Laura Cummings Joins Hazen as Senior Associate

(ISELIN, NJ - September 5, 2023) - Hazen and Sawyer has announced the appointment of Laura Cummings, PE as Senior Associate out of the Iselin, NJ office.

Laura has more than 30 years of professional engineering, consulting, and utility management experience in the water industry. Most recently, she served as the Executive Director at Southeast Morris County Municipalities Authority (SMCMUA) in Cedar Knolls, NJ, serving a population of 62,500 over a 40 square mile service area. At SMCMUA, she oversaw the development of a revised optimized corrosion control treatment strategy, leading to the full-scale design and implementation of a multi-million-dollar upgrade of all treated sources for optimized corrosion control treatment along with a conversion from tablet disinfection systems to liquid sodium hypochlorite systems.

Previously, Laura served as Plant Superintendent for Passaic Valley Water Commission’s Little Falls Water Treatment Plant (LFWTP). Under Laura’s guidance, the LFWTP was upgraded from a 75-mgd conventional treatment plant to a 120-mgd WTP with high-rate sand-ballasted flocculation, primary ozone and secondary chlorine disinfection, and dual-media GAC/sand filtration. She also served as the lead PVWC representative for regional water supply planning with other nearby utilities, coordinating major capital improvements among the regional partners, and preparing for or responding to extreme weather events impacting the region.

“I am excited to welcome Laura to the Hazen team,” said Bill Gettings, NJ Operations Manager. “As a licensed facility operator, Laura understands the challenges our clients face and can offer a unique perspective on utility management. She can help clients bolster their operations both now and well into the future, with experience in succession planning, asset management, and drinking water processes.”

Laura is also at the forefront of industry regulations, having recently served as both Chair of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) Regulatory Committee and as a longstanding member of the AMWA Regulatory and Legislative Committee. She is also the Vice Chair of AWWA NJ’s Water Utility Council.

Laura holds an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in New Jersey and has both a New Jersey Water Treatment (T-4) License and a Water Distribution (W-3) License.