Carlton Ray has more than 30 years of engineering and leadership experience in both public and private civil engineering sectors. Mr. Ray holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Auburn University. He is the Director for DC Water’s Combined Sewer Overflow Long Term Control Plan called the DC Clean Rivers Project. Mr. Ray is responsible for implementing DC Water’s 20-year, $2.7-billion federally-mandated consent decree to control Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). The Clean Rivers Project includes the construction of projects to improve water quality along the Anacostia River, Potomac River, and Rock Creek. The project includes construction more than 13 miles of large tunnels along the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers which capture and convey combined sewage overflow for treatment at the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility and large-scale green infrastructure in the District (designed to manage nearly 500 acres of impervious surface). The 80+ person DC Clean Rivers technical staff consists of engineers with expertise in tunnels, large underground structures, hydraulics, environmental, water quality, QA/QC, geotechnical, and green infrastructure or low impact development, and tunnel safety expertise. The DC Clean Rivers team works under a very tight compliance schedule with significant penalties if designated milestones are not met.

Previously, Mr. Ray worked at the Department of Public Works in Indianapolis, Indiana as the Chief Engineer, Deputy Director and CSO program lead. In addition to his significant engineering duties specific to the advanced wastewater treatment facilities and sewer/storm infrastructure, he also led the engineering team that successfully developed and negotiated a $1.8 billion consent decree between the City of Indianapolis, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to address CSOs. Mr. Ray successfully negotiated sanitary and MS4 NPDES permits and served as the contract compliance officer of one of the largest public/private sanitary treatment and collection system operations contracts in the world ($30+ million/annual) at Indianapolis.