Awards and Honors
CDM Wins ACEC Grand Conceptor Award
The CDM-designed 70-million-gallon-per-day Orange County Groundwater Replenishment System won the 2009 Grand Conceptor Award in the American Council of Engineering Companies Engineering Excellence award competition. The $480 million project, which converts highly treated wastewater into an indirect potable water source, went online on January 25, 2008.
Dam Society Award for B&V
Black & Veatch’s Lake Lenexa Dam and Spillway project has earned the U.S. Society of Dams 2009 Excellence in the Constructed Project Award. The city of Lenexa, Kan., owns the lake and associated park area and conceived the “Rain to Recreation” program that includes the dam and spillway project. B&V provided study, public outreach, design and construction management services. The $23 million project not only provides essential flood control, but also improved water quality through construction of wetlands, natural stream preservation and restoration, stormwater management and recreation and education opportunities.
LEED® Certification for Novus
Clayco Inc. announced that its work on the Novus International headquarters has achieved LEED Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. This is the highest level of certification available for sustainable buildings. The Novus headquarters is only the fourth commercial building in Missouri to achieve Platinum status and one of fewer than 100 in the U.S. to achieve this designation.
AAEE Awards
Two DBIA member firms have earned awards from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers.
CDM, the city of Fort Smith and Kruger partnered on research studying the effectiveness of biologically enhanced high-rate clarification (BEHRC). The study, which determined that the process removes 85 to 90 percent of total biochemical oxygen demand and 95 to 99 percent of total suspended solids in diluted wastewater, earned an award from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. BEHRC offers several benefits, including the opportunity for municipalities to save millions of dollars over conventional secondary treatment systems; it is also fast, energy efficient, compact and sustainable.
CH2M HILL received three awards for its projects. The Broad Run Water Reclamation Facility, Loudon County, Va., earned the firm and its client, Loudon Water, the 2009 Grand Prize as the first large-scale application of membrane bioreactor (MBR)-carbon treatment-ultraviolet disinfection technology and the first MBR plant to simultaneously meet extremely stringent nutrient limits while providing multiple pathogen barriers to protect public health.
The Clovis Wastewater Reuse Facility, Clovis, Calif., uses the latest technology to relieve the demand on underground and surface water supplies and will provide recycled water for irrigation. The 2.8 mgd plant uses low-pressure, high-output ultraviolet lamps for disinfection that require one-third the amount of energy compared to other ultraviolet options. In addition, the sludge reduction system will reduce the amount of biosolids significantly. It and the Twin Oaks Valley Water Treatment Plant were designed, built and now operated by CH2M HILL for the San Diego County Water Authority, and were 2009 Design Honor Award winners.
ICE Award for B&V
A plan to protect the community of Lower Lancaster in the United Kingdom has taken joint first place in the Community Award category of the Institution of Civil Engineers’ North West Awards 2009. The £5 million Lower Lancaster Flood Alleviation Scheme, for which construction supervision was provided by Black & Veatch, was commended for providing “significant community benefit in terms of the high standard of protection, additional public access and wildlife improvement” provided.
New Contracts
New Student Housing by Sundt
Sundt Construction Inc. has been awarded a contract to provide preconstruction services for a new student housing project at the University of California Santa Cruz. The infill project will add two buildings that will accommodate some 600 students in apartment-style housing. A partial “green roof” is in the plans. The project budget is $100 million and is scheduled to break ground this fall.