Buffalo Wastewater Treatment Facility

Bolton & Menk Wins National Award

 

Bolton & Menk, Inc. has been honored nationally for its excellence in engineering for the City of Buffalo Wastewater Treatment Facility, which opened in September 2008. The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) presented the City with a Grand Award at a gala held April 28th, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

 

The Buffalo project won one of eight National Grand Awards for the best overall engineering accomplishment among 168 submittals from across the world. The ACEC competition recognizes projects for innovative engineering design and impact on society. The Grand Conceptor Award, deemed the highest honor by ACEC, was received by CDM for the Orange County Groundwater Replenishment System; the world’s largest facility for transforming wastewater, previously discarded into the ocean, into premium drinking water.

 

Located 35 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Buffalo, with a population of nearly 15,000 and growing rapidly, prides itself on being a progressive community. The City faced increasing resistance from nearby residents to the hauling and land application of biosolids. In addition, Buffalo recently implemented an Energy Conservation Program to reduce overall consumption within the community. Bolton & Menk recommended a state-of-the-art system that virtually eliminates biosolids by converting them into a renewable energy source. An airtight, closed-loop biosolids drying process allows for the capture of heat to be reused in a continuous cycle. This heat energy replaces 80 percent of the natural gas that would otherwise be necessary for drying. In this respect, it is an extremely sustainable, eco-friendly system. Energy savings in the first year of operation are expected to exceed $90,000.

 

Bolton & Menk has presented this award-winning project at the following technical conferences:

 

  • CSWEA and A&WMA Conference on the Environment, Brooklyn Center, November 2008
  • MPCA WW Operator’s Conference, Brooklyn Park, March 2009
  • National Residuals and Biosolids Conference, Portland, May 2009
  • Central States Presentation, Chicago, May 2009
  • MWOA, Grand Rapids, July 2009
  • MPWA Fall Conference, Brooklyn Center, November 2009
  • APWA International Public Works Conference, Boston, August 2010

 

Additionally, the City of Buffalo project has been highlighted in:

 

Additional Awards: