Many years of testing, breaking, fixing, evaluating and refining led Watershed Geo founders in 2009 to a small town in Louisiana to bring to reality their vision of significantly improving the way landfills are closed and maintained. Since then WG has completed over 70 projects and installed over 2,000 acres across the US, proving to many that ClosureTurf is a new and better standard.

Prior to ClosureTurf there had been well over 30 years with essentially no innovation for how landfills are closed. The Company’s founders, Mike Ayers and Jose Urrutia felt that new innovation was well past-due that could drive the industry to adopt more environmentally sound practice. Even with the wide acceptance of WG’s technology, there is still a long way to go as many landfills still struggle with old and poorly performing methods prescribed in state and Federal regulations.

This primary objective of Ayers and Urrutia in creating the ClosureTurf solution was to eliminate the reliance on soil and vegetation that proved time and time again to be a financial drain to operations largely due to maintenance, storm repair, and in many instances slope failures.  Based on their experience around the country this earthen layer posed on ongoing threat to the long-term environmental integrity of the closure due to the lack of predictability and reliability during weather events and the dynamics of the underlying disposed waste.

“To overcome these challenges, we spent several years testing and evaluating several closure designs that did not use dirt as the final layer. We founded the company ten years ago after coming up with a cross section that significantly reduced costs and provided a very predictable and superior performance compared to traditional closures”, Says Ayers.

Since then many independent research studies have concluded that the system significantly outperforms the requirements established in the Federal regulations. Most recently, they were selected by the Federal EPA to close 200-acre + hazardous superfund site on the gulf coast.

The company’s philosophy from its onset has been to leverage industry expertise with extreme testing prior to bringing a solution to market.  Ayers and Urrutia’s philosophy remains the same and has led the company to develop other industry changing solutions.

Transparent and virtuous in the approach to testing and working with its customers is some of the repeated feedback WG receives.  This is the core of our business that has been recognized and appreciated by customers and their consultants.

“The high compliments and characterization of our company can only be true if it is reflected throughout our company and how we approach every project.” Says Ayers.  “I believe our expertise for what we do is unmatched. Our knowledge and capabilities matched with an ongoing commitment to listen the customer are the values that will sustain our business and let it grow and improve the waste industry as well as other large-civil applications.

Many new current WG solutions being developed are building off the unique knowledge and technical know-how not previously demonstrated or understood by the engineering community.  Some examples of new growth areas for WG are in levees and waterways and application of renewable energy on closed landfills and impaired land.

We have developed a great team over the years and will continue to work stay focused on our primary goal of providing solutions for civil and environmental infrastructure protection and resiliency. WG is committed to maintaining a long-term view and ongoing reinvestment in the company to become an industry leader in several environmental and civil areas that serve this resolute aim. This achieved by attracting industry experts, extreme testing and obsessive attention to customers’ needs.  “It is difficult to create a market that previously did not exist. There is no map or guidance on how to go from a cold start to a new standard. The only way Watershed knows is to prove it by trying to break it and then after exhaustive testing and repeated success bring to innovation to market” says Ayers.