Meet Mallory Morton

At Olsson, we strive to be at the forefront of innovation. One way we do this is by using technology to help water managers make more efficient decisions regarding groundwater usage. We sat down with Mallory Morton, an assistant engineer on our Water Resources team in our Lincoln office, and learned about the Groundwater Evaluation Toolbox (GET), which is a software-as-a-service (SAAS) solution created by Olsson’s own team of engineers.  

Q: How did you get started in water resources?

A: I’ve always loved math and science. About three years ago, I started as an intern on Olsson’s Water Resources team. I was always really interested in the environment. And since water is one of our most precious resources, I was excited to see how we can conserve it and help clients maximize its beneficial uses.

Q: What is GET and how does it affect the communities it’s used in?

A: GET is an online cloud-based platform that allows water managers to efficiently run their groundwater models and make decisions in real time. It allows water managers to make informed decisions quickly and confidently. The more traditional way of making water management decisions regarding groundwater involved issuing a request for proposals, waiting for bids, and then having the consultant work on a groundwater model. You’d maybe see your results in six months and you’d get a report from it. With GET, you can receive those same answers at your desk, do it yourself, and get the answers you need in a 10 minutes.

Q: In what ways have you seen GET affect the projects you’ve worked on?

A: Let’s say a client calls and is considering a couple of different alternatives to a project he or she is working on. We can walk them through a GET scenario and find the solution that works best for them.

Q: How did creating GET come about?

A: It all evolved from a project we completed in early fall of 2017. The project was specifically tailored to that client, but we realized that if we could fully leverage existing technology, like cloud computing, we would be able to make this process applicable to much larger geographic areas and make it much more accessible. It all grew from there, and we realized we had something special.

Q: In what ways does GET help our Water Resources practice?

A: It allows us to get in front of a lot of clients we typically haven’t been able to get in front of in the past. We’ve grown our groundwater team quite a bit in the last couple years, and we have the confidence to go after a variety of modeling projects. By doing this, we’re setting ourselves up to be experts in the field, and GET is another tool that’s in our back pocket.

Learn more about what we can do to help clients solve their water-related challenges.