Brown and Caldwell of Olympia, Wash., has earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 50th annual Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) for designing the expansion of the Chambers Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Pierce County, Wash.
ACEC is a Washington-D.C.-based business association of the engineering industry representing more than 5,000 independent engineering firms throughout the United States.
Located within a 920-acre regional park that includes the Chambers Bay Golf Course, site of the 2015 U.S. Open, the treatment plant was expanded to increase capacity by 30 percent, without affecting the surrounding recreational areas. The $375 million upgrade includes integration of a breakthrough treatment process technology that will significantly reduce both chemical usage and energy requirements.
Despite its high-tech attributes, the expanded plant will save Pierce County $7 million in life-cycle costs, on top of the $30 million saved by efficiently re-purposing existing structures. The county now boasts the infrastructure necessary to accommodate an expected 130-percent population increase over the next 30 years, and maintain its commitment to protecting the delicate waters of Puget Sound.
The project is among 162 engineering achievements from throughout the nation and the world being recognized by ACEC as the year’s finest examples of engineering excellence, and eligible for additional top national honors. Judging for the awards program—known industry-wide as the “Academy Awards of the engineering industry”– took place in February, conducted by a national 30-member panel of built environment leaders, along with experts from government, the media and academia. Award criteria focuses on uniqueness and originality, technical innovation, social and economic value, and generating excitement for the engineering profession.
Recognition of all award winners including top commendations— 20 Honor Awards, 16 Grand Awards and the prestigious “Grand Conceptor Award” for the year’s most outstanding overall engineering achievement—will take place at the annual EEA Dinner and Gala, a black-tie event to be held Tuesday, April 25, 2017, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C.
The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) is the business association of America’s engineering industry, representing more than 5,000 independent engineering firms and more than 500,000 professionals throughout the United States engaged in the development of America’s transportation, water and energy infrastructure, along with environmental, industrial and other public and private facilities. Founded in 1909 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., ACEC is a national federation of 51 state and regional organizations.
