AlexRenew And CH2M Awarded For State-Of-The-Art Nitrogen Upgrade Program

Award Recognizes Projects that Demonstrate Achievement, Value and Ingenuity

The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Metro Washington awarded AlexRenew’s State-of-the-Art Nitrogen Upgrade Program (SANUP) the Grand Award for Design on January 28 at its annual Engineering Excellence Awards Dinner. The award is the result of a nine-year partnership between AlexRenew and design engineering consultant CH2M who worked together to bring SANUP to life.

SANUP is AlexRenew’s response to recent regulations limiting the amount of nutrients water resource recovery facilities can release into the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The project totals $131 million in improvements to AlexRenew’s facility that handles more than 54 million gallons of water per day for 320,000 people in Alexandria and parts of Fairfax whom AlexRenew serves. SANUP includes an 18-million-gallon underground Nutrient Management Facility (NMF) that is topped with a multi-purpose public athletic field.

“With the Chesapeake Bay in decline, all water utilities in the Bay watershed were asked to step up, invest in technology to make our water product even cleaner, and lead the way to a cleaner Bay for our region,” said Karen Pallansch, CEO of AlexRenew. “This facility is our answer to that charge. Despite numerous site challenges, we were able to design and build a facility that improves both our community and the Chesapeake watershed.”

In addition to protecting public health and the Chesapeake Bay, creating a full-size athletic field delivered a community amenity and exceptional public engagement opportunity. The construction of the Limerick Street Field was commemorated in October 2015 and has been covered in The Washington Post and the Alexandria Gazette Packet.

The Grand Award of Design was presented by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Metro Washington. It is a regional award meant to recognize engineering achievements that demonstrate originality and skill while benefiting the public and the practice of consulting engineering. Entries were judged on ingenuity, value to the engineering profession and perception of the public, social and economic design, complexity, and whether they exceeded expectations.