Feb 9, 2019   SOURCE: BusinessWire

ACEC California Names Carollo Engineers, Inc. as 2019 Golden State Award Winner

The American Council of Engineering Companies, California (ACEC California) named the Woodland Aquifer Storage and Recovery Wells #29 and #30 as its 2019 Golden State Award Winning project. The Golden State Award is the highest honor ACEC California bestows as part of its Engineering Excellence Awards program. Carollo Engineers, Inc. of Sacramento completed the project for the City of Woodland, California.

“This year’s Golden State Award winner is a unique example of how innovation and modernization can produce a water supply system that fully utilizes a city’s water rights while maintaining an economical price,” said Brad Diede, Executive Director of ACEC California. “We congratulate Carollo Engineers, Inc. and commend the City of Woodland for its comprehensive approach to addressing its supply needs during periods of high demand and drought.”

The City of Woodland has historically supplied potable water to its residents from groundwater wells. In recent years, this water supply has been challenged with regulatory changes to water quality requirements and drought conditions impacting aquifer levels. A regional project was begun to switch to the Sacramento River as a new surface water source. In the transition from groundwater to a higher quality treated surface water supply, the City implemented an Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) program to reduce required peak treatment plant capacity, create significant potable water storage, and provide supply resiliency during potential surface water curtailment periods. ASR wells allow injection of treated surface water during low demand periods for both short-term and long-term storage and extraction during higher demand periods.

As the prime consultant through design and construction of this project, Carollo designed the two new ASR wells, oversaw well drilling and equipping, performed construction management services, and was responsible for startup assistance and a 12-month well development period.

The project utilized an innovative approach to implementing ASR wells for sustainable water supply, elimination of aquifer overdrafting, potable water quality improvement, drought resiliency, and reduction of costs to residents.

This project was designed to provide a higher quality, sustainable water supply to City residents with less environmental impact by optimizing the supply of potable water in a cost-efficient manner utilizing a cutting-edge approach.

The 2019 Golden State Award winner was selected out of 37 projects and announced at the Engineering Excellence Awards banquet in San Francisco on February 7, 2019. The awards dinner also served as a fundraiser for the ACEC California Scholarship Foundation 501(c)3, which provides scholarship awards to graduate and undergraduate students that are recognized for their notable and outstanding academic achievements.

Photographs of the Golden State Award winner and all Honor and Merit Award winning projects can be found here.

ACEC California is a statewide association representing over 1,000 private consulting engineering and land-surveying firms that average 20 employees each. ACEC California is dedicated to enhancing the consulting engineering and land surveying professions, protecting the general public and promoting the use of the private sector in the growth and development of our state. Our members provide services for all phases of planning, designing and constructing projects. For more information, visit www.acec-ca.org.