Baker & Associates receives Engineering Excellence Award

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. – Baker & Associates, based in Scottsbluff with an office in Sidney, received the 2015 Engineering Excellence Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Nebraska.

Baker & Associates was the winner of the “Small Firms Category” for its work on the City of Crawford Wastewater Treatment Plant. ACEC/Nebraska presented their 2015 Engineering Excellence Awards last month in Lincoln. The Engineering Excellence Awards recognize engineering firms in Nebraska for the projects that demonstrate a high degree of achievement.

Baker & Associates designed the Crawford’s new wastewater treatment plant, and construction was completed in 2014.

The Crawford’s previous wastewater treatment plant was more than 60 years old before the construction of the new plant. The amount of available land for the new treatment plant was limited dictating that a treatment process have a small footprint.

The new plant utilizes a treatment system in which the treatment occurs within a common wall basin. It is this arrangement that greatly reduces the total square footage required for the treatment plant. The project also included a new lift station to pump the raw wastewater into the plant, a spiral screen to remove debris detrimental to the treatment process and a UV disinfection system.

The “sludge” by-products from the plant are applied to a reed bed system where the sludge serves as both water and nutrients for natural reeds in a “wetland” situation. This greatly reduces the maintenance and operational costs for the City and is an effective and eco-friendly way of disposing of the bio-solids.

This type of treatment system lends itself well to use by medium-sized communities based on its simple treatment process, smaller size, and often lower capital costs than traditional lagoon systems.