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Donohue & Associates and the City of O'Fallon, Missouri earned a 2011 Engineering Excellence Grand Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Missouri (ACEC MO) for their project, "Water Treatment Plant Aeration-Detention System."
The City of O'Fallon had recently built a reverse osmosis water softening plant designed by another firm to produce 6 million gallons of water per day (mgd); however, process deficiencies limited output to less than 2.9 mgd.
Donohue, with assistance from O'Fallon, conducted a root cause analysis and determined that the problem was caused by high iron content and insufficient reaction time for iron removal. Donohue developed a solution for less than half of the $2.5 million capital cost of a previously recommended alternative by using spray ponds, an established but recently forgotten technology.
Spray ponds work by pumping water through nozzles that propel water into the air allowing the iron to drop out. Following this improvement, production has increased to over 5 mgd and the plant is achieving excellent water quality.
ACEC/MO recognizes engineering accomplishments through its annual Engineering Excellence award competition. The statewide competition recognizes creative application and quality design by engineering firms for particular projects.
This project was led by Al Callier, PE, who is located in Donohue's Chesterfield, Missouri, office.
The firm has won 20 Engineering Excellence awards since 2002.
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