Donohue & Associates and the City of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, received State Finalist honors in the 2011 ACEC Wisconsin Engineering Excellence competition. The award recognizes improvements at the wastewater treatment facility (WWTF) to meet new ammonia toxicity limits. The WWTF was also faced with other difficulties, including an aging treatment facility, capacity issues, and troublesome lift stations.

Donohue conducted a comprehensive facility planning study and designed the resultant first phase recommendations. Donohue developed a unique stand-alone solution to ammonia toxicity, allowing the City to delay the cost of RBC replacement. The design of a carbon dioxide feed system to control wastewater effluent pH for reduction of ammonia toxicity is the first known application at a municipal wastewater treatment facility in Wisconsin.

At the Otter Creek Lift Station, Donohue's transient modeling and analysis solved high force main surge pressures at a construction cost of less than $1,000. This approach allowed the City to economically address critical needs and meet new permit requirements on time while deferring an estimated $32+ million in upgrades for several years. This project was completed over $1 million under the original estimate with minimal change orders.