.

Vice President & Director, Project Management Services
Chris, a Hixson officer and member of the Board of Directors, oversees Hixson’s Project Management, Cost Estimating, and Construction Administration departments. Chris also serves in a project management role, leading teams consisting of representatives from the client, Hixson, contractors, and vendors to effective project completion. Chris assumes overall responsibility for development of project delivery strategies, coordination of all Hixson disciplines, and facilitating effective communication and management to focus resources on delivering high-quality projects on time and within budget.

Manager, Mechanical Engineering
Dave brings more than three decades of experience to his role as the Manager of Hixson’s Mechanical Engineering Department. His work has included the design and project management of new facilities, as well as modification of existing facilities for high technology and food processing industries. At a corporate level, Dave is a member of Hixson’s Dairy and Beverage Industry team, which works to continuously improve the value Hixson offers to the dairy industry through development of our knowledge base, services and capabilities.

Manager, Electrical Engineering
Kyle serves as the Manager of Hixson’s Electrical Engineering department. In this role, he oversees the team responsible for the creation and delivery of electrical designs. This includes the design of high, medium, and low voltage power distribution, lighting, telecommunications, and fire alarm systems. Kyle brings more than 15 years of experience in electrical consulting and design to his role. Areas in which Kyle specializes include electrically hazardous area classification, high- and medium-voltage power distribution, protective relaying, arc flash studies, harmonics analysis, cogeneration design, emergency systems design, and complex laboratory designs.

Senior Vice President, and Director, Mechanical & Electrical Engineering
Scott, an officer of the firm, leads the teams responsible for mechanical and electrical project tasks and design, specifications, technical content, consultation during equipment selection and installation and systems start-up assistance. In addition, Scott also serves as the Quality Assurance Manager, overseeing the firm’s commitment to quality. Over Scott’s more than three decades of experience, he has worked on greenfield, brownfield, and renovation projects for food & beverage plants in all sectors, labs, pharma & biotech facilities, and workplace projects.

Manager, Manufacturing Engineering
In his role as Manager of Hixson’s Manufacturing Engineering department, Scott leads the team responsible for project consulting and coordination between client, vendor, and internal disciplines within Hixson for overall manufacturing processes, functionality, equipment, and layouts. These team members develop process flow diagrams, equipment lists, and preliminary utility requirements, as well as develop equipment layouts that range from high level master planning to detailed construction documents. In addition to this role, Scott is a member of Hixson’s Meat Industry advisory team, focusing on technologies related to the meat and plant protein industry.

Director of Architecture
Derek is the Director of Hixson’s Architecture department. In this role, Derek leads the teams who design projects for our Food & Beverage, Pharma & Biotech, Laboratory, and Workplace clients. Previously, Derek served as the Manager of Hixson’s Process Layout department, where he directed the team that plays a critical coordination role in the overall development of process models and the 3D equipment model management process. Prior to these management roles, Derek, who began his career with Hixson in 2008, served as a Project Architect.
A wastewater engineer evaluates waste streams, discharge requirements, treatment capacity, and operational constraints, then designs systems that safely and efficiently manage wastewater. In industrial facilities, that may include pretreatment, equalization, DAF, biological treatment, sludge handling, water reuse, and permitting support. The role also involves coordinating with process, civil, mechanical, electrical, and regulatory teams.
Talk with Hixson’s engineering team about your facility needs.
Hixson supports facility owners and manufacturers with engineering consulting throughout North America.
North America
Service Area
75+ Years
Experience
20 In-House
Disciplines
Connect with Hixson to discuss your project location.
Certified organization with strong workplace culture.
Ranked No. 178 by Interior Design magazine.
Recognized across core specialized market sectors.
Share your facility goals, waste stream challenges, or compliance needs, and Hixson’s integrated engineering team will help define the right next steps.
For immediate assistance, feel free to give us a direct call at +1 513-241-1230. You can also send us a quick email at info@hixson-inc.com.
For immediate assistance, feel free to give us a direct call at +1 513-241-1230. You can also send us a quick email at info@hixson-inc.com.